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🚨 Headlines
⚾️ Dodgers land Snell: Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell has reportedly agreed to a five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers.
🏀 Tuesday night hoops: No. 1 Kansas beat No. 11 Duke, 75-72; No. 2 UConn lost to an unranked team for the second straight day; No. 4 Auburn beat No. 12 UNC, 85-72; No. 9 Alabama beat No. 6 Houston, 85-80 (OT).
🏈 CFP rankings: The top four teams remained the same this week (Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Penn State), while Notre Dame moved up one spot to No. 5.
🏈 Brown fired: A day after Mack Brown said he intended to return next season, UNC said it is firing the longtime coach.
⚽️ Mascherano hired: Javier Mascherano, a former teammate of Lionel Messi, has been hired as the new head coach of Inter Miami.
🏈 12 weeks down, 6 to go
Two-thirds of the way through the NFL season, the AFC playoff picture is beginning to crystallize. In the NFC? Not so much.
AFC: The Chiefs currently hold the bye ahead of six other playoff teams who have clearly separated themselves from the pack. Realistically, just three other teams have a shot at breaking into the field.
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Who’s in: 1. Chiefs (10-1), 2. Bills (9-2), 3. Steelers (8-3), 4. Texans (7-5), 5. Ravens (8-4), 6. Chargers (7-4), 7. Broncos (7-5)
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In the hunt: The Dolphins (5-6) have won three straight, the Colts (5-7) have the NFL’s easiest remaining schedule and the Bengals (4-7) have the offense to put together a run.
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Better luck next year: Browns (3-8), Jets (3-8), Titans (3-8), Patriots (3-9), Jaguars (2-9), Raiders (2-9)
NFC: Four teams are head and shoulders above the rest, led by the juggernaut Lions and red-hot Eagles. But then there’s a steep drop-off to a muddled group of 10 teams with between four and seven wins, any of whom could sneak into the postseason.
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Who’s in: 1. Lions (10-1), 2. Eagles (9-2), 3. Seahawks (6-5), 4. Falcons (6-5), 5. Vikings (9-2), 6. Packers (8-3), 7. Commanders (7-5)
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In the hunt: The Cardinals (6-5), Buccaneers (5-6), Rams (5-6) and 49ers (5-6) are all within a game of their division leaders, and given the Commanders’ downward trend (three straight losses), even the 4-7 Saints, Bears and Cowboys can’t be counted out.
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Better luck next year: Panthers (3-8), Giants (2-9)
Best division in football: While the NFC West is the closest division (all four teams within a game), the NFC North is the most dominant: It’s the first division since 2002’s realignment to have three teams with 8+ wins through Week 12 (Lions, Vikings, Packers).
Power rankings: Week 13
🏀 NBA power rankings
The Celtics and Cavaliers headline our latest NBA power rankings, courtesy of Yahoo Sports’ Ben Rohrbach. Seven of the top 10 teams play in the West.
Top 5 teams:
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Celtics (15-3): Kristaps Porziņģis returned, the Celtics hung a 51-point quarter on the Clippers and Jaylen Brown put the NBA on notice: “We are a different team with KP … protecting the rim. When we’re locked in playing defense like that, it’s going to be tough for teams.”
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Cavaliers (17-1): Overheard in an NBA locker room: “Donovan Mitchell down 10 is the most unstoppable player in the world.”
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Thunder (13-4): Draymond Green, wonderfully dead wrong about OKC: “There’s a certain fear you have to instill in teams in order to win. I just don’t know if they’re instilling that fear in teams with all the bromance and stuff after the game.”
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Warriors (12-5): What you like to hear about Andrew Wiggins, whose work on the wing is back to borderline All-Star form, from Steve Kerr: “He’s in a great frame of mind. The last couple of years have been very tough on him on a personal level. I think he has some peace of mind.”
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Rockets (13-6): “Every team that’s won a championship is usually a top-five ranked defense,” Ime Udoka told The Ringer. “That’s a non-negotiable for me.” His Rockets? They rank second on that end.
Full rankings: Teams 6-30
🏒 NHL at the quarter-mark
The NHL season reached the quarter-mark over the weekend, providing a perfect time to check in on the playoff picture and take stock of the awards races.
Playoff picture: If the season ended today, the playoff field would have four new teams compared to last year, with the Sabres, Devils, Wild and Flames taking the place of the Islanders, Bruins, Predators and Oilers.
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East: Maple Leafs, Panthers, Lightning, Devils, Hurricanes, Capitals, Rangers, Sabres
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West: Jets, Wild, Stars, Golden Knights, Flames, Canucks, Kings, Avalanche
Awards races: Here are the picks (and runners-up) for each of the five major awards, according to NHL.com.
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Hart Trophy (MVP): Kirill Kaprizov, Wild (Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche; Sam Reinhart, Panthers)
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Norris Trophy (Defense): Cale Makar, Avalanche (Quinn Hughes, Canucks; Josh Morrissey, Jets)
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Vezina Trophy (Goalie): Connor Hellebuyck, Jets (Filip Gustavsson, Wild; Igor Shesterkin, Rangers)
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Calder Trophy (Rookie): Logan Stankoven, Stars (Matvei Michkov, Flyers; Lane Hutson, Canadiens)
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Jack Adams Award (Coach): Scott Arniel, Jets (Spencer Carbery, Capitals; John Hynes, Wild)
Let’s hear it for the old guys… Alex Ovechkin, 39, became the oldest player in NHL history to lead the league in goals at any point in a season, and Sidney Crosby, 37, became the 21st player ever to score 600 goals.
📸 In photos: City in crisis
Manchester City’s five-game losing streak finally came to an end on Tuesday — just not the way they’d hoped.
