Yahoo Sports AM: Yankees on the brink

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🚨 Headlines

⚽️ Ballon d’Or drama: Manchester City midfielder Rodri won the Ballon d’Or over Real Madrid forward and heavy favorite Vinícius Júnior, whose club boycotted the ceremony. Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí won the women’s award for the second straight year.

🏈 Chiefs make another trade: A week after acquiring WR DeAndre Hopkins from the Titans, the Chiefs acquired edge rusher Joshua Uche from the Patriots in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.

⚾️ “Best day of my life”: The 10-year-old kid who caught Freddie Freeman’s historic walk-off grand slam didn’t know he was going to the game until he got to Dodger Stadium. His parents told him he was going to the dentist.

🏈 Tuttle retires: Michigan QB Jack Tuttle medically retired from football after suffering his fifth concussion.

🎉 Sports Equinox: How it unfolded

The “Big Four” sports leagues were all in action on Monday during the 31st Sports Equinox, which also featured two MLS playoff games.

⚾️ Yankees on the brink: Freddie Freeman homered for the fifth straight World Series game, Walker Buehler tossed yet another gem and the Dodgers beat Aaron Judge (.140 AVG this postseason) and the Yankees, 4-2, to take a commanding 3-0 series lead.*

🏈 Pittsburgh loves Mondays: The first-place Steelers beat the reeling Giants, 26-18, to improve to 6-2 and win their 22nd straight Monday night home game dating back to 1992. Daniel Jones fell to 1-15 in primetime.

🏀 Banchero drops 50: Paolo Banchero recorded the first 50-point game of the NBA season (and added 13 rebounds and 9 assists) in the Magic’s 119-115 win over the Pacers. The former No. 1 overall pick had 37 points in the first half alone.

🏒 No more unbeatens: John Tavares notched his 12th career hat trick (T-7th most among active players) in the Maple Leafs’ 6-4 win over the Jets, who entered the night as the NHL’s only remaining undefeated team.

Headlines: MLB | NFL | NBA | NHL

*The Yankees need a miracle: MLB teams that take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win the series 39 of 40 times (98%), including 31 sweeps. The only team to come back from 3-0 down and win? The curse-breaking Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS (against the Yankees, of course).

🏀 Firing spree: 7 of 12 WNBA jobs are vacant

The WNBA has 12 teams. Seven of them are currently without a head coach after a slew of firings over the past five weeks.

The latest: The Sun parted ways with Stephanie White on Monday. The 2023 Coach of the Year went 55-25 in two seasons and led Connecticut to back-to-back semifinals.

Fired head coaches:

1. Sparks: Curt Miller (fired Sept. 24)

2. Sky: Teresa Weatherspoon (Sept. 27)

3. Dream: Tanisha Wright (Oct. 2)

4. Wings: Latricia Trammell (Oct. 18)

5. Mystics: Eric Thibault (Oct. 23)

6. Fever: Christie Sides (Oct. 27)

7. Sun: White (Oct. 28)

What’s going on? “It’s very clear to me the level of urgency WNBA franchises are moving with right now,” said broadcaster Ros Gold-Onwude. “This feels like a time for fresh blood. New names. The player entering the W is a very different player than in past. And the expectations and attention on the league is unprecedented. The rewards for excellence and winning have grown exponentially.”

A time of change: The WNBA just experienced a transformative season. Up next? A transformative offseason. In addition to the coaching carousel, the players’ union just opted out of their CBA and the Golden State Valkyries will soon raid the league’s rosters during an expansion draft on Dec. 6.

⚾️ The Tommy John World Series

Walker Buehler and Clarke Schmidt, last night’s World Series starters, have something in common with not only each other but nearly 40% of MLB pitchers: They both had Tommy John surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in their elbow.

Wild stat: A staggering 38.8% of pitchers who took the mound this season (or spent the year on the Injured List) have had Tommy John surgery, according to data compiled by baseball writer Jon Roegele. That’s up from 27.4% just eight years ago.

The Tommy John World Series: The Dodgers (17) and Yankees (16) used the most pitchers during the regular season who’ve had Tommy John*, and they each have seven of those hurlers on their World Series rosters.

• Dodgers: Buehler, Daniel Hudson, Ryan Brasier, Brusdar Graterol, Brent Honeywell, Anthony Banda, Michael Kopech

• Yankees: Schmidt, Clay Holmes, Mark Leiter Jr, Carlos Rodón, Tim Mayza, Tommy Kahnle, Luis Gil (tonight’s starter)

The new normal: Most pitchers agree that velocity and spin rate, which have increased exponentially over the past decade, are the main culprits behind the rise in torn UCLs. Thankfully, the surgery invented in 1974 to repair them — and named after the first pitcher to undergo the procedure — has an incredibly high success rate.

