The Cubs lost two of three to the Braves in Atlanta back in May, scoring only five runs in the series.
That was so long ago that Pete Crow-Armstrong batted ninth, eighth and ninth in the three games and Moisés Ballesteros was the starting catcher in the series opener.
Since that series ended the Cubs are 55-51 and the Braves 58-48, only three games apart. Now both teams are trying to nail down postseason positions, the Braves the NL East ****** le and the Cubs the first wild card spot.
For more on the Braves, here's Demetrius Bell, manager of our SB Nation Braves site Battery Power.
The last time these two teams squared off, everybody invested in the Braves was hoping that what they'd seen from this team over the first month-and-a-half of the season was legit. Here we are in September and the Braves have a very tight grip on the NL East lead and they're still fighting for the second seed in the National League, so I'd say that this team has proven to be legit.

#teams

Tommy McMillen vs. Marwan Rahiki squared off in a Featherweight bout earlier this morning (Sat., Sept. 12, 2026) inside Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona for Noche UFC 4. After a wild and ****** fight, McMillen was named the victor.
McMillen opened the fight with an overhand right and a surprising takedown. He tried to threaten an arm triangle, but Rahiki quickly escaped to his feet. Back in the standup, the two wasted little time in throwing powerful punches. The range widened, and the two young Featherweights traded kicks. Rahiki got on the front foot and put his opponent on the defensive. His chin was really high though …
Rahiki hit the body and timed a gorgeous right hand. McMillen tied together his kicks and punches, opening a small cut by Rahiki's eye. Two hard right hands connected for McMillen, but "Freaky" fired right back. At the close of the competitive opening round, the two mouthed off at one another as the referee kept them apart.
McMillen was active to start round two, throwing a lot of volume and landing a particularly stiff jab. McMillen threatened a guillotine choke to gain top position but couldn't hold down Rahiki. Rahiki kicked the calf and then started ripping the body to great effect. McMillen's nose was bleeding, but he scored a heavy left hand that wobbled his opponent briefly.
Out of nowhere, a Rahiki counter uppercut floored McMillen! Rahiki turned up the offense and landed a bunch of cracking shots. Somehow, McMillen was able to survive and even land a big right hand of his own a minute later. McMillen started to build some offense on his fatigued opponent, including a late takedown that saw him finish the round with some submission attempts.

#round

As Detroit's 2026 regular-season opener on Sunday, Sept. 13 against New Orleans nears, the Lions listed just one player with an injury designation on their Friday injury report.
Defensive back Christian Izien was listed as questionable after being a limited participant for the third straight day with his groin injury.
"He's doing well. We felt really good about him. He's close. I want to see what he looks like running around today and then knowing that we're going on a short week after this, that'll have a bearing on it, too. But, he's moving around really well. I feel like he's a little ahead of schedule in a good way. We'll see," Campbell said of Izien's injury status on Friday morning.
Izien, 26, signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Lions in March.
Unfortunately for Izien, three consecutive limited practices puts him behind the eight-ball in terms of being elevated to active on Sunday. The Lions' Week 2 matchup against the Buffalo Bills is Thursday, Sept. 17. With that short turnaround, if Izien misses the opener, he could miss each of the Lions' first two games of 2026.

#sept

The Los Angeles Dodgers put Shohei Ohtani on the 15-day injured list and moved Eric Lauer to the 60-day injured list, allowing Josue De Paula to enter the active roster.
The Dodgers needed to free up a position on the 40-man roster, since De Paula was not on it, and Lauer was the player to make way.
Additionally, since Lauer was not on the active roster and was on the 15-day IL, his move was not enough for De Paula to make the active roster.
Shohei Ohtani was officially placed on the IL, paving the way for De Paula to take his spot, both on the team and in the lineup as the designated hitter.
Sep 9, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) looks on during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

