Yankees and Dodgers win division titles; Cowboys beat Giants but lose key players

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⚾ Good morning to everyone, but especially…

THE NEW YORK YANKEES AND THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS

For the second time in three years, the… Yankees Are AL East championsand with a historic duo and a top pitcher at the helm, they're looking for more. Aaron Richter hit his 58th home run of the season to lead the Yankees Orioles 10-1 for the division title. The victory guaranteed New York a place in the division series.

judge and Juan Soto have set up Numbers comparable to some of the best duos of all time and have hit a combined 99 home runs this season. Apart from them, Gleyber Torres has recently appeared as a leadoff hitter and Austin Wells has developed well behind Judge and Soto. As for pitching, Gerrit Cole has a 2.25 ERA in his last 10 starts and the bullpen has a ton of options.

So is this the year the drought ends? Mike Axisa says the ingredients are there… and so is the pressure.

The Dodgersin the meantime, won their 11th NL West title in 12 years with a 7-2 win over the Padres. Shohei Ohtani — who else? – had the go-ahead run as part of a five-run seventh inning and Finally playing in the playoffs is every baseball fan’s dream.

It's not just Ohtani. There are Mookie Betts And Freddie Freeman And Teoscar Hernandez on the offensive. The Dodgers are just 1-6 in their last two postseasons, but perhaps Ohtani is the key to changing that, even if an injury-plagued pitching staff remains a big question mark.

The last weekend of the season begins, Here is the playoff picturefour places are available. Things will last until Monday, by the way, so Brave And Mets may make up for their games postponed by Hurricane Helene.

Finally, here they are Matt Snyder's price predictions.

😁 Honorable mentions

🥲 And not such a good morning for…

OAKLAND ATHLETICS FANS

Don't go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at the end of the day;
Anger, anger against the dying of the light.

This is the poet Dylan Thomas in 1947. And in 2024, fans of the Oakland Athletics noticed, with 46,889 fans – full of emotion and alcohol – filled the Oakland Coliseum for the Athletics' final home game before the team heads to Sacramento and then Las Vegas.

Rickey Henderson And Dave Stewart threw out the first casts. Barry Zito sang the national anthem. The groundskeepers collected the dirt for the fans as a souvenir. It was a bittersweet farewell – more bitter than sweet.

It didn't have to be like this. owner John Fisher has ruined the organization and is now driving them out of town. Then he had the audacity to write to fans saying it was so “so very hard.” Yeah right. Over the last five years, Oakland has lost the Athletics robber and the warrior. It has uprooted lives and fandoms robbed. It just stinks.

Thanks for the memories, you little engine that could (and did), you “Moneyball” experts, you four-time champions. RJ Anderson has one wonderful look back at 56 years of Oakland Athletics baseball.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 Cowboys beat Giants, plus NFL Week 4 picks

The Cowboys needed a win, and they got one. Who cares if it was pretty? (That wasn't the case.) Dallas got over it Giants 20-15 to improve the season score to 2-2. Dak Prescott threw two touchdowns and earned his 13th consecutive victory over the Giants, the second-longest winning streak by a quarterback against a single opponent on record (Bob Griese won 17 times in a row against the Bills.)

Listen, the cowboys aren't great at the moment. They find it difficult to run the ball. The defense under a new coordinator Mike Zimmerdoesn't make the big appearances like last year. Last year, Dallas beat New York 49-17 and 40-0.

Furthermore, this victory may have come at a later cost Micah Parsons And DeMarcus Lawrence was left with injuries. Giants star rookie Malik Nabers Also suffered a concussion.

It's hard to win in the NFL. It was a short week on the road. Prescott was efficient and the defense allowed a franchise-low 1.1 yards per rush (minimum 20 carries) a week after the injury. Dallas may not be as strong as they have been in recent years, but this was a much-needed win.

There are still a lot of great games to come in Week 4, but in my eyes this is the best Bills-Ravens on Sunday evening. In his selectionsays John Breech…

• Closure: “Since John Harbaugh When he took over as coach in 2008, the Ravens had rushed for at least 200 yards in 40 regular-season games, and Baltimore had a 35-5 record in those games… With Derrick HenryThe Ravens' offense is essentially a freight train rolling down the tracks at full speed, and not many teams have a strong enough defense to slow a freight train. The choice: Ravens 23-20 over Bills“

Viking packers is an awfully close second though, especially if Jordan love (Knee) returns. He would be greeted by a Minnesota defense that has confounded the game's best and Chris Trapasso's Look at Minnesota's defense is a must read.

