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Unrelenting Mets push Phillies to the brink of elimination

Playing their first home game in 16 days, the New York Mets seized control of the National League Division Series with a 7-2 win over the Phillies on Tuesday, pushing Philadelphia to the brink of elimination.

New York takes a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 on Wednesday at Citi Field and can secure the franchise’s first NLCS berth since 2015. Meanwhile, the NL East champion Phillies will try to keep their season alive and send the series back to Citizens Bank Park.

‘The atmosphere was absolutely incredible,’ Mets first baseman Pete Alonso told SNY after the game. ‘I mean the fans brought it from pitch one to the last out, and we need more of that tomorrow.’

Solo home runs from Pete Alonso (second inning) and Jesse Winker (fourth) put the Mets in front, but Starling Marte’s two-run single in the seventh was the big blow when it looked like the Phillies were about to escape a bases-loaded and nobody out situation, extending the lead to 4-0.  Infielder Jose Iglesias gave the Mets further insurance with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.

Mets starter Sean Manaea was spectacular in the victory, pitching into the eighth inning after seven scoreless frames before the bullpen took over. Trailing 6-0 at the time, the Phillies scored two runs in the top of the eighth and got the tying run into the on-deck circle, but the Mets managed to escape without further damage and ultimately added another run of their own.

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

‘They’re an amazing team over there,’ Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor told Fox. ‘Tomorrow, we need to come out and give everything.’

The Phillies will turn to lefty Ranger Suarez to save their season Wednesday, while the Mets will counter with fellow southpaw Jose Quintana.

‘If we’re able to come in and scrape out a win here,’ Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos told reporters after the loss. ‘I know that they do not want to go back to Philly for a Game 5.’

Could Zack Wheeler pitch in Game 4?

Asked after the game if ace Zack Wheeler would be available in Thursday’s do-or-die Game 4, Phillies manager Rob Thompson said ‘I think everybody is available tomorrow.’

Wheeler, a Cy Young candidate and former Met, dominated the Mets for seven innings in Game 1 but only got one run in support and New York pounced on the Phillies bullpen, going on to notch a comeback win.

Here’s how Tuesday’s game unfolded:

Could Phillies use Zack Wheeler in Game 4?

Phillies add a pair in the eighth: Mets up 6-2

Mets starter Sean Manaea was pulled after giving up a leadoff single in the eighth, giving way to Phil Maton. Maton struck out pinch-hitter Brandon Marsh but walked Kyle Schwarber. Bryce Harper’s two-out RBI single made it 6-1, with Mets manager Carlos Mendoza bringing in Ryne Stanek to replace Maton. Nick Castellanos followed with an RBI on Stanek’s first pitch to cut the deficit to 6-2, but Alec Bohm flied out on the first pitch he saw to end the frame.

Mets add two more: 6-0 heading into eighth inning

Jose Iglesias atoned for his bases-loaded ground earlier in the game with a two-run single that extended the Mets’ lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the seventh.

Jose Alvarado got the first two outs of the frame but Mark Vientos started the rally by hitting an infield single that deflected off the pitcher. Alvarado proceeded to walk Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso to set up Iglesias’ single up the middle.

Mets tack on with two outs, lead 4-0 through six

Mark Vientos led off the bottom of the sixth with a single against Aaron Nola, who then walked Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso to load the bases. Phillies manager Rob Thompson replaced Nola with Orion Kerkering and it looked like the reliever was going to get out of the jam, getting Jose Iglesias to hit into an infield force play and Jesse Winker to fly out to left, not deep enough to bring Nimmo in from home.

But Starling Marte finally broke through with a two-RBI single to center field to extend New York’s lead to 4-0.

Sean Manaea works out of sixth-inning trouble

Mets starter Sean Manaea walked Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to lead off the top of the sixth, but struck out Bryce Harper and got Game 2 hero Nick Castellanos to line into an inning-ending double play – sending the game to the bottom of the sixth with the Mets leading 2-0.

The left-hander has 81 pitches in six innings of work.

Jesse Winker home run makes it 2-0

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Jesse Winker homered down the right field off Aaron Nola to expand the Mets lead to 2-0.

The Mets acquired Winker ahead of the trade deadline from the Washington Nationals.