#ohtani

Back in August, Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala collapsed on the pitch in consecutive matches only three days apart from each other. There was outside concern that his professional career might be over. He quickly attributed the issue to a change in medication for a known issue but his critics were far from convinced.
A short three weeks later, Musiala was back in the starting XI of a Champions League match. After Bodø/Glimt was forced to replace their goalkeeper at halftime, Musiala jumped on a loose ball and scored the eventual game winner.
Bayern’s 900th goal in European competition 👏 pic.twitter.com/AKNiTIBUkx
In the postgame interview (via iMiaSanMia), Vincent Kompany praised Musiala for his efforts.
"Everyone was happy for him, 75k people in the stadium and the people in front of their TVs," said Kompany. "We knew his moment would come. He scored a really important goal. It's great for Jamal, hopefully the focus now will only be on his performances. He knows how to deal with the other topic and will continue to get all support from us."

#musiala #back #three #ISSUE

Atlético de Madrid face Liverpool this Wednesday at 9 p.m., and they will do so without two attacking players.
The 24 players selected by Diego Pablo Simeone:
Sorloth, who is still injured, and Arnau Ortiz, through suspension, will miss the match.
The young Atlético forward misses out because of an old suspension dating back to his time playing in Poland.
Otherwise, Jonathan David, Cuti Romero and Julián Álvarez are all included in the squad as normal.

#players #suspension #simeone

After weeks of delays and behind-the-scenes attempts to cobble something meaningful together, UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, Utah finally has a championship main event: Natalia Silva vs. ****** Cong for the vacant women's flyweight belt.
Wait, what? The flyweight belt that Valentina Shevchenko has defended a whopping nine times since 2018 across two ****** le runs? That's now vacant? When announcing Silva vs. Cong, they cited a "Bullet" injury but didn't really get into details on how the belt was put back up for grabs. A statement from Shevchenko's coach Pavel Fedotov gave a bit more info.
"We were supposed to fight on October 3 against Natalia Silva, but due to an injury to the ligaments in the shoulder and back, we decided not to push things and postpone the fight," Fedotov wrote (via Ushatayka). "Given that the recovery will take a long time, we've made the decision to temporarily vacate the belt, and once she recovers, she will fight for it again."
According to Fedotov, they're expecting the injury to take eight months to recover from.
In the past, you might expect to see an interim ****** le go up for grabs after similar injuries taking under a year to heal. But these days, the UFC has gotten into the habit of asking its injured champions to relinquish their belts. Jamahal Hill did it when he ruptured his Achilles tendon, and so did Jiri Prochazka when he injured his shoulder. Now we've got Valentina Shevchenko doing it.

#fight

The Texas Tech football team knew it would have one new starting safety this season. The Red Raiders actually are beginning the season with two.
Peyton Morgan went through pre-game warmups with the first team at free safety and Malik Esquerra at boundary safety before Tech's season opener against Abilene Christian at Galaxy Stadium. Those two and Oliver Miles III had been competing for one open safety job throughout the off-season.
More: Is Rob Greene overshadowed? Not inside Texas Tech football building
More: Shiel Wood, a man on the move, finally parked with Texas Tech football
Tech announced before the game that returning starter Brenden Jordan will miss the first two games for reasons not related to injury. Jordan ended last season with a streak of 15 consecutive starts.

#texas #raiders

Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson says it would be "crazy" to judge his new-look side so early in the Scottish Premiership season.
The Dons have been dealt a tough hand in their opening quartet of league fixtures, a sequence that included games against the top three teams from last term – Celtic, Hearts and Rangers.
After beating Hearts in their opening game, the Dons lost at Dundee before sustaining defeats by both halves of the Old Firm.
Speaking before Saturday's league visit of Kilmarnock, Robinson said: "There are very, very few games been played in the season so far, so to be that judgemental that early on is crazy.
"I will judge the team when we are 15 games in and then what we need and where we go from there.

