Brian Kelly is not on the hot seat, but, as his LSU Tigers keep hitting a ceiling, maybe it’s time we re-evaluate Kelly’s Notre Dame era.
Texas A&M defense is for real. How far Aggies go depends on their quarterbacks.
Hot seat update: Temperature dropping on Arkansas’ Sam Pittman.

Texas A&M made LSU look bad, Missouri made Alabama look good, and Travis Hunter gave Heisman Trophy voters something to muse with a fantastic showing on offense and defense in an important Colorado defeat of Cincinnati.

LSU became the lone team in the top 15 to lose in what turned out to be one of the season’s most undramatic Saturdays. Ohio State and Texas nearly heightened the tension but escaped with wait-to-exhale victories against Nebraska and Vanderbilt.

The College Football Playoff bubble remains overcrowded, but Missouri and Illinois exited contention.

Here’s what lingers on my mind after Week 9 as the schedule turns to November:

Will Brian Kelly ever win the elusive national championship at LSU?

Not this season.

When did Kelly become a coach who needed his quarterback to “stand on his freaking head,” as he put it after this loss, to have a chance at success?

Kelly’s Notre Dame teams tended to play a little defense, and they usually established a ground game, too. LSU features none of that.

When Kelly left Notre Dame, the prevailing narrative became that he’d taken the Irish as far as they could reasonably expect to go, and that LSU would afford him a better platform to win the national championship that had eluded him.

How’s that mission progressing? Well, Kelly’s third LSU team ranks no better than his first.

Maybe, Notre Dame didn’t limit Kelly’s ceiling after all.

Texas A&M’s Mike Elko coached circles around Kelly in the second half, and the Aggies rallied past a two-score deficit. The Aggies were unable to handle LSU’s pass rush, so Elko swapped quarterbacks so that Marcel Reed could operate the read-option. LSU acted like it had never seen such an attack.

LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier experienced a second-half meltdown, and the Tigers simply can’t survive if their quarterback falters. Nussmeier powers this entire operation.

Kelly almost never loses to lousy opponents, but he wilts against the best teams on his schedule. LSU isn’t paying Kelly $10 million annually just to beat Arkansas. LSU’s previous three coaches each won a national championship, and the Tigers eventually will expect the same from Kelly after awarding him a 10-year guaranteed deal.

Kelly’s whopper contract buys him more time, but LSU fans grow impatient.

Is Texas A&M the real deal?

Its defense is, anyway.

Elko proved patience is for suckers. If your struggling coach tells you it takes a few years to turn the ship, you’ve got the wrong coach – particularly when the program houses Texas A&M’s caliber of talent.

The Aggies had a Jimbo Fisher problem these past few years. He’s gone, and, voilà, problem solved.

Elko made this look easy, but he deserves credit for establishing a culture that increased the Aggies’ mental and physical toughness.

The Aggies are 5-0 in the SEC for the first time. They stand alone atop the conference standings.

But, are they the biggest threat to Georgia winning the SEC?

I’m not convinced. When Texas and Texas A&M each fire their best fastball, I think the Longhorns sling a bit more heat. On the other hand, the Longhorns regressed the past two weeks, while the Aggies keep improving.

Texas A&M’s defense causes persistent trouble for opposing offensive lines. That defense is good enough to keep the Aggies in any game.

The Aggies’ ceiling depends on their quarterbacks, and Elko must keep an open mind to juggling quarterbacks while he balances two players with differing strengths. Ride the hot hand, and play the matchups.

What do poll voters have against Indiana?

Indiana dazzles on my eye test, so what gives?

Multiple factors are at play: Indiana’s strength of schedule hurts it. The Hoosiers haven’t played anyone currently ranked in the Top 25. But, they’ve also destroyed most of their foes, and it’s not as if No. 5 Miami has faced a gantlet.

So, what else is at play?

The name on the front of the jersey matters to pollsters. Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.

I suspect voters who know Indiana’s bleak history keep waiting for the bottom to fall out, but this isn’t the Indiana of yesteryear, and these Hoosiers keep playing like a top-10 team.

