Baseball's biggest Goliath is on the ropes in the NLCS

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Baseball's biggest Goliath is on the ropes in the NLCS

Tue, Oct 13, 2026 ·

11 min read

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🚨 Headlines

🏀 Atlanta's arena conundrum:After playing three home playoff games at State Farm Arena (17,000 capacity) during their run to the WNBA Finals, the Atlanta Dream may have to host Finals games at Gateway Center Arena (3,500 capacity) due to scheduling conflicts. Their opponent, the Golden State Valkyries, will host games at Chase Center (18,000 capacity).

⛳️ LIV's Ryder Cup dilemma:The European Tour (aka. the DP World Tour) will refuse membership to golfers who sign up for LIV in 2027 . As a result, any European golfers who stick with LIV won't be eligible for the Ryder Cup team next fall.

🏈 Marv on the move:Just two years after drafting him No. 4 overall, the Cardinals are shipping WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (and a 2027 seventh-round pick) to the Texans in exchange for a 2027 second-round and sixth-round pick. The trade reunites Harrison with QB C.J. Stroud, with whom he thrived at Ohio State (77 catches, 1,263 yards, 14 TDs in 2022).

⚾️ Vlad's new vision:Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. underwent laser eye surgery following the worst season of his MLB career. Guerrero has previously dealt with vision issues, wearing contact lenses while playing and eyeglasses off the field, per The Athletic .

🎓 JMU to change conferences:James Madison has voted to leave the Sun Belt Conference (which it joined in 2022) and has been accepted into the American Conference , where it will become a full league member "no later than July 1, 2028.

⚾️ Dodgers down 0-2, might bench Ohtani

MLB's final four features three Davids and one Goliath, at least in terms of finances.* Two games into the NLCS, Goliath is already on the ropes.

Milwaukee lands two punches:The Brewers took care of business at home against the Dodgers over the long weekend, besting the reigning AL Cy Young (Tarik Skubal) and reigning World Series MVP (Yoshinobu Yamamoto) to put the two-time reigning champions in an 0-2 hole.

Game 1: Brewers 2, Dodgers 1
Game 2: Brewers 7, Dodgers 4

Between the lines:The top seed is supposed to win at home, so it's not like L.A. is in panic mode as the series shifts to the West Coast. But the mighty Dodgers do suddenly look mighty rickety and vulnerable — and their biggest superstar has become their biggest question mark.

What to watch:The Dodgers are considering the unfathomable ahead of tomorrow's Game 3: benching Shohei Ohtani . The four-time MVP is clearly injured, though his exact diagnosis is unclear. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Monday to lower his postseason batting average to .150, which is only slightly worse than his batting average since Aug. 18 (.160).

"Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn't been good," manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic. "He doesn't feel great. I think for me, it's having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what's best for him, what's best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation."

Meanwhile, in St. Pete:The Guardians beat the Rays, 7-3 , on Monday night to win their fourth straight playoff game. Cleveland made some fun postseason history , too, becoming the first team to get shut out through five innings only to score in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. Game 2 is tonight.

*Davids vs. Goliath: The Dodgers will spend $616.4 million (!!) on this year's roster between their tax payroll and estimated tax bill. That's $255.9 million more than the Brewers ($154.7M), Rays ($113.2M) and Guardians ($92.6M) combined.

🌎 The world in photos

🇺🇸 Los Angeles, California

Speaking of struggling Southern California-based superteams, the Rams fell to 2-3 on Monday night with a 37-34 (OT) loss to the Bills , who rode Josh Allen's legs (121 rushing yards) and Tyler Bass' foot (game-winning 45-yard field goal) to victory.

The view from first:The Bills (4-1) sit atop the AFC East following an eventful Week 5 , while the Ravens (4-1), Jaguars (4-1), Chiefs (4-0), Giants (3-1-1), Vikings (5-0), Panthers (2-2) and 49ers (5-0) lead their respective divisions.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liverpool, England

Manchester City faced a barrage of abuse from Liverpool supporters in their first match since being found guilty on 114 charges of breaching the Premier League's financial rules. But the jeers didn't seem to faze them: City won 3-0 to continue their perfect season.

Where it stands:Man City (18 points) sits atop the Premier League table with six wins in six matches, followed by Arsenal (15), Brighton (13), Brentford (10), Everton (10) and Chelsea (10). Rounding out the top half of the league: Leeds (9), newly-promoted Hull City (9), Liverpool (9) and newly-promoted Ipswich Town (9).

🇸🇬 Marina Bay, Singapore

Red Bull's Max Verstappen followed up his first win of the Formula 1 season with another victory in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix . The resurgence has come too late to play a meaningful role in the title fight, but Verstappen now has a top-three finish in his sights.

Meanwhile, in Charlotte:Even on a day that seemed on its face like a disappointment, Kyle Larson extended his points lead atop the NASCAR Cup Chase and is potentially four races away from a third Cup Series championship.

🇮🇹 Como, Italy

20-year-old French prodigy Paul Seixas ended his breakout season in historic fashion on Saturday when he became the youngest winner of the Giro di Lombardia , one of the sport's five Monuments ( prestigious one-day races ).

Notably absent:Five-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar wasn't able to race following a season-ending crash at the Vuelta a España in August. That opened the door for the rest of the field, and Seixas seized the opportunity.

🏈 From Mr. Irrelevant to MVP?

After leading his undefeated 49ers to victory over the defending champion Seahawks on Sunday afternoon, the MVP conversation is heating up for San Francisco QB Brock Purdy.

