July 24, 2024 4:40 am
Three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes was a unanimous choice by The Associated Press for No. 1 quarterback in the NFL in a preseason survey. A panel of eight AP Pro Football Writers ranked the top five players at QB, basing selections on current status entering the 2024 season. Despite a subpar regular season — by his lofty standards — Mahomes had another exceptional postseason, leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a repeat Super Bowl victory and their third title in five seasons. Josh Allen, reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy each received second-place votes.
July 24, 2024 4:41 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA All-Star Game drew a record number of viewers with 3.44 million people watching the contest in Phoenix on Saturday night. The game, which saw the WNBA All-Stars beat the U.S. Olympic team 117-109, easily topped the 1.44 million that viewed the 2003 contest. Saturday’s game peaked with more than 4 million viewers. It was the third most viewed WNBA event ever and the largest audience for the league since its first two nationally televised games in 1997. Last year’s game, which was also on prime time TV, drew 850,000 viewers.
July 23, 2024 4:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nick Gonzales hit a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning after Mitch Keller allowed one run in the first seven, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won for the seventh time in eight games, 2-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals. Bryan Reynolds led off the eighth with a single to left before advancing to second on a wild pitch. With one out, Gonzales sneaked a slow dribbler off John King through the right side of the infield. Keller gave up six hits in seven innings, striking out three and walking two. Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect eighth for the win in this matchup of NL wild card contenders.
July 23, 2024 4:33 am
CINCINNATI (AP) — Joe Burrow and his surgically repaired wrist have been cleared for contact and the Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback is ready to go for the opening of training camp on Wednesday. Burrow was sidelined last season when he suffered a torn ligament in his right wrist in the 10th game, a loss to Baltimore on Nov. 16. He had surgery on his wrist Nov. 27.
July 23, 2024 4:32 am
Turner Sports intends to continue its longtime relationship with the NBA. Warner Bros. Discovery informed the league Monday that it will match the $1.8 billion per year offer by Amazon Prime Video. Turner has had an NBA package since 1984 and games have been on TNT since the network launched in 1988. The NBA’s Board of Governors approved the league’s 11-year media rights deals with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video at its meeting in Las Vegas last Tuesday. WBD received all three contracts on Wednesday, which started the five-day clock on whether it wanted to match. An NBA spokesperson says the league is reviewing the matching offer.
July 22, 2024 4:33 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rookie Tyler Phillips gave up four hits in six innings, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided a three-game sweep with a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Phillips struck out three and walked one. It was the right-hander’s third game and second start since being called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on July 5. The Phillies, who had lost three straight and four of their last five games, ended the Pirates’ winning streak at six. Pittsburgh was shut out for the seventh time this season.
July 22, 2024 4:35 am
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Adrian Beltré, Joe Mauer, Todd Helton and Jim Leyland have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Beltré led this year’s class with 95.1% of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote in his first year on the ballot. Helton followed with 79.7% of the vote in his sixth year of eligibility and Mauer received 76.1% of the BBWAA vote in his first year. Leyland was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
July 22, 2024 4:38 am
TROON, Scotland (AP) — Xander Schauffele was the player who couldn’t win a major at the start of the year. Now he has two of them. The 30-year-old Californian won the British Open with a masterpiece at Royal Troon. He played bogey-free for a 65 to get his name on the base of that silver claret jug. Schauffele won the PGA Championship in May at Valhalla. He’s the first player since 2015 to win his first two majors in the same season. And his victory at Royal Troon gave the Americans a sweep of the four majors for the first time since 1982. Schauffele’s 65 ranks among the great closing rounds in British Open history.
July 22, 2024 4:40 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Larson made a late charge through the field, managed to get his car refired after a red flag and won the final two restart battles Sunday before coasting to his first Brickyard 400 victory under caution. Larson took the lead when Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel and pulled off the track just before the second-to-last restart and beat pole winner Tyler Reddick at the end with the yellow flag out. Larson won in his first trip back to the speedway since trying to become the fifth driver to complete 1,100 miles of racing on the same May day, at Indy and Charlotte, North Carolina. Larson won for the fourth time this season and took the points lead from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.
July 21, 2024 6:18 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Luis Ortiz pitched seven shutout innings, Oneil Cruz had a home run and three RBIs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates stretched their winning streak to six games with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Ortiz (5-2), who had not gone more than six innings this season, gave up three hits and two walks with two strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.57. Andrew McCutchen led off the sixth inning with a homer and Cruz hit a two-run home run in the eighth. Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper hit his 22nd homer with one out in the ninth. Cristopher Sánchez took the loss.