If Indiana wins at Michigan State this week, the CFP selection committee will have a chance to do what poll voters refuse to do: Award the Hoosiers a ranking worthy of their performance.

Is Arkansas coach Sam Pittman off the hot seat?

The affable Pittman joked in the preseason about his No. 1 ranking on preseason hot-seat lists.

“I’m HOT,” he said with a smile in July.

He’s cooling off. He’s nearly safe.

Arkansas improved to 5-3 by thumping SEC doormat Mississippi State. Louisiana Tech remains on the schedule, plus rivals Ole Miss, Texas and Missouri.

If Arkansas splits its November games, Pittman should be in great shape. His contract triggers an automatic raise and one-year extension through the 2028 season if he reaches 7-5, showing how quickly a coach can go from hot seat to contract extension.

If Pittman goes 1-3 in November, he still might be OK. It helps that he’s an improvement on predecessors Chad Morris and Bret Bielema.

Arkansas fans mostly find Pittman endearing, and, anyway, they’re fired up about the John Calipari hoops era. Pittman, at 6-6 or better, ought to slip unnoticed past the firing squad.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

This week in the NHL features two homecomings – one for the last time – and a potential record.

Former Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos makes his first return to the city where he won two Stanley Cup titles on Monday. He signed with the Nashville Predators this summer after the team let him go to free agency.

Tuesday night, Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will visit Pittsburgh, where he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2003 and won three Stanley Cup championships.

The week could also feature an NHL record for best start to a season.

A look at the week ahead in the NHL:

Monday

Nashville Predators at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:30

Stamkos is the Lightning’s all-time leader in games, goals and points and was the face of the franchise. He has only one goal in eight games in Nashville. The aggressive Predators opened the season 0-5 but have won their last three games. Jake Guentzel, who was signed as a free agent by Tampa Bay this summer, has seven points in eight games for the 5-3 Lightning.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Winnipeg Jets, 7:30

The Jets are 8-0 this season and chasing the record held by the 1993-94 Maple Leafs and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres for longest winning streak to start a season (10 games). If Winnipeg wins Monday, it can tie the record with a victory Wednesday night in Detroit and break it Friday night in Columbus.

Tuesday

Minnesota Wild at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7

Fleury, like Stamkos, is a franchise icon in his former city. He picked up 375 of his 562 wins (second all-time) with the Penguins. The 21-year veteran has announced that this will be his final season.

Friday and Saturday

Dallas Stars vs. Florida Panthers

The NHL is heading back to Europe with a home-and-home set in Tampere, Finland. Friday’s game is at 2 p.m. ET and Saturday’s at noon ET. Both will be shown on NHL Network.

There are plenty of Finnish players on both teams, led by Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov. He’s the first Finnish-born captain to win the Stanley Cup. He has been out with a leg injury but was expected to return on Monday night.

Florida also has Finnish players Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola while Dallas has Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell. Barkov, Heiskanen and Lindell were named to Finland’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster.

Saturday

Maple Leafs at St. Louis Blues, 7

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube returns to St. Louis for the first time since he was fired last season. He led the Blues to their lone Stanley Cup title in 2019. The Blues routed the Maple Leafs 5-1 in Toronto last week.

Tom Kim’s frustration seems to have boiled over Sunday following a playoff loss to Ben An at the DP World Tour’s Genesis Championship in his native South Korea.

Kim, a week after missing the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open, where he was the two-time defending champion, had a putt on the 72nd hole to win the event, but it lipped out, and he and fellow International Presidents Cup star Ben An marched to a playoff.

In said playoff, An made a birdie, and a mistake on Kim’s approach shot into the par-5 green resulted in a bogey, giving An his first victory in 9 years.

That’s when, according to Korean news outlet Yonhap, Kim retreated to the locker room, where his frustration was taken out on a locker door, breaking it.

The Korean PGA Tour, which co-sanctioned the event, plans to pay Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea for the damage and will ask Kim to cover those costs. They are also considering options for disciplinary proceedings against Kim, per the report.

