NEW YORK – No matter how expensive World Series tickets are, it does not afford fans the right to interfere with the field of play. 

Nor pry the ball from Mookie Betts. 

A pair of New York Yankees fans were ejected after one was called for fan interference on a foul pop fly down the right field line off the bat of New York Yankees leadoff batter Gleyber Torres in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night. 

Right field umpire Mark Carlson immediately signaled fan interference. But that wasn’t the end of it. 

A fan seated next to the one called for interference tried prying the ball out of Betts’ glove, a sheepish grin on his face. The other fan seemed to complain that the ball was within the seating area, and thus fair game. 

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Neither got a baseball nor won the argument. They were escorted from their seats quickly by stadium security and a Major League Baseball spokesperson confirmed the fans were ejected.

After the Dodgers’ 11-4 loss, Betts didn’t want to harp on the incident.

‘It’s irrelevant, we lost.’ Betts said. ‘I’m fine, he’s fine. Everything is cool. We lost the game and that’s what I’m focused on.’

It left the Dodgers scratching their heads at the sequence, particularly jarring since it came on just the second pitch of the game.

‘Never seen anything like it,’ says Dodgers starting pitcher Ben Casparius. ‘It’s pretty interesting. And it’s obviously very early on in the game and kind of set the tone.’

Casparius hails from Westport, Conn., about 45 miles northeast of Yankee Stadium. So sure, he’s never seen anything like it – but also wasn’t shocked things might go a bit sideways at the ballyard in the Bronx.

‘No. Not at all surprised,’ he says. ‘Fans are into it, it just happened to be one of those things where they got tangled up.’

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Since their stunning 5-0 start, it’s been a rough three weeks for the Minnesota Vikings.

They’re coming off back-to-back defeats – their Week 8 setback to the Los Angeles Rams also costing them Christian Darrisaw, one of the NFL’s premier left tackles, to a season-ending knee injury. But the Vikes aren’t taking that loss lying down.

Tuesday night, Minnesota agreed to a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars for veteran tackle Cam Robinson with the teams also exchanging conditional Day 3 draft picks in 2026. Per ESPN, the Jags could reap a fourth-rounder depending on Robinson’s playing time.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the deal, which materialized exactly one week before the Nov. 5 trade deadline, by grading it for both clubs.

CAM ROBINSON TRADE GRADES

Jacksonville Jaguars: B+

The Jags wouldn’t characterize it as such, but it’s a bit of a towel toss from the corner of the ring from a 2-6 team that also saw all three of its top receivers injured Sunday. It provides an opportunity to see more from Walker Little, a second-round pick in 2021, and/or try 2023 first-rounder Anton Harrison on the left side to see if he’s more comfortable as QB Trevor Lawrence’s blind side guardian. Robinson, who was franchised twice by Jacksonville before getting a moderate extension, is scheduled to be a free agent in 2025, so the prospect of potentially getting a fourth-rounder for a half-season rental is a pretty good ROI for the Jacksonville front office.

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Minnesota Vikings: A-

They’re sending a strong signal to their locker room that this season – once perceived as a transition year from QB Kirk Cousins to journeyman San Darnold to first-rounder J.J. McCarthy – is a priority. Cousins is in Atlanta and McCarthy is on injured reserve, yet Darnold has revived his career with the help of a strong supporting cast on offense and a relentless defense playing to its maximum potential under coordinator Brian Flores. In Robinson, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah provides coach Kevin O’Connell and a seventh-ranked scoring attack with a sturdy replacement for Darrisaw yet only surrenders a mid-round pick two years from now while assuming the balance of Robinson’s $16.3 million base salary before he returns to the market in 2025. (The Vikes signed Darrisaw to a four-year, $104 million extension earlier this year.)

