Yahoo Sports AM: Alonso plays the hero

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🚨 Headlines

🏀 Not unanimous: Caitlin Clark was named the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year, though she fell one vote shy of unanimity (66 of 67), with Chicago’s Angel Reese earning one first-place vote.

⚾️ Francona to Cincy: The Reds are hiring Terry Francona to be their new manager. The longtime skipper will come out of retirement after leaving Cleveland last year.

⚽️ NWSL sanctions Angel City: Angel City is being fined $200,000 and docked three points (among other punishments) for violating NWSL salary cap rules.

🏈 Rice placed on IR: The Chiefs placed star WR Rashee Rice on injured reserve, meaning he will miss at least the next four games for the knee injury sustained on Sunday. No official diagnosis was provided, though.

⚾️ Alonso plays the hero, Mets advance

Pete Alonso played the hero on Thursday, hitting a three-run home run in the ninth inning to lift the Mets past the Brewers, 4-2, and into the NLDS.

Historic blast: This was the 10th go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later in a winner-take-all game in postseason history — and the first ever with that player’s team trailing. New York was down 2-0 when Alonso came to the plate.

From Yahoo Sports’ Russell Dorsey…

No player needed a big moment more than Pete Alonso. Throughout the Mets’ incredible September run to reach the postseason, they’d gotten plenty of big hits. But none had come from their star first baseman.

In fact, nothing seemed to be going right for Alonso going into his ninth-inning at-bat in Thursday’s Game 3. His timing looked off; he didn’t look comfortable in the batter’s box.

Frankly, with the Mets’ season on the line, there were probably other guys fans wanted up in that moment. But in baseball, especially in the postseason, the moment finds you.

What’s next: The ALDS and NLDS begin tomorrow with series openers in Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles.

• Tigers at Guardians: The first-ever postseason meeting between AL Central teams is also the first between Detroit and Cleveland.

• Mets at Phillies: Like their AL Central counterparts above, these NL East rivals have surprisingly never met in the postseason.

• Royals at Yankees: AL MVP frontrunners Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. headline this rekindling of a once-fierce rivalry.

• Padres at Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani’s playoff debut should be a doozy, as these NL West foes square off for the third time in the last five postseasons.

Offseason preview: What do the Brewers need to do to stay atop the NL Central?

📸 The world in photos

Atlanta — For the third time this season, the Falcons pulled out a miraculous win, beating the Buccaneers, 36-30 (OT), on KhaDarel Hodges’ walk-off score. Kirk Cousins passed for a Falcons-record 509 yards. You like that?!

St Andrews, Scotland — The PGA Tour and LIV remain divided, but it was all laughs and hugs on Thursday between their two leaders, Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who played in the same group at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.*

London — Chelsea’s Christopher Nkunku pulled a balloon out of his sock and inflated it — his signature celebration — after scoring in a 4-2 win over Ghent on the opening night of the new-look UEFA Conference League.

*How it works: The Championship sees players rotate through three renowned courses (Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews) before a cut is made and the final round is staged at the Old Course. There are lots of big names in the field (Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka), but it’s ultimately a Pro-Am. McIlroy is playing with his dad.

🏈 Ashton Jeanty has entered the Heisman chat

Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty has emerged as a Heisman favorite, and it’s going to be hard not to give him the award if he continues on his record pace.

Video game numbers: Jeanty has rushed for 845 yards and 13 TD through four games, putting the junior on pace for over 2,700 yards and 42 TD. Those would both break Barry Sanders’ single-season FBS records from 1988 (2,628 yards, 37 TD).

• Jeanty isn’t just doing this against a cupcake schedule, either: He combined for 451 yards and 7 TD against No. 6 Oregon and 4-1 Washington State.

• In fact, in the one game he played against an FCS team he was pulled at halftime with 127 yards and no scores. So his stats might be underselling him, if anything.

Not your typical contender: Jeanty is vying to become just the fourth RB to win the Heisman this century (Reggie Bush, Mark Ingram, Derrick Henry), and the first Group of 5 player since 2013 (Northern Illinois QB Jordan Lynch) to be invited to NYC as a finalist.

A loyal Bronco: After leading the Broncos to the MWC title last season, Jeanty could have transferred elsewhere and earned a huge NIL payday. But “no amount of money can outweigh [what I have here],” he told The Athletic ($). (Don’t worry, he still signed a $300,000 NIL deal.)

Did you know? Jeanty spent his freshman year of high school playing football in Italy, where his father was stationed with the U.S. Navy.

🏁 MJ vs. NASCAR

Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR on Wednesday, calling them out as “monopolistic bullies” after refusing to sign the latest charter agreement.