On Monday, Kim put out a statement on his Instagram account, apologizing for his actions and saying the matter was considered closed after speaking with DP World Tour and KPGA officials.

Kim won the KPGA’s Player of the Year award in 2021, also having the highest earnings and lowest scoring average that year. In 2022 is when he broke out on the PGA Tour, winning the Wyndham Championship and then the Shriners Children’s Open in a span of three months.

This story was updated to add new information.

Since it’s Halloween week, let’s take a few minutes to ponder what might be keeping conference commissioners up at night.

The first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff era was already going to have a whole lot of unknowns, since nothing like it has ever been attempted in college football’s top division. The advent of mega conferences with 16 to 18 members and no divisions add even more random elements into the equation. Indeed, it might not take long for league officials to decide that maybe the way conference champs are chosen might need rethinking, especially given the weight the playoff format places on conference championships for seeding purposes.

Where are we going with this? As the season chugs toward its conclusion, we’ve pretty much identified the teams from each of the four power conferences still in contention for their championships, which could in turn mean coveted first-round byes for the winners. But in each case, scenarios exist that could cause major complications for determining the two finalists. In one extreme case, it might even result in an undefeated squad being left out of its own conference title game.

In our Week 9 edition of overreactions, we’ll check in on each league office and let them know how much they should be panicking.

Big Ten

With just one full month left in the 2024 campaign, three league members have yet to taste defeat – and none of them are scheduled to play each other. Oregon, Penn State and Indiana have no head-to-head meetings, so if they all run the table, the championship game participants would be determined by tiebreakers. That would mean one of the three undefeated squads could only be an at-large playoff participant, and one fan base would be very unhappy.

Could it happen? It would require both the Nittany Lions and Hoosiers to beat Ohio State, the former in State College next week and the latter in Columbus on Nov. 23. The Buckeyes for their part need to win both of them to earn a rematch with Oregon. A split for Ohio State would likely relegate it to the at-large playoff pool.

The ACC

A similar scenario is unfolding here, also involving a couple of the league’s holdovers and one of the newcomers. Clemson and Miami have seemingly been on a collision course. But SMU’s late-night escape at Duke Saturday night kept its league record unblemished as well, and the Mustangs do not play either the Tigers or the Hurricanes.

But there’s a fourth team in the mix that could provide clarity. Pittsburgh, also still unscathed, plays both SMU and Clemson. If the Panthers manage to win both, they’ll set themselves up for a likely date with Miami. A Pitt split would leave whichever team beats the Panthers in the driver’s seat. But if both SMU and Clemson get by Pitt and don’t stumble elsewhere, we will have yet another three-team conundrum. We won’t say it’s a high probability, but it certainly can’t be ruled out.

HIGHS AND LOWS: Winners and losers from Week 9 in college football

MISERY INDEX: Kentucky faces Mark Stoops dilemma after latest loss

The SEC

OK, we never really thought things would be nice and clean in this league, did we? As things stand heading into November, Texas A&M is the lone team without a conference loss, while four others have just one. The two finalists will most likely be some combination of those five, with the Aggies having a leg up. Two of the once-beaten quartet play each other, meaning either Georgia or Tennessee will pick up a second loss. LSU still has a path to 7-1 if it can get past Alabama at home in a couple of weeks, but the Tigers would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with A&M and they don’t play any of the other three.

Which brings us to Texas, the only one of the group that still has a shot at the Aggies in that much-anticipated renewal of acquaintances. Of course it’s also possible that if the Longhorns win at A&M, they might have to turn around and play the Aggies again a week later in Atlanta.

Ah, but there remains a nightmare three-way scenario. It’s less likely than the Big Ten or ACC quandaries, as it would require A&M to lose twice. But LSU, Tennessee and Texas have no games among them. So if you want chaos, which might encourage planners to consider other means of determining conference finalists, root for that.

Big 12

The crisis meter is lowest here among the power leagues, especially since several teams projected as contenders at the start of the campaign have been kind enough to excuse themselves from the picture. The cleanest outcome would have the last two unbeatens, Brigham Young and Iowa State, reach the title game without incident. Kansas State gets a crack at the Cyclones in the last week of the regular season and could snag a rematch with the Cougars. Colorado is also lurking with just one league loss, but unfortunately for the Buffaloes they don’t play either BYU or Iowa State and therefore need help to make the championship game.