A second-round pick, 34th overall, out of Alabama in 2017, Robinson started 91 games for Jacksonville over seven-plus seasons. He’s not as good a run blocker as Darrisaw, but given how Darnold was under fire late in the loss to the Rams, importing Robinson seems like a wisely measured decision rather than hoping a career backup like David Quessenberry was up to the task. Overall, pretty win-win for a franchise certainly focused on the present with the team very much in the hunt for the NFC North crown – but also now with the luxury of competing for a playoff berth while assured very little of the future has been mortgaged.

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NEW YORK – The champagne was on ice. The Commissioner’s Trophy was lurking, somewhere, in the bowels of Yankee Stadium. And Game 4 of the World Series – and a sweep of the New York Yankees – was there for the taking.

Yet for the Los Angeles Dodgers, trusting the process that guided them to a National League pennant and built a 3-0 lead over New York in this Fall Classic remained paramount.

So, when reliever Daniel Hudson, nursing a one-run lead in the third inning, lost his command and sprayed the ball all over the strike zone, manager Dave Roberts let him ride it out – even as it resulted in a go-ahead grand slam from Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe.

When the Dodgers clawed back to within one run in the fifth inning, the Dodgers’ high-leverage relievers remained holstered – and long man Landon Knack gave up a home run an inning later to Austin Wells.

And then, trailing by just two runs heading into the bottom of the eighth, the last man on the pitching roster, right-hander Brent Honeywell, was tasked with keeping it close – and instead ended up wearing it all, giving up five runs to put the game out of reach.

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When it was over, and a tight World Series game turned into an 11-4 Yankees romp to the delight of 49,354 fans at Yankee Stadium, the Dodgers dusted off the well-worn assurances that they’re still very much in command.

Yet with that 3-1 lead – and three more chances to win the eighth World Series championship in franchise history – came a proud defense of how they got here.

With injuries to rotation’s worth of starting pitchers – most notably veterans Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw – the Dodgers have had to resort to bullpen games in each of their playoff rounds, to varying success.  

It saved their season in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, when eight pitchers combined on an 8-0 blanking of the San Diego Padres, setting them up for a Game 5 advance. It set them back in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series, when Knack gave up a grand slam and five runs in two innings of a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets.

And then it vaulted them to the pennant, when seven arms lifted them to a 10-5 Game 6 throttling of the Mets.

Yet World Series Game 4 would be a different animal than them all. With the Dodgers holding a 3-0 Series lead, there’d be no closer Blake Treinen, no fire-balling set-up man Michael Kopech, no Ryan Brasier or deathly lefties Alex Vesia or Anthony Banda – not unless the Dodgers held a lead and could nail down the championship.

They came close several times on Tuesday. Yet once Hudson, handed a 2-1 lead on the unstoppable Freddie Freeman’s fourth home run in as many games, gave up that slam to Volpe, Roberts never saw fit to chase the win.

So be it, say the Dodgers.

“We’ve got all the faith in the world in Doc,” says catcher Will Smith, who hit a solo home run and guided the Dodgers’ four pitchers through this night. “This whole postseason, he’s been doing that, so sticking with him, he’s been doing great.

“We’re just trying to manage this whole series, keep everything fresh and ready to go. Be back tomorrow, everybody will be healthy.”

Indeed, the Dodgers needed almost all their key guys to secure a 4-2 victory in Monday’s Game 3. After Walker Buehler’s fine five innings of shutout ball, six relievers – Brusdar Graterol, Vesia, Hudson, Banda, Brasier and Kopech – combined to hold the Yankees scoreless until two outs in the ninth inning.

A night later, and Hudson was spraying the ball everywhere – hitting Aaron Judge with a pitch, walking Giancarlo Stanton, giving up a single to Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Even beyond Volpe, lefties Wells and Alex Verdugo lurked. In the Dodgers’ bullpen, Banda and Vesia did not stir.

“That was (Hudson’s) inning,” says Roberts. “I’m not going to use them in the third inning right there. No, I just wasn’t going to use them in the third inning, no.”

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Hudson’s command remained MIA as Volpe came to the plate. And Hudson left a slider out and over the heart of it to Volpe, who smoked it over left fielder Teoscar Hernandez and the left field wall.