Catch up quick: With the old charter agreement expiring at the end of this season, NASCAR and its teams spent much of this year negotiating the terms of a new one. Ultimately, all but two teams — 23XI and Front Row Motorsports, the co-plaintiff — signed the deal last month.

• Charters are what allow NASCAR to function like a pro sports league, guaranteeing teams a starting position in races and a larger share of purse money. The agreement also dictates revenue sharing, which was at the center of the aforementioned protracted negotiations.

• Teams can no longer rely on the sport’s dwindling pool of sponsorship money, so they want a bigger chunk of the seven-year, $7.7 billion media deal that kicks in next year. That money is split between teams, NASCAR and the racetracks, a majority of which are owned by NASCAR.

What they’re saying: “I love the sport of racing … but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors and fans,” Jordan said in a statement. “Today’s action shows I’m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.”

The bottom line: “NASCAR is the only sports series where it’s nearly impossible to both win and be profitable,” says Yahoo Sports’ Nick Bromberg. One of the greatest athletes to ever live is trying to change that.

📆 Oct. 4, 1906: 116 wins

118 years ago today, the Cubs shut out the Pirates to finish 116-36 (.763), which remains the best record in modern MLB history.

• The Cubs closed the season on a mind-boggling 55-8 run that included winning streaks of 11, 12 and 14 games.

• Their star player was Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown,* whose 1.04 ERA that season remains the second-best in modern MLB history.

Best records: Here are the top 5 records by winning percentage in a full season since 1901 (when the AL was formed):

1. 1906 Cubs: 116-36 (.763)

2. 1902 Pirates: 103-36 (.741)

3. 1909 Pirates: 110-42 (.724)

4. 1954 Indians: 111-43 (.721)

5. 2001 Mariners: 116-46 (.716)

No storybook ending: The Cubs lost the World Series to the rival White Sox in the biggest playoff upset ever in terms of regular-season winning percentage (.763 vs. .616).

*Brown’s right hand was mangled in a childhood accident, and that same hand made him a Hall of Fame pitcher. “It was a great ball, that downward curve of his,” said Ty Cobb of the pitch that evolved from Brown’s misshapen fingers. “It was the most deceiving, the most devastating pitch I ever faced.”

📺 Watchlist: NHL in Prague, NFL in London

The NHL season begins this weekend in Prague, Czechia, where the Devils and Sabres will be playing today (1pm ET, NHL) and tomorrow (10am, NHL).

Meanwhile, in London: The Jets and Vikings meet at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday (9:30am, NFL) in the first of three NFL games in London this year. (Full Sunday slate)

More to watch:

• ⚾️ MLB Playoffs: Tigers at Guardians (Sat. 1pm, TBS); Mets at Phillies (Sat. 4pm, Fox); Royals at Yankees (Sat. 6:30pm, TBS); Padres at Dodgers (Sat. 8:30pm, FS1) … NLDS Game 2s on Sunday.

• 🏀 WNBA Playoffs: Lynx (1-1) at Sun (Fri. 7:30pm, ESPN2); Liberty (up 2-0) at Aces* (Fri. 9:30pm, ESPN2) … Both Game 4s (if necessary) are on Sunday.

• 🏈 CFB Saturday: No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M (12pm, ABC); Iowa at No. 3 Ohio State (3:30pm, CBS); No. 10 Michigan at Washington (7:30pm, NBC) … Week 6.

• 👊 MMA: UFC 307 (Sat. 10pm, ESPN+ PPV) … In Salt Lake City.

• 🏁 NASCAR Playoffs: Talladega (Sun. 2pm, NBC) … Round of 12 continues.

• ⚽️ MLS: 14 games (Sat-Sun, Apple)

• ⚽️ NWSL: Orlando vs. Washington (Sun. 5pm, ESPN2)

• ⚽️ EPL: Manchester City vs. Fulham (Sat. 10am, Peacock); Brighton vs. Tottenham (Sun. 11:30am, USA)

• ⛳️ Korn Ferry Tour: Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf)

*Pregame reading: The Aces are proving to be the latest example of how difficult it is to 3-peat

⚾️ MLB trivia

With the Division Series beginning tomorrow, eight teams are still in the hunt for the 2024 World Series.

Only one current MLB franchise has never played in a World Series. Can you name that team?

Hint: They missed the playoffs this year.

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 That’s a lot of losses

Northwestern hosts Indiana tomorrow in the first-ever meeting between two FBS teams with 700+ losses.

Most losses (FBS history): Indiana leads the way with 713 losses, followed by Northwestern (703), Rutgers (695), Wake Forest (687) and Kansas (681).

Trivia answer: Mariners

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