Tyrone Taylor guns down Bohm, Mets still hold 1-0 lead

Mets center fielder Tyrone Taylor gunned down Alec Bohm trying to reach second after hitting a ball into the right-center field gap that skipped up against the wall, a perfect throw from the edge of the warning track that allowed Francisco Lindor to get the tag on Bohm in the top of the fourth.

Pete Alonso home run gives Mets second-inning lead

Pete Alonso led off the bottom of the second with an opposite-field solo home run against Phillies starter Aaron Nola, giving the Mets an early 1-0 lead.

It’s Alonso’s third home run this postseason following his winner in Game 3 of the NL wild-card series and a solo shot in Game 2 of the NLDS on Sunday.

Phillies vs. Mets NLDS Game 3 underway

Starters Sean Manaea and Aaron Nola each retired their opponents in order in the first inning at Citi Field and we are scoreless heading into the second inning of this pivotal clash in Queens.

Francisco Lindor on Mets returning home

Speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s game at Citi Field, shortstop Francisco Lindor joked that ‘we’ve got to play here otherwise we get booed here too,’ having now played 11 consecutive road games including the playoffs.

‘It’s definitely going to bring a different energy being home here, for sure. But at the end of the day, we were giving everything we had on the road, and we’re going to do the same thing here at home. It’s one of those where it don’t matter where we’re playing, we’ve got to go out there and give everything we got.

‘We understand that nobody cares what we did yesterday. We’ve got to focus on today. And nobody cares what we’re going to do tomorrow. Everything is about today. So this is a great market because it demands the best out of you day-in and day-out, and nobody cares, like I said, nobody cares what you did yesterday or what you’re going to do tomorrow.

‘So it’s a good place to be at this time of the year because that’s what you’ve got to focus on. You’ve got to focus on the game today and that’s it.

‘So I’m excited. I’m excited. I think the fans are going to go out there and be super loud. It would be cool to see a loud meter to actually see which stadium gets the loudest throughout the league. I think that would be something really cool.’

Phillies lineup for NLDS Game 3

Kyle Schwarber (L) DH
Trea Turner (R) SS
Bryce Harper (L) 1B
Nick Castellanos (R) RF
Alec Bohm (R) 3B
J.T. Realmuto (R) C
Austin Hays (R) LF
Edmundo Sosa (R) 2B
Johan Rojas (R) CF

Mets lineup for Game 3

Francisco Lindor (S) SS
Mark Vientos (R) 3B
Brandon Nimmo (L) LF
Pete Alonso (R) 1B
Jose Iglesias (R) 2B
Jesse Winker (L) DH
Starling Marte (R) RF
Tyrone Taylor (R) CF
Francisco Alvarez (R) C

Mets’ ‘traveling circus’ finally returns to Queens

PHILADELPHIA — Harrison Bader has deemed the New York Mets a ‘traveling circus’ over the last two weeks.

And what a fun act it has been as it continues to refine its performance in the postseason. There’s been magic, high-wire acts and a little bit of clowning around in the clubhouse following emotional victories.

After two weeks away, expect plenty of fanfare when the Mets return to their home at Citi Field for Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the rival Phillies at 5:08 p.m. on Tuesday, even following a riveting 7-6 walk-off loss on Sunday afternoon.

‘This is what everybody wants out of October baseball,’ Brandon Nimmo said. ‘I think we put on quite a show for everybody in attendance and everybody watching on TV. It’s really fun to play baseball like this. That was, again, just an instant classic game.’

– Andrew Tredinnick, NorthJersey.com

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Kraken’s Jessica Campbell makes debut as first female NHL coach

The Seattle Kraken hired Campbell in July as an assistant coach, making her the first female full-time assistant coach behind the bench in NHL history. Campbell received applause when she was introduced at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday as she took her place during the Kraken’s season-opener against the St. Louis Blues in Seattle.

The historic moment was not lost on Campbell.

‘The moment leading up to the game and stepping on the bench … I’m really going to try to honor what it is, because I know, and I definitely understand that the magnitude and the importance of this moment is really important for our game,’ Campbell said ahead of the game.

Campbell drew up the play on the bench as Seattle tried to tie the game, but they ultimately lost to the Blues 3-2. Head coach Dan Bylsma pointed out the silver lining: ‘Jessica being a female coach in the NHL for the first time, it’s great for her and it’s great for the game.’

