November 21, 2024 4:25 am
The Steelers and Browns will renew their rivalry Thursday night sitting at opposite ends of the AFC North. After navigating through some quarterback uncertainty, Pittsburgh is a surprising 8-2 while Cleveland is a dreary and disappointing 2-8. The Steelers are coming off a gritty win at home over the Baltimore Ravens and can’t afford a letdown against the Browns, whose playoff hopes are gone and may be headed for another massive overhaul. Coach Kevin Stefanski could use a big win to alleviate any concern that he has lost his team.
November 21, 2024 4:23 am
Atlanta’s Chris Sale and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal have each won their first Cy Young Award. The left-handers were honored Wednesday night after sharing the MLB lead with 18 wins while leading their respective leagues in strikeouts and ERA. Sale went 18-3 and topped the National League with 225 strikeouts, while his 2.38 ERA in 29 starts was the best among all major league qualifiers in his first season with the Braves. The 35-year-old was an All-Star for the eighth time and won his first Gold Glove this year. Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and a big league-best 228 strikeouts in 31 starts to take the American League prize in a unanimous vote.
November 21, 2024 4:27 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball will test robot umpires as part of a challenge system during spring training at 13 ballparks hosting 19 teams, which could lead to regular-season use in 2026. MLB has been experimenting with the automated ball-strike system in the minor leagues since 2019 but is still working on the shape of the strike zone. An agreement for big league use would have to be reached with the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, whose collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says: “I would be interested in having it in ’26.”
November 20, 2024 4:27 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brayden Point scored at 3:58 of overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Tuesday night. Point’s overtime winner was his 10th goal of the season. Anthony Cirelli scored his fifth goal of the season. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 17 shots for Tampa Bay. Rickard Rakell scored a power-play goal, while Jesse Puljujarvi opened the scoring for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 32 saves for Pittsburgh.
November 20, 2024 4:30 am
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins have fired coach Jim Montgomery after losing 12 of their first 20 games. Montgomery led the Bruins to the greatest regular season in NHL history but never got them past the second round of the playoffs. He was fired a day after the Bruins lost to last-place Columbus to extend their losing streak to three games. Assistant Joe Sacco was named the interim coach. Sacco led the Colorado Avalanche from 2009-2014 and was a finalist for coach of the year in his first season.
November 20, 2024 4:29 am
The New York Jets have fired general manager Joe Douglas after a 3-8 start to the season. Owner Woody Johnson announced in a statement Tuesday that Phil Savage will serve as the interim GM. Douglas was in the final year of his contract after being hired in 2019. The Jets’ season began with Super Bowl aspirations with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. But the team struggled to a 2-3 start, and Johnson fired coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 8. The Jets decided to also part ways Tuesday with Douglas. Johnson said the Jets will begin the process to find a new GM immediately.
November 20, 2024 4:28 am
Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy won National League Manager of the Year on Tuesday night after a stellar debut season with the Brewers, while Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt took home the AL award after leading the Guardians to 92 wins and a division title in his first year as a skipper at any level. Murphy, 65, led the Brewers to a 93-69 record and an NL Central title. He became the first manager in franchise history to win the award since it was introduced in 1983. In the playoffs, Milwaukee lost to the New York Mets in a Wild Card Series. The 40-year-old Vogt beat out Kansas City’s Matt Quatraro and Detroit’s A.J. Hinch, both AL Central rivals.
November 20, 2024 4:24 am
Boise State received the fourth and final bye in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, leaving BYU out of that mix and the Big 12 on the list of power conferences with a gripe. Undefeated Oregon received top billing once again, delivered by the committee a few hours after Big Ten number crunchers ran through tiebreaker scenarios and realized the Ducks had clinched a spot in the conference title game. Ohio State stayed at No. 2, one spot ahead of Southeastern Conference co-leader Texas. Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference was ranked eighth but gets the third seed and a bye that goes to the top four ranked conference leaders. And likewise, Boise State was ranked 12th by the committee but was slotted into that fourth and final bye.
November 19, 2024 4:28 am
Hard-throwing Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes capped a remarkable season by winning the National League Rookie of the Year Award while Luis Gil of the New York Yankees edged Baltimore’s Colton Cowser to take the AL honor. It’s the first time the rookie awards went to two pitchers since 2011, when Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson and Atlanta closer Craig Kimbrel won. Skenes didn’t make his big league debut until May 11 but the right-hander was such an immediate sensation that he was selected to start the All-Star Game for the NL on July 16.
November 19, 2024 4:25 am
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Joe Mixon ran for three touchdowns, Derek Barnett returned a fumble 28 yards for a score and the Houston Texans beat the Dallas Cowboys 34-10. The Texans stopped just the second two-game losing streak in quarterback C.J. Stroud’s two seasons while maintaining a two-game lead in the AFC South. In a season filled with things gone wrong for the Cowboys, debris fell from their stadium’s retractable roof as it was opening a few hours before the game. Dallas lost its fifth consecutive game, and Cooper Rush dropped to 0-2 filling in for Dak Prescott after his season-ending hamstring tear.