#hearts #season #opening #league

Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below. Check out the previous day's recap here.
Sugar Land went with a bullpen game as King got the start and tossed a scoreless first. The offense got on the board in the third on a Brooks RBI groundout. Weiss went 3 innings in relief allowing one run. The rest of the pen was solid too but the Aces picked up a run in the 8th. The Sugar Land offense was unable to get anything else going as they fell 2-1.
Note: Ferreras is hitting .318 in Triple-A.
Trenton Brooks, DH: 0-for-2, RBI, BB
Pascanel Ferreras, 3B: 2-for-4, 2 2B

#land #ferreras

Few among us know NBA basketball like the players who make up that league. And while that may not come as much of a surprise to most fans of the sport, the fact that recency bias can warp the perception of historical greatness ought to not come as much of a shock either given not all of us (NBA stars or otherwise) are scholars of league history.
So when new Minnesota Timberwolves guard LaMelo Ball paid former Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown near the top of the mountain when it comes to all-time great Celtics on a recent episode of the semi-eponymous "Ball in the Family" podcast, one can hardly blame him, especially considering he was not all that far from the truth. "I have got to see all the accolades," said Ball (h/t to Yahoo Sports' Gautam Varier) with an understandable caveat, "but if you line up Boston's best players ever, he's in my top five."
Now if you were to say top at his position, that would be a more reasonable argument given the existence of players like Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, Dave Cowens, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. There are reasonable arguments to rank him three or maybe even four of those names, but after that it gets tough given all these Hall of Fame players accomplished in Boston. Ball seemed to acknowledge this dynamic, shifting the frame to a more positional one.
"Only two wings is better than him is Paul Pierce and Larry Bird," said the Minnesota guard. Hondo and White would like a word, but to be fair neither looms as large in the lore of the wider league as they ought to. Perhaps most interestingly, Ball also thinks Boston dealt their best player to the Philadelphia 76ers.
"I think Brown's a little better," said Ball. "He's low-key frying Bird ... I don't want to be disrespectful… Bird is baking him too, but he's baking Bird. Bird is baking him, too, but he is also getting to it ... Jaylen Brown has a better chance of guarding him than he has of guarding Jaylen Brown."

#bird #jaylen #league

As fantasy draft season heats up, it's important to understand what kind of drafter you are: a sprinter or a long-distance drafter. Here's why.
Sprinters excel in the early rounds. They've carefully thought through their top target with their opening pick, and maybe a backup option or two just in case. They've considered whether they might take an RB or WR in the second round, or maybe even an uber-elite QB or TE. Some of the best sprinters have mapped out a game plan that takes them into the fourth or even the fifth round.
Then things start getting tougher for sprinters. The RB "dead zone" (which actually coincides with the lesser-discussed WR dead zone) generates more choices. Sprinters are straight-line runners. They don't want a lot of choices. They want the clarity of the early rounds replicated in the later rounds. But that's not how drafts work.
Long-distance drafters approach this process differently. They prepare for all 16, 18, or however many rounds the draft is. Perhaps they don't know their top targets for each round. But they do know that the attention they pay with their first pick should match the attention they pay with their 16th pick. Bargains can be found everywhere.
Sprinters can't wait to finish. Long-distance drafters can't wait to pick. Decide which one you are, and more importantly, which one you want to be.

#distance

Jordan Staal was 3 days old when Jaromir Jágr made his pro hockey debut.
Since then, Staal has grown up; made the NHL; won the Stanley Cup twice and the Conn Smythe Trophy once; played more than 1,500 games between the regular season and playoffs; and, as he's less than two weeks away from his 38th birthday, is likely entering the final stage of his career.
And Jágr is still playing.
Jágr, 54, ranks second all-time in NHL points behind only Wayne Gretzky. Since leaving the NHL in 2018, he has played parts of nine seasons for his hometown Kladno Knights in Czechia — a team that he once owned outright, and now holds a 20% stake.
"The fans won't see me anymore. A miracle would have to happen. God would have to come into me and make me 15 years younger."