The Group of Five

For playoff purposes, the G5 conferences are in effect one giant league with just a single guaranteed seat at the table. But it’s fairly certain that said seat will either go to the champion of the American Athletic or the Mountain West. Boise State has the inside track at the moment, and the Broncos might even have a case to be seeded higher than 12th if they can get to 12-1 with a narrow loss at Oregon their only setback.

Unbeaten Army could alter the discussion if it can do what academy rival Navy couldn’t and upset Notre Dame in a few weeks. Again, if you really want chaos, imagine the Black Knights taking down everyone in the regular season including the Fighting Irish, winning the AAC title and being named to the playoff, but then losing to Navy after the field is set. OK, we’re stretching the limits of credulity with that one, but overreacting is what we do here.

Three family members of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones were involved in a freak car accident before Sunday’s road game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Jones and his family were on the way to Levi’s Stadium when one of their vehicles was struck by a rising barricade.

Jones’ daughter and son, Charlotte Jones and Jerry Jones Jr., were evaluated by team medical staff and allowed to proceed to the visiting owner’s suite for the game. Jones’ grandson, Shy Anderson Jr., was also in the vehicle.

Jerry and son Stephen Jones were among the passengers in the other vehicle in the caravan.

All things Cowboys: Latest Dallas Cowboys news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

The Cowboys lost the game to the 49ers, 30-24.

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The 32 things we learned from Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season:

0.Still the number of wins the New York Jets have since acquiring WR Davante Adams (2 games). Said another way, still the number of wins the New York Jets have since firing head coach Robert Saleh (3 games). Said yet another way, almost certainly the number of moves this sad-sack team has left to make in order to salvage its 2-6 season.

0.Still the number of points scored in the first quarter this season by the Philadelphia Eagles … though they only missed by 50 seconds Sunday in Cincinnati, notching a field goal on their opening drive. But hard to accomplish much out of the chute when the Bengals eat up more than 10 minutes to start the game.

0. The number of teams on bye – the first time since Week 4.

1. Number of “national holidays” devoted to a sport’s positional group. But “National Tight Ends Day” now falls on the fourth Sunday of every October. Unofficially begun in 2018, due to former San Francisco 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo’s appreciation of All-Pro TE George Kittle, it has also spawned the annual “Tight End University” held every offseason in Nashville under the sort-of-watchful eyes of Kittle, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce and retired former Pro Bowler Greg Olsen.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

1a. Tight ends caught 16 TD passes league-wide during Sunday’s games, taking full advantage of their showcase.

1b. Kelce snagged one of those, marking his first score of the season in a 27-20 defeat of the Las Vegas Raiders.

1c. Kittle got the last one Sunday evening in the Niners’ 30-24 escape against the Dallas Cowboys. It capped a, ahem, ‘historic’ celebration for tight ends everywhere.

2. The number of tight ends – the Atlanta Falcons’ Kyle Pitts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Cade Otton – with a pair of TD grabs in a single game, the Falcons’ 31-26 thriller to sweep the decimated Bucs and assume sole possession of first place in the NFC South.

3. The number of rushing TDs by Eagles QB Jalen Hurts in Sunday’s 37-17 victory. Including postseason – specifically Super Bowl 57 – Hurts now has four such games to his credit.

3a. However Hurts’ trio of rushing TD trifectas is a regular-season record.

4. The Tennessee Titans had significantly more first downs (23-17), plays (71-47), yards (416-225) and time of possession (35:37) than the Detroit Lions … yet still got beaten 52-14, the NFC leaders scoring all of their points in the first three quarters thanks to four takeaways and a punt return for a TD. Pretty well sums up why the Lions (6-1) are arguably the NFL’s best team while the Titans (1-6) might just be the worst.

4a. Per NFL Media, the Lions are the first team in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to score at least 50 points while failing to pass for 100 yards.