By the numbers:According to an aggregation of prediction- and betting-market MVP odds, Purdy leads the field with a 26.7% chance, narrowly ahead of Josh Allen (26%) and comfortably ahead of Patrick Mahomes (12.5%), Trevor Lawrence (9.1%) and Joe Burrow (8.3%). And unlike those names, all of whom were top-10 draft picks, Purdy was famously "Mr. Irrelevant" in 2022, when he was the very last player taken (No. 262 pick).

The historical context:If Purdy ends up winning, he would be the second-latest-drafted MVP in league history, trailing only Washington kicker — yes, kicker — Mark Moseley, who won AP MVP in 1982 after going 346th overall in 1970. (1966 MVP Bart Starr went 200th overall and 3x winner Tom Brady went 199th.) But "latest-drafted" is also doing some work there: Two-time MVP Kurt Warner wasn't even drafted, making him the most unlikely winner of all.

This story was written by Neil Paine, the newest addition to our team. We'll formally introduce him later this week. In the meantime, here's a fun fact: Neil would have gotten a ring as a consultant for the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks… if they'd won the NBA title, instead of what actually happened: getting swept by an average of 13.3 points per game in the East Finals. He still wears the hypothetical ring proudly.

🏈 College football's wildest week yet

Georgia is the clear No. 1 team in this week's AP Top 25 , earning all but three of the 69 first-place votes after beating Alabama, 20-17, on Saturday night in a thrilling ( and controversial ) matchup that has us dreaming of a rematch .

Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports:

Georgia proved Saturday night it is good enough to win a championship. But it also saw the team — and particularly the quarterback — that might be good enough to prevent it. "There's no such thing as containing [Keelon] Russell," an exhausted Kirby Smart said after his defense survived and advanced to 6-0, knowing there will likely be a second meeting with far more significance somewhere down the line.

Meanwhile, in Dallas:Former No. 1 Texas fell six spots to No. 7 after losing 27-24 to unranked Oklahoma on a walk-off field goal in the 122nd edition of the Red River Rivalry. Get ready for more talk about the woes of Texas' offense and QB Arch Manning , who threw two costly second-half interceptions.

More AP Poll:

Moving in:Kentucky jumped all the way to No. 15 following their 35-34 (OT) win over then-No. 12 LSU , which came a week after they beat South Carolina in overtime by the same exact score (walk-off two-point conversions in both games!). No. 21 Wake Forest and No. 25 Northwestern also joined the rankings.
Moving out:Oregon (formerly No. 13) is unranked for the first time in four years following an ugly 17-15 loss to UCLA , which jumped nine spots to No. 12 with the win. Florida (No. 16) also plummeted out of the poll after losing big to South Carolina , and Pittsburgh (No. 25) dropped out after falling to UNC .

Elsewhere:Mike Elko lashed out at Texas A&M fans after the team's third loss in four games … Nebraska gave Indiana a scare before losing their 31st straight game to a ranked opponent … Boise State held off Fresno State to keep their playoff hopes alive .

Coming up:Saturday's slate features a whopping six games between ranked teams, including two blockbuster top-10 matchups: No. 4 Ohio State at No. 5 Indiana in Bloomington and No. 2 Notre Dame at No. 8 BYU in Provo.

📺 Watchlist: Tuesday, Oct. 13

⚾️ ALCS, Game 2

The Rays will look to draw even with the Guardians tonight (8pm ET, TBS) at "The Trop," where they are 57-27 (.679) this season despite Monday's series-opening loss.

Pitching matchup:Freddy Peralta, who was nails down the stretch (0.93 ERA in his last 7 starts), takes the mound for Tampa Bay, while ROY contender Parker Messick (12-9, 2.56 ERA) gets the ball for Cleveland.

⚽️ USWNT vs. Spain

The world's top two women's soccer teams meet tonight in Chester, Pennsylvania (7pm, TNT) , where the Americans will be seeking revenge against the reigning World Cup champions following Spain's 2-0 victory on Saturday in Washington, D.C.

Pregame reading: USWNT faces a new reality against Spain: The Americans are now the hunters, not the hunted (Steven Goff, Yahoo Sports)

🏒 Frozen Frenzy

All 32 NHL teams take the ice tonight , which will only happen twice this season. Games start every 15 minutes beginning at 6pm, when ESPN's triple-header gets underway: Devils at Red Wings (6pm) ; Avalanche at Stars (8:30pm) ; Bruins at Sharks (11pm) .

See all the action:For those seeking "NFL RedZone"-style coverage, John Buccigross and Kevin Weekes will host a whip-around show from the studio (7pm, ESPN2) .

More to watch:

⚽️ Champions League:Atlético vs. Man United (3pm, Paramount+) ; Arsenal vs. Lille (3pm, Paramount+) … Two of nine games as Matchday 2 kicks off.
🏀 NBA Preseason:Cavaliers at Magic (7pm, Peacock/NBCSN) ; Warriors vs. Lakers (10pm, NBA) … The regular season tips off a week from today.

Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

🌎 GeoSports

On Tuesdays, we play GeoSports . All questions are written by me.

How to play:You'll be asked five questions that combine sports and geography. Tap the spot on the globe where you think the answer is. The closer you are, the more points you get.

Play today's round.

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Want to try something different?" High Score " is our streamlined game format that features six weekly starters, with only their highest-scoring game each week counting toward your total.

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