All things Kraken: Latest Seattle Kraken news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Campbell described Tuesday as ‘a normal day in terms of my work,’ but noted the significance of her new role.

“For me, it’s just a normal day in terms of my work, in terms of my routine, in terms of all of those pieces,” Campbell said. “I never want to diminish the things that I’m doing because I’m so focused on the task at hand, but I also know that being focused on the task at hand has allowed me to get to this moment and is going to continue. So, I have to stay focused on what matters most, which is the guys and the team and the success that we want to have.’

Campbell, 32, made similar history in the American Hockey League when Bylsma hired her as an assistant coach with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in 2022. Bylsma, a former Stanley Cup winner, brought Campbell with him to the NHL after he was named Kraken coach in May.

Coachella Valley had success with Bylsma and Campbell, reaching the AHL’s Calder Cup Finals the past two seasons. Before joining Coachella Valley, Campbell was as an assistant coach and skills coach in 2021-22 for the Nürnberg Ice Tigers in Germany’s top professional men’s league in Germany. She also was an assistant coach for Germany at the 2022 world championships.

“Hopefully somebody else will have a door held open for them versus them having to push it open and find ways to unlock it,’ Campbell said. ‘I look at the other women around me and other people in the industry doing their piece and doing a fantastic job of it. And it’s part of a movement. It’s part of, I think, really important change. Anytime you have different people in the room, you get different and good outcomes; you get unique outcomes. You get problems solved in a different way and I think that’s how you get ahead in life and in sport.’

Campbell played from 2010-14 at Cornell University, captaining the team her senior year. She played professionally in Canada and Sweden and was MVP of the 2010 under-18 world championships as Canada won gold.

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Liberty vs. Lynx in WNBA Finals features two best teams

The 2024 championship series will be between the two best teams all season, the top-seeded New York Liberty vs. the second-seeded Minnesota Lynx. The matchup was finalized on Tuesday, when Minnesota topped the third-seeded Connecticut Sun, 88-77, in a decisive Game 5. The Lynx will meet the Liberty in Brooklyn on Thursday for Game 1 of the Finals. 

In beating Connecticut, Minnesota snapped an interesting playoff trend: Before Tuesday, the last seven winner-take-all games in the WNBA playoffs had gone to the visiting team.

But the Lynx, who torched the Sun for 53 first-half points — the most Connecticut had given up all season —  and at one point held Connecticut without a bucket for more than six minutes in the second quarter, were having none of it. 

Minnesota is an interesting case study, summed up perfectly by Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon during the other semifinal between New York and Vegas (New York won in four games). Hammon said the Lynx had “good talent” but a “great team,” compared to the Aces who had “great talent” but just a “good team.” 

The Lynx only have one true superstar, forward Napheesa Collier (20.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals, 49.2% FG). The 28-year-old, who won Defensive Player of the Year honors and finished second in MVP voting, is a menace in the paint, able to score in a variety of ways going to and fading away from the basket. As good as Collier’s been all season, she’s been even better in the playoffs, upping her scoring average to 27.1. 

But outside of Collier, the Lynx’s biggest selling point is a group that plays incredibly well together. Yes, sharpshooter Kayla McBride (15.0 points, 40.7% 3FG) is terrific from the perimeter and guard Courtney Williams (11.1 points, 5.5 assists) is lethal from midrange. But the Lynx pride themselves on playing selfless, defense-first basketball. (In Game 5 vs. Connecticut, the Lynx pestered the Sun into 19 turnovers, turning them into 22 points.) They are the epitome of a team. 

They’ve also been the only one to consistently solve the Liberty this season. Minnesota beat New York in the Commissioner’s Cup back on June 25, and twice during the regular season, including on the Liberty’s home floor just last month. New York’s only win over Minnesota came July 2 in Brooklyn — and Minnesota has improved since adding Myisha Hines-Allen in August via trade.

Minnesota might be the No. 2 seed, but the Lynx have been the best-looking team since the league reconvened after the Paris Olympics.

A potentially interesting X-factor is coaching. Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve has led the Lynx to four previous titles (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017), but none with this group. Her extended championship experience — coupled with leading Team USA to an Olympic gold medal this summer — could be a difference-maker. She is considered an excellent tactician. The Liberty’s Sandy Brondello has one title, won in 2014 in her first season in Phoenix. She coached Phoenix and New York to the 2021 and 2023 Finals appearances, respectively, finishing as runner-up. 