“I just couldn’t stop the snowball from getting bigger,” says Hudson, who posted a 1.03 WHIP in 63 innings this season “Threw a really bad slider – it pops out of your hand and you get an instant ‘Oh, no,’ feeling in your stomach.

“I knew it was gonna be over Teo’s head. Just hoped it was low enough to stay in the ballpark. Unfortunately for us, it got out of here.”

Yet things did not get out of control. Knack held it down, giving up two hits in four innings, the only blemish Wells’ home run. Smith’s homer brought them to within 6-4.

One big inning, six more outs, and the Dodgers could be champions.

Tempting?

“It’s challenging,” says Roberts. “I think you’ve got to be certain that you can score some runs. Certainly any guy we use tonight would have not been able to pitch tomorrow. Landon actually threw the ball very well.

“And being down to going into that last half, it just doesn’t make sense to use one of your leverage guys.”

And so it fell to Honeywell, who provided key length in that failed Game 2 of the NLCS, pitching three scoreless innings, giving the Dodgers a chance to both remain competitive and not fry their bullpen.

That was not the case in World Series Game 4.

The Yankees torched Honeywell for four hits and five earned runs, most notably on Gleyber Torres’ three-run homer and Aaron Judge’s first run-scoring hit this series. A 6-4 game became an 11-4 rout.

“I feel great. I feel great,” Roberts insisted. “It’s about the guys that you have available. They’re all rested. So, where we’re at tomorrow, knowing there’s an off day (Thursday), we’re in a great spot with leverage relievers.”

It’s an open question whether they awakened the slumbering Yankees, who scored almost as many runs in Game 4’s eighth inning (five) than they did in the previous three games (seven). That will be Jack Flaherty’s problem Wednesday, as he aims to follow up his Game 1 gem against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.

Oh, and a pen full of relievers, ready to roll. That’s more than the Yankees can say: Their bullpen had to cover five innings, with top relievers Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes each having to consume four outs and throw 21 and 13 pitches, respectively.

All as the Dodgers’ key guys cooled their heels, knowing the champagne would be just as sweet come Wednesday.

“We’re up 3-1 right now,” says right fielder Mookie Betts, “and we feel pretty good about it.”

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The ongoing flurry of activity ahead of next week’s NFL trade deadline continued Tuesday as teams, specifically those in the AFC, continue trying to keep up with the Joneses – or Johnsons, or Adamses, or Coopers or Hopkinses – by upgrading at wide receiver.

The latest move was executed by the Baltimore Ravens, who brought wideout Diontae Johnson back to the AFC North for the mere price of a late-round pick swap with the Carolina Panthers.

How does this move affect the balance of power in the conference? Perhaps in more ways than you might realize.

Here the winners, losers and grades for this month’s latest significant trade, which drops exactly one week before the Nov. 5 cutoff:

WINNERS

Baltimore Ravens

They add another weapon to what is probably the league’s most dangerous and multi-dimensional offense. Want to load the box to try and stop the running threat of QB Lamar Jackson and/or RB Derrick Henry? Cool. Jackson is just going to pick you apart by throwing to the league’s best tight end combo (Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely) or a corps of wideouts with first-round pedigree (Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor), a group that now counts former Pro Bowler Johnson among its ranks. Yet if defenses fret over the fleet of capable pass catchers … welp, hardly seems like a viable option when you’d have to pull resources from combatting the NFL’s No. 1 rushing attack. Pick your poison? A quick death might be preferable.

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Eric DeCosta

One of the league’s top general managers, he learned quite well during a decades-long apprenticeship under predecessor and Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome. DeCosta snagged Johnson for less than a song, making him the latest substantive acquisition in what’s become a tradition over the years in Baltimore – players like LB Roquan Smith, CB Marcus Peters, OLB Yannick Ngakoue and LT Eugene Monroe among the significant types who have joined the Ravens midway through a season.