Here are our expert tips:

Pete Prisco | John Breech | Tyler Sullivan | Jordan Dajani

After forgetting to give tips last week, I'm still 5-2 this season. This week we're rolling with…

• Buccaneers over Eagles
• Steelers over Colts
• Bengals over Panthers

🏈 Georgia-Alabama is the college football game of the year so far, plus tips for Week 5

Well, I know how I'm going to spend my Saturday evening. No. 2 Georgia Visits No. 4 Alabama in the early game of the year (Preview here). The Bulldogs have won 42 straight regular season games, but their last one was 13-12 Kentucky – raised many questions Kirby SmartThat's a bunch. We have a ton of preview content befitting such a big game:

And surprisingly, this one starts Tom Fornelli's six pack with tips.

• Fornelli: “I'm a little worried about Georgia! … It's not entirely out of character for this team to play with their food, but it usually gets things going at the end of these games. That didn't happen against Kentucky.” To top it off, they are without a guard Tate Ratledge (ankles) for probably a month or more, and they are damaged in other places too. … The Crimson Tide's offense is explosive and the defense is a problem, the latter of which gives me cause for concern for Georgia. The Pick: Alabama +2.5 (-115)“

Here are some other top games:

• No. 3 Ohio State at Michigan State (preview)
• No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State (preview)
• Wisconsin at No. 13 USC (preview)
• No. 15 Louisville and No. 16 Notre Dame (preview)
• No. 20 Oklahoma State and No. 23 Kansas State (preview)

And here's more…

⛳ The United States takes a historic 5-0 lead on the first day of the Presidents Cup

On paper, the United States was a big favorite.

It was kind of even on the track more dominant. The USA leads the international team 5-0 after the first day of the Presidents Cup, a defeat of historic proportions.

• It is the fifth time in Presidents Cup history – and the first time since 2007 – that a team has won a session.
• In the five games, the international pair already had a lead after 10 of the 87 holes.

That's not to say there weren't some close matches, nor that it wasn't heated. Things got exciting on the seventh hole Scottie Scheffler & Russell Henley vs. Tom Kim & Sungjae Im match when Kim celebrated a long birdie and Scheffler responded with a birdie of his own and a “What was that?!” yell at Kim. On the eighth shot, Kim and I left the green early without watching Scheffler's putt, which caused quite a stir.

Ultimately, the international team took on the bull and got the horns… and the US has a lot of bulls. World No. 1 Scheffler and Henley defeated Kim and Im 3 and 2, the biggest win of the day. Xander Schauffelethe world number 2, achieved a breathtaking birdie-birdie finish to lead himself and Tony Finau to a 1-UP win Ben An And Jason Day.

Here are the full results from Day 1.

📺 What we see this weekend

⛳ We're watching the Presidents Cup. Here's how.

Friday

🏈 Virginia Tech at No. 7 Miami7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Washington at Rutgers8 p.m. on Fox

Saturday

🏈 Kentucky at No. 6 Ole MissNoon on ABC
🏈 Minnesota at No. 12 MichiganNoon on Fox
🏈 No. 20 Oklahoma State and No. 23 Kansas StateNoon on ESPN
🏈 Wisconsin at No. 13 USC3:30 p.m. on CBS
🏈 No. 15 Louisville and No. 16 Notre Dame3:30 p.m. on Peacock
🏈 Mississippi State at No. 1 Texas4:15 p.m. on SEC Network
🏈 No. 3 Ohio State at Michigan State7 p.m. on Peacock
⚾ Orioles at Twins OR Mets at Brewers7:15 p.m. on Fox
🏈 No. 2 Georgia and No. 4 Alabama7:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State7:30 p.m. on NBC
🏈 Arizona at No. 10 Utah10:15 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 No. 8 Oregon at UCLA10:30 p.m. on Fox

Sunday

🏈 Vikings at Falcons1 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Steelers at Colts1 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Eagles at Buccaneers1 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Saints at Falcons1 p.m. on Fox
🏀 Aces at Liberty Game 13:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Commanders at Cardinals4:05 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Bosses at Chargers4:25 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Bills at Ravens8:20 p.m. on NBC
🏀 Sun at Lynx Game 18:30 p.m. on ESPN