#since #jordan

Hypotheticals and hindsight are not typically the favoured topics of the professional sports team but there is an alternative England scenario worth pondering. Had Sam Curran been fully fit to bowl ahead of this Pakistan series, the likelihood is that the Surrey all-rounder would have earned a recall to the Test squad for the first time in five years, a replacement of sorts after Ben Stokes had gone down in a blaze of gory batting at Trent Bridge.
Would Curran have featured in England's XI? The **** umption must be that he would not have but the very fact that he was under consideration at all shows the tricky question that Joe Root's side were attempting to answer. How does one replace the irreplaceable? Well, it seems, the answer is to not replace Stokes at all. There is no point, of course, selecting a seam all-rounder when you have specialists bowling the way that England's pace foursome have in this series so far.
England wrapped up a speedy victory over Pakistan at Lord's (Getty)
One must weigh Pakistan's paucity as mitigation against declarations of the brilliance of this attack but the evidence is increasingly persuasive about the group's potential. After the Headingley Test, Root had declared that the quartet of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson did not know how good they could be and another standout showing at Lord's will not dim his praise. Of all English bowlers in Test history, Root can currently call upon three of the five men with strike rates beneath 44 and still have Archer to spare; if the fast forwarding of Test cricket is partly to blame, any skipper would enjoy that sort of potency.
"Each day it will be someone else's turn," Archer said during the second Test. "Everyone is relentless, everyone wants wickets and it feels like no-one is ever going to be overworked because everyone shares the overs out. You don't have to do too much because someone is going to back you up until you find your feet again."

#Pakistan

Real Madrid will take on Malaga CF in a little over an hour in Matchday 3 of the 2026/27 La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Having started the new campaign with back-to-back wins over RCD Espanyol and Real Sociedad under new manager Jose Mourinho, the Merengues will be eager to maintain their strong start.
With kickoff not far away, Mourinho has announced the Real Madrid starting lineup that will take the field against the newly-promoted La Liga club today at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Having fielded the same starting XI for the first two games, the Real Madrid boss has opted to make some changes to the team today.
Three of the changes come in defence, where Trent Alexander-Arnold, Antonio Rudiger, and Marc Cucurella all start, replacing Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, and Alvaro Carreras, respectively.

#back #start

Who made The Chase? Saturday night's ***** e Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona marked the end of the regular season in the NASCAR Cup Series. Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece locked up the final three spots, setting up the NASCAR The Chase standings for the 10-race chase.
Immediately below is where you can find The Chase standings and how many points each of the 16 drivers will start with in the playoffs. Further below that are the final Cup Series points leaders after the regular season.
Here are the Chase Standings in the Cup Series entering the 10-race chase.
Pos.
Driver

#chase

Pike Road takes on Hueytown tonight as the 2026 high school football schedule ramps up across the country.
Searching for how to watch the game live?
Fans can stream the Alabama high school football game live on the NFHS Network from a laptop, mobile device or even Smart TV apps like Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Google TV and Roku.
Don't miss a moment of the game with on-demand replays, too.
Ahead of the kickoff, here's what to know about the Pike Road vs. Hueytown clash.

#high #school #fans

The misdemeanor charges against Packers running back Josh Jacobs arise from a domestic incident. And a portion of the incident apparently was captured by the surveillance system at Jacobs's house.
Via the incident report posted by Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, "Jacobs grabbed [the victim] and threw her to the ground and she struck her head, suffering an injury. Jacobs then took her phone from her while she was on the ground. [She] laid on the ground for a while and then struggled to walk back into the house." The incident report strongly suggests that this altercation appears on the video.
As everyone learned nearly 12 years ago in the Ray Rice case, if video exists the video eventually will emerge. And seeing the video will spark a much stronger action than knowing the video exists.
It could be enough to prompt the NFL to place Jacobs on paid leave, even though the charges are misdemeanors and not felonies. Depending on the specific content of the video, the Packers could also release him.
For now, the Packers have issued a predictably perfunctory statement.