Diontae Johnson

He switches sides from perhaps the league’s worst team in Carolina to maybe its best in Baltimore. Johnson will be a free agent after this season and could eventually be rewarded given there’s nearly always a premium attached when signing players fresh off winning a ring … if he can indeed help put the Ravens over the top in their quest to win the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy in 12 years.

LOSERS

Diontae Johnson

It will be virtually impossible to get No. 1 receiver compensation – or even a high-end WR2 paycheck – when you’re facing the prospect of joining your fourth team in the span of a year next March. And the downside of coming to such a diversified offense from an individual perspective is all the mouths to feed. Johnson had his best year in 2021, establishing career bests in Pittsburgh with 107 receptions for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns. He missed last weekend’s game with a rib injury but was on pace for roughly 70 catches and 800 yards with Carolina’s highly limiting situation. But it will be tough to reach even those modest benchmarks in Baltimore, where Flowers (5.1) is the lone player averaging more than three grabs a week. Johnson seems likely to have a bigger role than Bateman or Agholor but would be wise to embrace whatever it is.

Dan Morgan

You can’t blame the Panthers’ rookie general – much – for the state of affairs for a franchise hurtling toward the top spot of yet another NFL draft. But if Morgan is looking at the long-term health of his organization, getting an upgraded Day 3 pick for a player of Johnson’s caliber doesn’t feel like much return. And don’t forget, he cashed out Pro Bowl OLB Brian Burns in the offseason, basically for a second-rounder from the New York Giants. That also felt light at the time, and it’s worth wondering if Carolina could’ve gotten at least as much for Burns by holding onto him and trying to create something of a bidding war now given the premium position he plays. Maybe Morgan is making the best of a bad hand. And maybe he’s not playing his cards quite right.

Pittsburgh Steelers

While also swapping late-round picks, they sent Johnson to Carolina in March for CB Donte Jackson, who hasn’t provided much defensively for a Steelers team that could really use another receiver at the moment. Pittsburgh exported Johnson for more than performance issues but, in retrospect, might wind up doubly hurt by his offensive absence and presence with the archrival Ravens (5-3), who are currently one game back of the first-place Steelers in the AFC North.

Bryce Young

The No. 1 objective in Carolina should be rehabilitating the quarterback taken with the top pick of the 2023 draft … which currently seems like a monumental mistake, even if many of the unfavorable circumstances are beyond Young’s control. Only the Panthers know if Johnson’s presence wasn’t doing anything to accelerate Young’s development. And his departure will definitely create more snaps for young receivers Xavier Legette, Jonathan Mingo and Jalen Coker … though it’s a tough sell to suggest very green pass catchers are going to elevate a 23-year-old signal-caller who really needs a security blanket, especially with Adam Thielen still on injured reserve.

Houston Texans

They announced Tuesday that WR Stefon Diggs, whose contract was adjusted to expire after this year when he was obtained last spring, will not return this year due to a season-ending ACL injury. Johnson would have been quite a nifty backfill – Nico Collins isn’t eligible to return from a hamstring injury until Week 10 – particularly given the low payout. But GM Nick Caserio apparently didn’t try or want to pull the trigger for Johnson.

Baltimore Ravens

Maybe there are more tricks in DeCosta’s bag, but shouldn’t he be focused on attempting to buttress a 25th-ranked defense rather than an offense that’s already operating at a historically good level – just the fourth with at least 20 points and 375 yards in each of the first eight games of a season?

DIONTAE JOHNSON TRADE GRADES

Baltimore Ravens: A

They got Johnson and a sixth-rounder for a Round 5 choice in next year’s draft. Baltimore’s depth is bolstered, its offense even scarier and – not for nothing – Johnson won’t wind up on the roster of another team like Houston, the Los Angeles Chargers or otherwise and potentially give the Ravens an unnecessary problem to deal with in January.