City suffered a shocking collapse against Feyenoord, becoming the first team in Champions League history to be leading by three goals as late as the 75th minute and fail to go on to win. Final score: 3-3.
For years, Pep Guardiola’s club struck fear into its opponents. Now, something has changed. The magic is gone. Is it just a blip or the start of a terminal decline?
Their next match will be telling: Second-place City visits first-place Liverpool on Sunday in a high stakes Premier League battle. Win that and the vibes could shift dramatically. Another loss would be brutal.
📆 Nov. 27, 1941: DiMaggio over Williams
83 years ago today, Joe DiMaggio edged out* Ted Williams for the AL MVP after both put up all-time great seasons, accomplishing feats no other player has reached since.
By the numbers: Joltin’ Joe and his MLB-record 56-game hitting streak got the nod over Teddy Ballgame, who batted .406 for MLB’s most recent — and probably last — .400 season.
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DiMaggio led the league with 125 RBI while hitting .357/.440/.643 with 30 HR, 122 runs scored, an absurd 76:13 walk-to-strikeout ratio and 9.3 wins above replacement.
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Williams led the league in runs (135), HR (37), all three parts of the triple slash (.406/.554/.735), WAR (10.4) and walks with an equally absurd 147:27 walk-to-strikeout ratio.
Wild stat: During DiMaggio’s record hitting streak, Williams actually had the better batting average of the two (.412 to .408).
How did Williams lose? While the stats alone are clearly (if not overwhelmingly) in Williams’ favor, voters may have been swayed by team success. Williams’ second-place Red Sox finished 17 games behind DiMaggio’s Yankees, who went on to beat the Dodgers for their ninth World Series.
*Déjà vu: DiMaggio beat out Williams for the award again in 1947, this time in the closest vote ever (202-201). It was the second time in five years that Williams won the Triple Crown but lost the MVP to a member of the pennant-winning Yankees (Joe Gordon, 1942).
📺 Watchlist: Football heaven
Thanksgiving Weekend is football heaven, with three days of NFL games and a full helping of Rivalry Week.
NFL: Three games on Thanksgiving, the second annual Black Friday game on Prime and a stacked Sunday slate headlined by Saquon Barkley vs. Derrick Henry in Baltimore.
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Thanksgiving Day: Bears at Lions (12:30pm ET, CBS); Giants at Cowboys (4:30pm, Fox); Dolphins at Packers (8:20pm, NBC)
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Black Friday: Raiders at Chiefs (3pm, Prime)
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Sunday: Steelers at Bengals (1pm, CBS); Cardinals at Vikings (1pm, Fox); Eagles at Ravens (4:25pm, CBS); 49ers at Bills (8:20pm, NBC) … Week 13.
Rivalry Week: With all due respect to “The Game,” the Iron Bowl and Saturday’s other iconic rivalries,* the biggest game of the weekend is in College Station, where Texas A&M hosts Texas with a spot in the SEC title game on the line.
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The Game: Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State (12pm, Fox)
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Palmetto Bowl: No. 15 South Carolina at No. 12 Clemson (12pm, ESPN)
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Battle for the Jeweled Shillelagh: No. 5 Notre Dame at USC (3:30pm, CBS)
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Iron Bowl: Auburn at No. 13 Alabama (3:30pm, ABC)
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Lone Star Showdown: No. 3 Texas at No. 20 Texas A&M (7:30pm, ABC)
More to watch:
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⚽️ MLS Cup Playoffs: Orlando vs. New York Red Bulls (Sat. 7:30pm, Apple); LA Galaxy vs. Seattle (Sat. 10pm, Apple) … Conference finals.
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🏀 NBA: Thunder at Warriors (Wed. 10pm, ESPN); Warriors at Suns (Sat. 9pm, NBA); Celtics at Cavs (Sun. 6pm, NBA) … Plus 36 more games between tonight and Sunday.
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🏒 NHL on TNT: Capitals at Lightning (Wed. 7:30pm, TNT); Avalanche at Stars (Fri. 9pm, TNT) … Plus 44 more games between tonight and Sunday.
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🏀 NCAAM: No. 3 Gonzaga vs. West Virginia (Wed. 2:30pm, ESPN); No. 4 Auburn vs. Memphis (Wed. 5pm, ESPN); No. 20 Creighton vs. No. 21 Texas A&M (Wed. 6:30pm, Max)
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🏀 NCAAW: No. 4 South Carolina vs. No. 15 Iowa State (Thu. 1:30pm, Fox)
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⚽️ Premier League: Liverpool vs. Manchester City (Sun. 11am, USA) … First vs. second.
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⚽️ Champions League: Matchday 5 (Wed. 12:45-3pm, Paramount+) … Liverpool vs. Real Madrid headlines the nine-game slate.
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⚽️ Friendly: England vs. USWNT (Sat. 12:20pm, TNT) … At Wembley Stadium.
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🏁 F1: Qatar GP (Sun. 12pm, ESPN2) … Penultimate race of the season.
*Some of our favorite rivalry names this weekend… Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate (Georgia vs. Georgia Tech), Deeper Than Hate (App State vs. Georgia Southern), Farmageddon (Kansas State vs. Iowa State), Battle on the Bayou (Louisiana vs. Louisiana Monroe), Duel in the Desert (Arizona vs. Arizona State).
⚾️ MLB trivia
Blake Snell, the Dodgers newest signing, is the third pitcher to win the Cy Young in both leagues this century.
Question: Who are the other two?
Hint: Three-letter first names.
Answer at the bottom.
🏈 Last two standing
Once Mack Brown is officially fired this weekend, college football will have just two active coaches with FBS national championships: Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart. Kinda crazy!
Trivia answer: Max Scherzer (Tigers in 2013; Nationals in 2016-17) and Roy Halladay (Blue Jays in 2003; Phillies in 2010)
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