The “too long, didn’t read” version: The 2024 WNBA Finals are set up to be a terrific series.

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Trump has 9-point lead on most important issue to voters: poll

New polling shows former President Trump has a 9-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris when it comes to handling the economy, the single most important issue for voters going into the 2024 presidential election.

The new poll from Gallup found that 54% of Americans say Trump is more capable of handling the economy, compared to 45% for Harris. The economy ranked as the most important issue for Republicans and for all Americans, but it didn’t rate in the top five for Democrats.

Veteran Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf says Democrats are simply confident in Harris’ plan to handle the economy.

‘Independents are looking for a reason to vote for a candidate, but they just haven’t found it yet,’ Sheinkopf told Fox News Digital in an interview. ‘Americans focus on the issue most important to them in every election. This time it’s their pockets. And they are still feeling pain no matter what candidates say. Time is running out for Harris to prove she can make it better.’

He went on to argue that the economy is no less politicized an issue as immigration or abortion, suggesting polarization has an outsized impact on voter’s opinions on the economy. 

For Republicans, the top issues after the economy are immigration, terrorism and national security, crime and taxes.

For Democrats, the top issue is democracy in the U.S., followed by the type of Supreme Court justices a candidate would pick, abortion, health care and education.

Trump also holds leads over Harris on immigration (54%-45%) and foreign affairs (52%-47%). Harris holds her own leads on the top issues for Democrats, however, including health care (54%-44%), abortion (56%-40%) and climate change (61%-35%).

Climate change ranks as the least important issue for Republicans, with just 5% saying it is a priority. The least important issues for Democrats are the federal budget deficit and trade with other nations, both tied at 16%.

Gallup conducted the poll from Sept. 16-28, surveying 941 registered voters via telephone interviews on cellphones and landlines. The poll advertises a margin of error of 4%.

A New York Times/Siena College survey released on Tuesday found that Harris has a slight lead over Trump in a national poll. The survey found that Harris stands at 49% support among likely voters nationwide, with the former president and GOP nominee at 46%.

According to the poll, Harris stands at 47% and Trump at 44% in a multi-candidate field. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver each grabbed 1%, with roughly 7% supporting another candidate or undecided.

Harris’ edge – which is within the survey’s sampling error – is up from the New York Times/Siena poll from last month, when the two major party nominees were deadlocked at 47%.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Ashley Papa contributed to this report

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Over 5,700 children in 5-year period had gender surgeries, most from 5 liberal states: watchdog

In a five-year span, thousands of minors had gender reassignment surgeries, puberty blockers or hormone treatments at a number of children’s hospitals and medical facilities across the country, a medical watchdog is reporting via their new national database.

Do No Harm, a national advocacy group of medical professionals against ‘woke’ hospital agendas, shared the database, called ‘Does My Hospital Transition Kids?’, with Fox News Digital this week. In total, the group conservatively identified 5,747 minor patients who received sex-change surgery, and 13,994 received some sort of gender reassignment treatment between 2019 and 2023.

The data, de-identified to meet HIPAA compliance rules, shows nearly $120 million total in charges for treatments like sex change surgeries and hormone blockers. 

‘This is a very, very important issue, and it’s a very important issue to get right,’ Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Do No Harm’s chairman, said in a press conference this week. 

‘And I think, as you’ll hear, we’ve really been meticulous in trying to make sure that the data are as clear as possible and are as accurate as possible. And because of that, you’re going to find that, if anything, we’re showing the lower limits of what’s going on in this whole arena,’ he said.

‘And to be certain that we’re not overstating it one iota, we’re probably, and almost certainly, understating the nature of the problem,’ he added.

Researchers analyzed insurance claims from private insurance companies, Medicaid and Medicare, excluding data from Kaiser, self-pay and charity care. They also profiled 68 children’s hospitals across the country and identified what they called the ‘Dirty Dozen’ institutions, which is a ‘list of the 12 worst-offending children’s hospitals promoting sex change treatments for minors,’ according to the new website.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) was identified as number one, followed by the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Children’s Minnesota, Seattle Children’s, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Boston Children’s Hospital, Rady Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Medical Center, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Children’s Hospital Colorado, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

According to the data, there are massive differences state by state, particularly in more liberal areas.