4b. Lions QB Jared Goff only passed for 85 yards in Sunday’s win, though did throw for three TDs. But after connecting on 12 of his 15 throws against Tennessee, Goff has hit on 83.0% of his passes over the past five games – the most accurate stretch in league history, overtaking Hall of Famer Peyton Manning’s best five-game span (80.2% in 2008).

5. The number of consecutive games that Detroit WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has with a touchdown reception, currently the league’s longest streak in that department. He’s the first Lion to have such a heater since Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson in 2011.

6. The first time the Lions have that many wins through seven weeks in the Super Bowl era, a duration in which they are the only team to exist throughout yet never reach Super Sunday.

7. The number of consecutive seasons – i.e., each one of his career – that Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has rushed for at least 500 yards. Cam Newton is the only other quarterback in league history to reach that plateau seven times overall.

8. Number of games with a touchdown – i.e., all of them – that RB Derrick Henry has scored with the Ravens. He became the first player in league history to reach the end zone in each of his first eight games with a team.

9. The number of consecutive games, going back to last season’s playoffs, that Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen had played without throwing an interception. That streak ended Sunday in Seattle, but his 300 consecutive passes without being picked off are a team record. And the Bills still smoked the Seahawks 31-10.

10. The number of consecutive games Los Angeles RB Kyren Williams has scored a touchdown – thanks to his 5-yard scoring grab in Thursday’s 30-20 defeat of the Minnesota Vikings.

11. By simply suiting up Sunday despite a painful rib injury, Washington Commanders rookie wunderkind QB Jayden Daniels further endeared himself to the D.C. fan base. By facing fellow Chicago Bears frosh Caleb Williams, already a local hero in the District going back to his high school days, their matchup marked the sixth meeting of rookie quarterbacks taken first (Williams) and second (Daniels) overall in the preceding draft. But that only set the stage of what might be long remembered as a legendary game …

12.79. The number of seconds Daniels held the ball before launching his 52-yard Hail Mary to beat the Bears 18-15. Since Next Gen Stats came into existence in 2016, Daniels’ TD miracle was the first that took more than 10 seconds to launch.

12b. With Daniels snatching victory from the, uh, taunts of defeat, the No. 2 picks are now 4-2 against the No. 1 picks in those matchups.

13. The number of consecutive wins for the Chiefs, dating to last season, following Sunday’s W in Vegas. They remain the league’s only unbeaten squad in 2024.

14. The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, who sat out the 2023 regular-season finale, joined future fellow Hall of Famers Tom Brady and Manning as the only quarterbacks with at least three 12-game winning streaks (playoffs included) in their storied careers.

15. Kansas City becomes the seventh reigning Super Bowl champions to follow up a Lombardi Trophy with a 7-0 start.

16. The Chiefs are now 6-0 at Allegiant Stadium, including their overtime win in Super Bowl 58. The last time they lost to the Raiders on the road was in Oakland in 2017.

17. Per OptaSTATS, when including postseason, the Chiefs are the first team ever to win eight straight on the road with none of the victories by more than 10 points.

18. Mahomes also became the fastest man ever to reach 30,000 career passing yards, needing just 103 games to clear the benchmark – six fewer than Matthew Stafford.

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19. Bo Nix became the first Denver Broncos rookie quarterback to win five games following a 28-14 defeat of the Carolina Panthers. Take that, John Elway … and/or Tim Tebow … and/or Paxton Lynch.

20. A point threshold the Cleveland Browns hadn’t reached all season prior to Sunday. But behind new starting QB Jameis Winston, they shocked the Ravens 29-24.

21. Winston passed for 334 yards and three TDs in his first start with Cleveland – and first for anyone in more than two years. The man he replaced, controversial QB Deshaun Watson, has never thrown for as many as 300 yards in 19 starts for the Browns and has passed for three TDs for them just once. Winston’s game-winning 38-yard shot to Cedric Tillman with a minute to go probably won’t get its just due given Daniels’ heroics later in the day.

22. The number of incompletion (on 32 throws) by Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson in Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans, who completed a season sweep of Indy. Richardson’s league worst accuracy dropped further, his completion rate on the season now at 44.4%.