#packers #incident #back

With the NHL season quickly approaching, the league has revealed its national TV schedule across TNT Sports and ESPN networks.
TNT Sports will air 72 regular-season games this season, including the Heritage Classic, Winter Classic, and "Thanksgiving Showdown" doubleheader on Black Friday. TNT will also air the 2027 Stanley Cup Final.
On ESPN, there will be 100 games across ABC, ESPN and ESPN+/Disney+/Hulu. Featured games include the NHL Frozen Frenzy and NHL Stadium Series. ABC and ESPN will also air the NHL All-Star Weekend, which is returning after a two-year hiatus.
Opening night on Tuesday, Sept. 29, as previously announced, will feature an opening tripleheader. Florida Panthers-Carolina Hurricanes will be at 5 p.m., New York Rangers-Boston Bruins at 8 p.m., and Chicago Blackhawks-Vegas Golden Knights at 10:30 p.m., all on ESPN.
TNT will begin its coverage the next night with a doubleheader featuring Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30 p.m. and Los Angeles Kings-Colorado Avalanche at 10 p.m.

#games #across

Dillon Dingler's 26 homers in 2026 are twice as many as he hit last year.
The second half of the MLB season has been a disaster for the best home run bets. Entering the MLB All-Star break, the best home run bets generated $642 in profit for anyone who bet $100 on each of the touted home run props at the listed odds.
In the second half, the best home run bets have cost bettors $892. The best home run props have a 20-81 record, with three no bets over the course of the entire season, and they're $250 in the red.
There is still time to salvage the season and generate a profit. Fortunately, home run props being long-shot wagers cuts both ways. While they're difficult to hit, correctly selecting a few home run bets can pull the best home run bets out of their funk and lift them back into the black.
A power-hitting catcher and one of MLB's best sluggers have eye-catching odds to hit a home run today. The first has an excellent matchup, and the second has an adequate matchup and blistering batted-ball data.

#season #props #profit

Here's the schedule for Lubbock-area high school football.
NON-DISTRICT
INTERCLASS
Estacado at Lubbock High, 7 p.m.
CLASS 1A

#estacado #class #schedule

Remember that summer when Bayern Munich tried to sign Florian Wirtz and failed? He went to Liverpool FC instead. The outcome of that experiment has left FCB fans cackling while scousers wonder where it all went wrong.
A short lesson on how Twitter works. You are shown things based on how much you interact with them. So when I happened to like a Wirtz tweet that randomly appeared on my feed, my For You page was suddenly flooded with lamentations from LFC fans in the aftermath of their draw to Newcastle.
There were honestly so many that I decided to compile them into one article and present it to my fellow FC Bayern fans to enjoy and ridicule. There is no greater pleasure in football than watching someone else suffer, and suffering is what these Pool fans feel.
Behold, the team that "won" the 2025 summer transfer market.
Really bad. Really really bad.

#bayern #wirtz

Celtic continue their pursuit of midfield options as Rangers prepare for a big name departure...
Celtic will step up their interest in Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis, 22, after Tuesday's Champions League play-off second leg away to LASK. (Scottish Sun)
Celtic are set to seal a £7m move for 21-year-old Bosnian World Cup star Ermin Mahmic from Slovan Liberec regardless of their Champions League result in Linz. (Daily Record)
Celtic have offered £7.7m for Frosinone winger Fares Ghedjemis, who is also being courted by Rangers, Monaco and Besiktas. (Murat Ozen on X)
Rangers have received initial approaches from England, Italy and Spain regarding Nico Raskin and will allow the Belgium midfielder, who has two years left on his contract, to depart if their valuation is met. (Rangers Review)

#celtic #rangers #midfielder

Liverpool appear determined to test Brighton and Hove Albion again over Yankuba Minteh, with the winger emerging as a significant target during the closing stages of the summer transfer window.
According to the Daily Mail, Liverpool are expected to return with another offer after Brighton rejected bids of £50million and £60million for the 22-year-old. The Seagulls are believed to value Minteh at more than £70million, leaving Liverpool with a decision over how far they are prepared to push negotiations.
There is little mystery surrounding the motivation. Liverpool require attacking reinforcements, particularly following Mohamed Salah's departure, and Andoni Iraola has publicly acknowledged that he would like more options.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool's Premier League opener, Iraola explained the difficulties created by starting the season while the transfer window remains open.
"As a manager, this is an easy one for me. I wanted the players for the first day on 13 July – everyone here and all the positions doubled with top-level players," said Iraola.