In California, charges exceeded $28 million from over 2,000 minor patients, while Massachusetts saw around $10 million in expenses from 671 minor patients. New York also had one of the highest rates of transgender treatments for young people, with 1,154 minor patients undergoing sex changes between 2019 and 2023.

California, one of the first states to declare itself a ‘sanctuary state’ for transgender procedures, also had the most irreversible surgeries, with 1,359 minors undergoing surgical procedures, followed by Oregon with 357, Washington with 330, Pennsylvania with 316 and Massachusetts with 300.

‘Adults can do as they wish, but we feel very strongly that the science behind using these treatments in children is extraordinarily flawed and suggests that children are being harmed in that sense. One of the important issues is to develop some quantitative notion of what’s really happening in this arena,’ Goldfarb said. ‘And there are lots of myths that are out there, lots of ideas that this is a rare event, lots of ideas that this is localized to just a few places.’

Activist and detransitioner Chloe Cole, who underwent a double mastectomy at 15 years old and put on puberty blockers and testosterone at age 13, said the new database ‘proves the lies from the medical establishment and radical politicians who argue that cases like mine are rare.’

‘The stats in this database represent thousands of kids who are being treated like Guinea pigs for unproven, and sometimes dangerous, medical experiments. I hope politicians and parents alike use this database to see where these treatments are happening and protect their children from being rushed into irreversible, life-altering treatments,’ Cole said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

Some of the listed hospitals’ board members have openly advocated for transgender youth care over the years. CHOP also has a specific Gender and Sexuality Development Program department, which ‘supports children and teens up to age 21 who are gender nonconforming, gender expansive and transgender,’ according to its website.

Madeline Bell, president and chief operating officer of CHOP, affirmed at the time of the department’s launch in 2014 the hospital’s commitment to providing ‘culturally competent and affirming healthcare’ to LGBT patients and their families.

‘This is a tremendous honor that reflects CHOP’s dedication to provide culturally competent and affirming healthcare to our LGBT patients and families,’ Bell stated.

In June 2019, president of the American Board of Pediatrics, Dr. David Nichols, emphasized the increasing need for ‘specialized healthcare’ for the growing transgender youth population during the release of the 30th edition of the ‘KIDS COUNT Data Book,’ published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This annual report provides a comprehensive review of child well-being in the U.S.

‘We have a growing transgender youth population that is receiving healthcare, and the pediatric community has had to adapt to that with clinics and programs to care for these kids. This was not something that existed 30 years ago when ‘KIDS COUNT’ first started,’ Nichols said. 

Pressure from conservative politicians and activists has been mounting in recent years against medical providers who conduct transgender surgical procedures on children. Last month, a group of attorneys general across the country demanded that the American Academy of Pediatrics rescind its support for transgender procedures – such as puberty blockers and surgeries – on children. 

The database is just another tool to ‘expose the dangers of experimental pediatric gender medicine and bring the practice to an end,’ Do No Harm stated in a news release. 

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As Gaza war drags past 1 year mark, hope fades for a deal to bring hostages home soon

For a year now, freeing the hostages taken by Hamas has been a top goal for Israel, but 101 still remain unaccounted for. Hope of a deal to get them homein the foreseeable future is waning quickly. 

Of the 240 people taken hostage from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, 117 have either been freed during temporary truces or rescued during Israel Defense Forces (IDF) missions. Dozens of the 101 who have not been freed are believed to be dead. 

Four Americans – Keith Siegel, 65, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Omer Neutra, 22, and Edan Alexander, 21 – remain trapped among them.  

Many hostage families have lost faith in the U.S. and Israeli governments. ‘We don’t believe that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s priority is to bring home the hostages,’ Hannaha Siegel, Keith Siegel’s niece, told CNN on Monday. 

‘The ability to negotiate with [Hamas Leader Yaya] Sinwar to try to get the hostages that remain alive out is extremely unlikely,’ said Mark Schwartz, a retired Army general and former U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

‘There’s no strategic benefit at all for Hamas. The hostages are useful human shields and getting several hundred Palestinians out of prisons, big deal,’ he said, referring to a potential prisoner exchange. ‘That’s not going to extend the life of Hamas leadership that resides inside Gaza.’ 