22a. The Colts offense clearly operates at a much higher level with veteran backup Joe Flacco, who has completed nearly 66% of his passes this season – the question is whether HC Shane Steichen has the stomach to sit the struggling Richardson for any period of time.

22.03. Miles per hour reached by Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs on his 70-yard TD run Sunday, the top speed reached by a running back this season, per Next Gen Stats.

23. Texans RB Joe Mixon has rushed for at least 100 yards in four of his five games with Houston – only falling short in Week 2, when he suffered an ankle injury that forced him to miss three weeks.

24. The Green Bay Packers are now 2-0 with recently signed K Brandon McManus, who has drilled game-winning field goals at the final gun in both victories – including Sunday’s 30-27 triumph over the Jacksonville Jaguars, his former employer.

25. Pack backup QB Malik Willis, who’s quickly becoming one of the league’s better relievers, was a big reason for the win after stepping in for injured starter Jordan Love (groin). Green Bay is 3-0 in games this season in which Willis throws multiple passes – including Sunday’s TD strike to TE Tucker Kraft.

25a. The Packers may need Willis, who’s already started twice this season, for another extended period – HC Matt LaFleur saying he harbored a “high level of concern” over Love’s latest injury.

26. Kraft caught Willis’ only TD pass Sunday, though the Jags apparently tried to make October National Tight Ends Month – surrendering four TD receptions to those manning the position over the past four games.

27. Number of points scored by the Miami Dolphins in QB Tua Tagovailoa’s return Sunday. The Fins began the day averaging a league-worst 11.7 points.

28. Still, insufficient for Miami to beat the surging Arizona Cardinals, who now own a share of first place in the eminently winnable NFC West.

29. The Cards’ Trey McBride didn’t find the end zone, like so many of his fellow tight ends Sunday, but he did have nine catches for 124 yards – his most productive day of the season to date.

30. RB Dalvin Cook made his Dallas debut, rushing six times for 12 yards. He’s averaged 3.1 yards per carry since leaving the Vikings in 2023. Cook, a four-time Pro Bowler, averaged 4.7 yards per carry in six seasons with Minnesota.

31. If the season ended today – it doesn’t – the AFC West would qualify for three playoff berths, the Broncos (5-3) and Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) joining the Chiefs.

31a. If the season ended today – it doesn’t – the Panthers (1-7) would ‘earn’ the No. 1 pick for the second straight year. They had to hand it over to the Bears, who picked Caleb Williams earlier this year, after trading for the No. 1 pick of the 2023 draft … which was apparently regrettably used on still-struggling QB Bryce Young.

32. Uniform note of the week: The Bucs’ creamsicle throwback might look glorious … but a little less so when they continue to be attached to defeats, as they were Sunday against the division rival Falcons.

32a. Second uniform note of the week: The Bengals went white tiger for the first in more than a year but also didn’t find the desired result in the win column. Cincinnati is 0-2 in monochrome this season, losing its opener to New England while going all orange for the first time in team history.

32b. Third uniform note of the week: The Commanders broke out their all-black kit for the first time this season – if only it was their primary uniform, given the look and special effects speak for themselves.

(This story has been updated to include new information.)

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.

How will this year’s World Series play out? Using the Dynasty League Baseball online simulation, USA TODAY Sports’ Steve Gardner and DLB designer Mike Cieslinski will pre-play each game to provide some insight into the key matchups and strategy fans can expect to see in the Fall Classic.

With a pair of big innings early, the Los Angeles Dodgers made quick work of the New York Yankees, rolling to a 9-5 victory in Game 3 of USA TODAY Sports’ annual Simulated World Series.

The Dodgers jumped on Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt for three quick runs in the first, then knocked him out with a five-spot in the third on their way to taking a 2-1 lead in the series.

BOX SCORE:  Dodgers 9, Yankees 5

FULL PLAY-BY-PLAY:  Dodgers strike early, often in Game 3 rout

World Series Game 3 simulation

The Dodgers wasted no time in hammering Yankees Game 3 starter Clarke Schmidt. Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts began the game with consecutive singles, but Schmidt looked like he might be able to get out of the inning unscathed when Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play.