*12 teams used at least 12 “Tommy John” pitchers this season: Dodgers (17), Yankees (16), Rockies (15), Tigers (15), White Sox (14), Pirates (14), Rangers (14), Braves (12), Reds (12), Angels (12), Marlins (12), Mets (12).

⚽️ Messi, who missed half the year, is still clear MVP

Lionel Messi has been named one of five finalists for MLS MVP despite playing in just 19 of Inter Miami’s 34 games (56%) this season.

The MVP finalists:

• Messi (Inter Miami)

• Luis Suárez (Inter Miami)

• Christian Benteke (D.C. United)

• Evander (Portland Timbers)

• Cucho Hernández (Columbus Crew)

By the numbers: Messi missed nearly half the year… and still led the league with 36 goal contributions (20 goals, 16 assists). His 1.81 non-penalty goals plus assists per 90 minutes were roughly a half-goal better than any other single-season mark in MLS history.

Unprecedented candidacy: Here’s Yahoo Sports’ Henry Bushnell on an MVP-worthy season unlike any other…

No player in the history of the major leagues has ever missed nearly half a season and still been named MVP. And yet, Messi isn’t just a contender for the MLS award; he should be the runaway favorite.

He’s the favorite because he’s packed an entire season of MVP production into his 15 starts and [four] substitute appearances; but also because his mere presence has completely transformed Inter Miami from MLS’ worst team to perhaps its best ever. He is, literally, and obviously, by a wide margin, the league’s “most valuable player.”

The big picture: Before Messi arrived midway through the 2023 season, Inter Miami was the the laughingstock of the league. 15 months later, the club set the MLS single-season record for points (74) and winning percentage (.765) and just won its first-ever playoff game.

Good read: How Miami built, and Messi wooed, the greatest MLS team ever (Henry Bushnell, Yahoo Sports)

📆 Oct. 29, 2018: Klay catches fire

Six years ago today, Klay Thompson made an NBA-record 14 three-pointers in a Warriors’ 149-124 win over the Bulls, breaking teammate Steph Curry’s previous record of 13.

By the numbers: Thompson made 18-of-29 shots and 14-of-24 threes to finish with 52 points — in just 27 minutes. He didn’t even play in the fourth quarter.

From ice cold to red hot: “I just knew I was due for a big night” said Thompson, who had started the season in a terrible slump (5-for-36 from deep). “It’s one of the best feelings in basketball when you touch the ball and feel like it’s going in every time.”

📺 Watchlist: Game 4

The Dodgers and Yankees meet in Game 4 tonight in the Bronx (8:08pm ET, Fox), where Los Angeles is 27 outs away from winning their second World Series in five years.

More to watch:

• ⚽️ MLS Playoffs: Columbus vs. Red Bulls (6:45pm, FS1); Salt Lake vs. Minnesota (8:50pm, FS1) … Round One, Game 1.

• 🏀 NBA: Mavericks at Timberwolves (7:30pm, TNT); Pelicans at Warriors (10pm, TNT)

• 🏒 NHL: Rangers at Capitals (7:30pm, ESPN); Kings at Sharks (10pm, ESPN)

• 🏈 NCAAF: Louisiana at Texas State (7:30pm, ESPN2)

• ⚽️ Serie A: AC Milan* vs. Napoli (3:45pm, Paramount+)

*Captain America’s on fire: Milan striker and USMNT star Christian Pulisic has had a goal or assist in seven straight Serie A matches, and his five goals and three assists this season are both fourth-most in the league.

🏈 NFL trivia

Travis Kelce caught his 75th career TD on Sunday, moving into fifth place all-time among tight ends (regular season only).

Question: Which four tight ends have more?

Hint: Their last names all start with the same letter.

Answer at the bottom.

⚾️ MLB’s latest experiment: Check Swing Challenges

Picture this nightmare scenario: Tonight’s World Series game comes down to the final at-bat and is decided on an incorrect check swing call made by an umpire 100 feet away. Millions watching at home can see the call was wrong, but it can’t be challenged.

A potential solution: MLB has begun testing a new Check Swing Challenge system in the Arizona Fall League that uses the same Hawk-Eye technology that allows robo-umps to call balls and strikes.

Coming soon? The AFL, which is operated by MLB, has become a testing ground for new rules. Pitch clocks, bigger bases, shift bans and mound visit limits were all introduced there before making it to the big leagues.

Trivia answer: Antonio Gates (116), Tony Gonzalez (111), Rob Gronkowski (92), Jimmy Graham (89)

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