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have for months implored Netanyahu to agree to a cease-fire deal that would see the hostages returned home. 

However, as war spread from Gaza to Lebanon to Tel Aviv – and with Israel considering an aggressive response to Iran’s most recent missile attack – U.S. calls for a cease-fire increasingly rattle around an empty echo chamber. 

‘The mood is poor right now,’ said Michael Makovsky, president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

‘What’s in Sinwar’s interest to make a deal? Hamas’ military capability is pretty much destroyed. I don’t think he thinks he’s ever going to get out alive. I don’t think he necessarily wants to leave Gaza alive anyway.’

Sinwar, Hamas’ shadowy leader and the architect of the Oct. 7 attacks, is believed to be alive and still committed to the destruction of Israel. 

On the eve of the anniversary of the attacks, Netanyahu held his first meeting on the plight of the hostages in a month. According to The Times of Israel, his officials warned him intel on the hostages was quickly drying up. They reportedly told him they believed half of the hostages remained alive and were subject to increasingly squalid conditions. They also warned that Hamas militants were under orders to execute them if they felt the IDF was closing in on their position. 

Hamas executed six hostages in a tunnel in Rafah in August as the IDF drew near. 

‘You want to hold out hope for someone to be rescued, but for a hostage deal, it’s not looking good,’ said Makovsky. 

‘I think Netanyahu should have demonstrated more sympathy towards the hostages early on, and then it became kind of entrenched that half the Israeli electorate didn’t like him anyway, so he didn’t care.

‘In fairness to him, he was the prime minister that cut what turned out to be a terrible deal – which they released over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners – for one Israeli hostage in Gaza,’ added Makovsky. ‘One of those prisoners was Sinwar.’

In 2011, Israel agreed to an exchange where it released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners – including Sinwar – for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Sinwar was 22 years into four life sentences he received in Israel for orchestrating the killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he believed to be collaborators in 1989. 

Gershon Baskin, who led negotiations on that deal, said he believes Hamas is ready to strike an agreement – and it is not the one U.S. officials have worked on for months. 

‘It would end the war in three weeks with an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. They would release and return all the hostages, military, civilian, alive and dead, and there would be an agreed-upon release of Palestinian prisoners. Hamas has agreed to me in writing that they would transfer the governance in Gaza to a civilian, technocratic, professional government, which they will not be part of.’ 

Critics of such ideas say they fall short of eliminating Hamas, which could rebuild itself and once again threaten Israel.

Baskin does not work on behalf of Israel or Hamas in any official capacity, but he said U.S. officials are aware of the offer and need to pressure Netanyahu and Hamas to work it out between themselves. 

In May, Biden unveiled a three-phase deal that would see Hamas return 18–32 hostages in exchange for 800 Palestinian prisoners and a six-week pause in fighting. 

‘It’s a bad deal, and I know that the American leadership – [CIA Director Bill] Burns and [White House Middle East coordinator Brett] McGurk and others have invested themselves deeply in these negotiations, but they need to simply recognize that it’s not going anywhere,’ Baskin said. ‘It’s a dead deal, and they need to pick up another deal that might actually work.’ 

Efforts to reach the White House and the Israeli government for comment for purposes of this story were unsuccessful at press time. 

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Walmart-owned Sam’s Club tests a future without checkout lines

GRAPEVINE, Texas — When shoppers walk into Sam’s Club’s newest store, they’ll soon see a shiny blue Mercedes-Benz SUV, a sectional sofa and zero checkout lanes.

Welcome to the Walmart-owned membership club’s first all-digital store — and a preview of what could be its future.

Inside the club, which will open in mid-October, customers will have to use a smartphone app called Scan & Go to ring up their purchases as they walk through the aisles. In the area typically reserved for cash registers, the company will display online-only items as wide-ranging as a 12-foot Christmas tree and a five-carat lab-grown diamond. Members can scan QR codes and go straight to the items in the app.

Store workers will have about four times more space for preparing customers’ e-commerce orders for curbside pickup and home delivery, according to Sam’s Club executives.

“It’s kind of the physical manifestation of a journey we’re trying to go on as a company,” Sam’s Club CEO Chris Nicholas said, as he showed off the club before its grand opening.