#Liverpool #iraola #players #albion

A multiple-division boxing champion is dead after being ambushed in his hometown while returning home from the gym. According to journalist Velile Mnyandu of SABC Sport in South Africa, Zolani Tete was shot and killed in front of his home in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
The shooting happened at around 6:30 p.m. local time, according to the Eastern Cape police. Two armed suspects reportedly ambushed Tete and a 27-year-old female passenger. The suspects have not been identified at this time.
"In an attempt to escape the hail of bullets, the deceased drove his vehicle into the yard. He unfortunately succumbed to his injuries and was declared deceased on the scene," Eastern Cape Police spokesperson Brigadier ******* untu Gantana said.
Tete is the Guinness World Record holder for Fastest World ******* le Knockout (11 seconds) for his WBO bantamweight ******* le win over Siboniso Gonya on November 18, 2017. Tete clocked Gonya with a right hook and immediately ended the fight.
MORE: Boxer who suffered traumatic brain injury in fight dies at 33

#tete #south #africa

San Francisco 49ers have come under scrutiny from former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, who criticised the team's drafting strategy and questioned the lack of impact players on the current roster.
The 49ers finished the 2025 regular season with a 12-5 record, placing third in the NFC West. They went 1-1 in the playoffs before falling in the Divisional Round.
However, injuries have been a recurring issue for the team, while their drafting strategy has also come under scrutiny.
Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images
During his appearance on "First Things First" on Thursday, Schwartz highlighted what he believes has gone wrong with the 49ers and pointed to their struggles with first-round picks.

#first

As the summer transfer deadline edges nearer, the Hearts squad Wouter Vrancken has ***** embled is beginning to take shape.
Most of the new additions - there have been 11 in total - are finally settling in and beginning to show the talents that brought them to Tynecastle.
There have been a number of standout performances, with Tom Renaud and Calvin Miller in particular catching the eye.
Goalkeeper Beau Reus looks to have a real presence and hopefully when a settled defence becomes available, he can prove to be a strong backbone of the team.
Tonight at Tynecastle would be the perfect opportunity to show the supporters exactly what this new-look Hearts side can do.

#calvin

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark just rewrote the record books for about the fiftieth time this WNBA season.
Caitlin Clark is completely rewriting what people thought was possible in the WNBA, making record-breaking look almost routine.
She set a WNBA record with five straight games of 20-plus points and five-plus ****** ists while becoming the fastest player in league history to reach 600 career ****** ists, as well as surpassing Sue Bird on the guards list for double-doubles in history.
But what makes this even more impressive is how she keeps blowing past expectations despite facing relentless full-court pressure and defenses designed purely to stop her.
And the game between the Indiana Fever and the Atlanta Dream was no different.

#record #assists

We really aren't gonna escape this weird Indiana-Notre Dame… thing anytime soon, huh?
The Hoosiers and Fighting Irish are in the news again, this time because Curt Cignetti was asked about it during an appearance on Big Ten Network this past weekend.
"Yeah, I'd like to play Notre Dame," Cignetti said. "They oughta come to our place twice, we'll go up there once, since they're not in a conference. I'd love to play them. It'd be a great in-state game."
Indiana came under fire earlier this month when it was reported that the Hoosiers asked out of an existing home-and-home series against Notre Dame set for 2030 and 2031, a move that several members of the former fanbase approved of.
Cignetti's comments have the media machine up and running again, just in time for some preseason storylines.

#hoosiers

Friday night, in his first affiliate rehab start for Triple-A Sugar Land, Houston Astros starter Mike Burrows had a solid outing.
Burrows went 4.1 IP scoreless on 3 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 3. He threw 43 of his 67 pitches for strikes, and generated 5 ground ball outs. He worked primarily 95-97 MPH with his fastball.
Burrows is recovering from right elbow neuritis, which is inflammation around a nerve. Burrows MRI showed no structural damage, according to the team.
Burrows last pitched for the Astros July 6, allowing 10 runs (7 ER) in 4.1 innings, surrendering 9 hits (2 HR) and 2 BB with 3 K. He is 4-9 overall in 2026 with a 5.99 ERA.

#astros #sugar #land #houston