Teoscar Hernandez put L.A. on top though with an RBI single and Max Muncy followed with a two-run homer into Yankee Stadium’s short porch in right field and the Dodgers were on their way.

The first two Yankees also singled in the bottom of the first, but Aaron Judge grounded out and Dodger starter Walker Buehler struck out Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm to end the threat.

Schmidt worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second, but couldn’t survive the third as Tommy Edman doubled in two, Miguel Rojas added an RBI single and Ohtani hit a mammoth blast to right center – all with two outs – to make it 8-0.

The Yanks did score twice in the eighth and got a three-run homer from Gleyber Torres in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough.

What to watch in (the real) Game 3

Chilly conditions: After a pair of games in perfect 76-degree weather in Los Angeles, the series moves to New York and its fall-like 54 degrees at game time. The colder temperatures do cut down slightly on fly ball distances, as it did on a deep drive by Freddie Freeman in the Dodger second and a jam shot by Juan Soto in the fifth. But then again, when you have two teams as powerful as these, they’ll still find a way to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Only three homers this time though – from Muncy, Ohtani and the Yankees’ Torres.

Which Buehler shows up? Dodgers Game 3 starter Walker Buehler has endured a difficult season. He missed the first month as he completed his recovery from Tommy John surgery. But he was nowhere near the dominant pitcher he was before he blew out his elbow. In 16 starts and 75 ⅓ regular-season innings, Buehler posted a 5.38 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. (That’s that basis for his player card in this series.)

Facing the potent Yankees lineup in the Sim Series, Buehler turned back the clock – even beyond what he did in his last start against the Mets in the NLCS (when he tossed four shutout innings in an 8-0 victory). The veteran righty scattered three hits and three walks over 6 ⅓ shutout innings and struck out seven to get the win. Anything close to that in the real game and the Dodgers would be elated.

Keep relievers fresh: With the Dodgers set up for a bullpen game in Game 4, it’s hugely important for them to preserve as many fresh arms as possible, without jeopardizing their chances to win Game 3. The Yankees also have to guard against overusing their relief pitchers with two more games to come in New York without a day off.

Buehler did his part and then some, pitching into the seventh. However, an awakening of the Yankees bats in the final two innings forced L.A. to deploy Daniel Hudson, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen to get the final six outs.

On the flip side, Marcus Stroman came up huge for New York after starter Schmidt was roughed up so badly in the first three innings. The veteran right-hander allowed just one run on three hits over the final five frames to keep all the Yankees’ top bullpen arms fully rested for the next two games in the Bronx.

It will be very interesting to see when managers Aaron Boone and Dave Roberts first decide to go to their bullpens tonight, knowing those decisions will impact their options in Games 4 and 5.

One really big break, one really bad inning: The entire tenor of the game turned in the top of the third, when Schmidt looked like he might be able to wiggle out of trouble. Knowing the problems that going to the bullpen too early could create, the Yankees didn’t have anyone up and throwing with two outs, a runner on first and the bottom third of the Dodgers order up.

But Gavin Lux walked, and Edman (a .181/.256/.267 hitter vs. right-handed pitchers during the regular season) hit a shot down the first base line that 35-year-old Anthony Rizzo (C+ defensive range rating, 57% chance of making the play) couldn’t snag. The ball rolled into the right field corner, scoring both runners and putting L.A. up 5-0. As Mark Leiter Jr. quickly got loose, No. 9 hitter Rojas plated Edman with an RBI single. Leiter wasn’t quite ready as a tiring Schmidt remained in to face Ohtani. One pitch later, Ohtani homered to make it 8-0.

Previous 2024 Sim Series results

Game 1: Dodgers 13, Yankees 9

Game 2: Yankees 7, Dodgers 4

Simulate your own World Series. Get a FREE one-month subscription to Dynasty League Baseball online by going to DynastyLeagueBaseball.com, selecting the monthly option and entering code USA2 at checkout.