Since Walmart founder Sam Walton opened the first Sam’s Club in 1983, the membership-based club has become the more tech-savvy arm of its retail-behemoth parent. The club has spun out several key innovations that its parent company now uses, too, such as Scan & Go. It’s also used digital offerings to try to outmatch its largest rival, Costco.

Sam’s Club is doubling down on that strategy with the Dallas-area store, which is reopening nearly two years after it was damaged by a tornado.

Nicholas said upon its reopening, the location will become a testing ground for Sam’s Club’s newest features and emerging technology.

“The idea is that over time, we will be 100% digital engagement as a business, and you’ve got to prove that things work before you scale them,” he said.

He added that he hopes “it feels like what it’s like to shop in the future.”

Costco has long been “the king of the warehouse club channel,” said Peter Keith, senior research analyst at Piper Sandler. But Sam’s Club has added features to “upgrade the shopping experiences,” he said, such as introducing a permanent station in some of the clubs where a chef makes sushi rolls in front of customers.

And notably, Sam’s Club has differentiated iself by embracing e-commerce offerings and appealing to customers who are seeking easier and faster ways to shop, such as Scan & Go.

“It really eliminates the most painful part of these membership clubs, which is the long lines to check out,” he said.

Sam’s Club and Costco have roughly the same number of U.S. clubs, but Costco pulls in about twice as much annual revenue. Net sales for Sam’s Club totaled $86.2 billion in its most recent fiscal year, compared with $176.63 billion for Costco’s U.S. clubs.

Sam’s Club has made several other key moves to catch up to Costco: It consolidated its private labels from more than 20 different brands into a single one: Member’s Mark. It cut back on the number of unique items it sells, so it focuses on the proven and popular ones. And it recently announced it would raise average hourly wages for nearly 100,000 of its workers ahead of the holiday season.

Sam’s Club also opened The Clubhouse in August, an approximately 37,000-square-foot office building across from the retailer’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. It includes workshop rooms and tools such as white boards, arts and crafts supplies, and cardboard models that will help the retailer to come up with new ideas, test products and collaborate on projects with cross-department teams.

And it’s in the middle of an aggressive expansion, with plans to open about 30 new clubs over a five-year period.

Sam’s Club’s comparable sales in the U.S., a metric that includes sales from stores and clubs open for the previous 12 months, grew 5.2% in the most recent quarter, which ended July 31, compared with the year-ago period. That included 22% year-over-year e-commerce growth.

Nicholas said the new clubs, including the one that’s opening in Grapevine, will be designed to better handle higher volume, too.

For example, the club’s cafe will include a pizza robot that will be able to make as many as 100 pizzas in an hour. It will also test a new system that delivers food orders to an assigned cubby after customers order through Scan & Go.

Like its parent company, Walmart, Sam’s Club has been attracting customers across a wider range of incomes and ages as it focuses on offering convenient ways to shop. About half of the new members that joined Sam’s Club during the most recent quarter were millennials or Gen Z, according to the company.

The company said 1 in 3 members currently use Scan & Go when shopping in clubs. It has recently rolled out new exit technology that automatically checks customers’ shopping carts and allows them to exit the club without an employee looking at a receipt or auditing their cart. Shoppers walk under an archway that’s powered by computer vision and artificial intelligence. That system functions similarly to Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology that’s begun to take hold at events stadiums in addition to some of the e-commerce giant’s physical storefronts.

But Nicholas, the Sam’s Club CEO, acknowledged some shoppers may be reluctant to embrace new technology or a new routine.

Tiffany Zuniga, a mom and a Lyft driver who lives in the Dallas area, said she’s eager to return to Sam’s Club, but is a little wary of the new technology. Zuniga said she used to turn to the club for easy family dinners or supplies for church events, but switched to Costco when Sam’s Club was closed because of tornado damage.

She’s never used Scan & Go and said she hopes the new technology doesn’t come at the expense of customer service.

“Sometimes it can get a little dicey if you scan the wrong thing or need help,” she said. “Hopefully, they will have enough staff on hand.”

As construction crews finished up work on Sam’s Club in Grapevine, the retailer put up signs at the nearby Sam’s Club gas station and car wash to alert customers to the return of the club and encourage them to download the Scan & Go app.

And when customers walk into the newly reopened club, employees will be ready to help them download the app or to tag along on a shopping trip if they need help learning how to use it, the company said.