Carolina Panthers: D+

At the very least, they got something (barely) instead of letting Johnson walk away for nothing in 2025 … even if they’re paying most of his remaining salary. Perhaps there was some addition-by-subtraction element in the locker room, but if improving a Day 3 draft choice was the best thing on the table for Morgan … why not walk away from the table temporarily or for a few days and see how Week 9 might have further altered the market?

***

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The NBA on Tuesday fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for public statements, ‘including by president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse, that were inconsistent with Joel Embiid’s health status and in violation of NBA rules, including the league’s Player Participation Policy,’ the league said.

Nurse last week said Embiid was “looking good,” and “he’ll be ready soon,” and the Sixers released a statement last week saying Embiid is “responding well to his individualized plan and is expected to ramp up his return to play activities this week.”

After Embiid missed Philadelphia’s season-opener and subsequent games – he hasn’t played in Philadelphia’s three games and won’t play Wednesday against Detroit – the league launched an investigation into his absence. The league also determined “that Embiid has been unable to play in the 76ers’ regular season games this season due to a left knee condition, and therefore his games missed have not violated the Player Participation Policy.”

The league’s player participation policy states that an automatic investigation is triggered when ‘a GM, head coach, or other team personnel (including team Governors or investors), a player, or a player representative makes a statement or other representation that contradicts the player’s status on the team’s injury report or as described to the league office.”

‘We’re going to be smart about it,” Morey recently told ESPN. “Part of being smart about it is having both Paul (George) and Joel probably not play many back-to-backs, if any.”

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That is also contradictory to the league’s player participation policy which states, “League approval for this restriction would be based on the player’s prior serious or unusual injury history, and would only apply for a reasonable length of time as determined by the league office.’

Embiid, the 2022-23 MVP  who a gold medal with the U.S. at the 2024 Paris Olympics, played in 39 games last season and was not 100% for the playoffs, including suffering from Bell’s palsy.

The Sixers were also fined $100,000 on April 5 for ‘violating league injury reporting rules. The 76ers failed to accurately disclose the game availability status of Joel Embiid prior to their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2. Embiid was listed as “Out” in Philadelphia’s initial injury report and subsequently played in the game.  The fine takes into account the 76ers’ prior history of fines for violating injury reporting rules,’ the NBA said.

The Houston Texans’ passing attack has taken yet another major hit.

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Sunday’s win over the Indianapolis Colts, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said.

Diggs suffered the non-contact injury in the third quarter while making a cut inside as part of his route. He walked off under his own power but was later ruled out, finishing the game with five catches for 81 yards.

Diggs, 30, had a team-high 47 catches so far this season and ranked second on the Texans with 496 yards in eight games.

‘I just really feel bad for him,’ Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said after news broke. ‘He’s worked extremely hard. I think he was having one of the best times he’s ever had on a team – at least that’s what he’s told us. I just feel for him and praying for him. Hoping he keeps his head up high and know he’ll bounce back even stronger.’

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Texans WR depth chart after Stefon Diggs injury

With Nico Collins (hamstring) on injured reserve until at least Week 10, the Texans enter Thursday’s matchup against the New York Jets without their top two options in the passing game.

Tank Dell ranks third on the team with 24 catches for 229 yards. Tight end Dalton Schultz could also take on a more prominent role in the aerial attack.

Ryans seemed to signal that the team would stick with in-house replacements as the NFL’s trade deadline looms next Tuesday.

‘We like the guys we have,’ Ryans said. ‘We’re excited to see who steps up next.’

Not including Diggs, the Texans currently have five wide receivers on the active roster:

Tank Dell
Xavier Hutchinson
Robert Woods
John Metchie III
Steven Sims

Stefon Diggs contract details

After being traded from the Buffalo Bills to the Texans this offseason, Diggs agreed to terms on a restructured contract with the Texans. The team bumped up the $3.5 million in guaranteed money he was owed in 2025 and eliminated the final three years of his contract, setting him up to be an unrestricted free agent in the spring.

The four-time Pro Bowler was set to earn $22.52 million on his one-year deal.

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This story has been updated with new information.