Nicholas said there will be no change to the number of store workers in Grapevine, but some will have new roles.

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Podcast: College football rocked by Week 6 upsets and preview of Week 7 clashes

Well, that was a weekend.

College football delivered again last Saturday with a slew of upsets among the top 10 that caused major changes to the projected playoff field and also left many wondering who the contenders and pretenders are across the nation.

Looking ahead to Week 7, there’s a major showdown between Ohio State and Oregon that will sort out which team is the favorite in the Big Ten. The annual clash between Oklahoma and Texas in Dallas should be as exciting on the field as the atmosphere at the State Fair of Texas leads SEC action that includes an Ole Miss visit to LSU and Alabama hosting South Carolina.

Dan Wolken and Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY Sports discuss these topics and more in this week’s version of the College Football Fix.

BOWL PROJECTIONS: Wild Week 6 overhauls College Football Playoff

PLAYOFF BRACKET: Texas, Notre Dame moving up in latest release

CALM DOWN: Jalen Milroe, Miami lead Week 6 biggest overreactions

RE-RANK: Texas edges Ohio State at top of NCAA 1-134 rankings

HIGHS AND LOWS: Alabama’s upset leads Week 6 winners and loss

HEISMAN ODDS: Boise State running back surges to top of field

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Opinion: Liberty vs. Lynx is WNBA Finals matchup basketball fans deserve

In the end, we’re getting the WNBA Finals matchup we deserve. 

The 2024 championship series will be between the two best teams all season, the top-seeded New York Liberty vs. the second-seeded Minnesota Lynx. The matchup was finalized on Tuesday, when Minnesota topped the third-seeded Connecticut Sun, 88-77, in a decisive Game 5. The Lynx will meet the Liberty in Brooklyn on Thursday for Game 1 of the Finals. 

In beating Connecticut, Minnesota snapped an interesting WNBA playoff trend: Before Tuesday, the last seven winner-take-all games in the WNBA playoffs had gone to the visiting team.

But the Lynx, who torched the Sun for 53 first-half points — the most Connecticut had given up all season —  and at one point held Connecticut without a bucket for more than six minutes in the second quarter, were having none of it. 

Minnesota is an interesting case study, summed up perfectly by Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon during the other semifinal between New York and Vegas (New York won in four games). Hammon said the Lynx had “good talent” but a “great team,” compared to the Aces who had “great talent” but just a “good team.” 

Hammon’s right. The Lynx only have one true superstar, forward Napheesa Collier (20.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals, 49.2% FG). The 28-year-old, who won Defensive Player of the Year honors and finished second in MVP voting, is a menace in the paint, able to score in a variety of ways going to and fading away from the basket. As good as Collier’s been all season, astonishingly she’s been even better in the playoffs, upping her scoring average to 27.1. 

But outside of Collier, the Lynx’s biggest selling point is a group that plays incredibly well together. Yes, sharpshooter Kayla McBride (15.0 points, 40.7% 3FG) is terrific from the perimeter and guard Courtney Williams (11.1 points, 5.5 assists) is lethal from midrange. But the Lynx pride themselves on playing selfless, defense-first basketball. (In Game 5 vs. Connecticut, the Lynx pestered the Sun into 19 turnovers, turning them into 22 points.) They are the epitome of a team. 

They’ve also been the only one to consistently solve the Liberty this season. Minnesota beat New York in the Commissioner’s Cup back on June 25, and twice during the regular season, including on the Liberty’s home floor just last month. New York’s only win over Minnesota came July 2 in Brooklyn — and Minnesota has improved since adding Myisha Hines-Allen in August via trade.

Minnesota might be the No. 2 seed, but the Lynx have been the best-looking team since the league reconvened after the Paris Olympics. In many ways, this is the matchup we were destined for. 

A potentially interesting X-factor is coaching. Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve has led the Lynx to four previous titles (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017), but none with this group. Her extended championship experience — coupled with leading Team USA to an Olympic gold medal this summer — could be a difference-maker. She is considered an excellent tactician. The Liberty’s Sandy Brondello has one title, won in 2014 in her first season in Phoenix. She coached Phoenix and New York to the 2021 and 2023 Finals appearances, respectively, finishing as runner up. 

The “too long, didn’t read” version: The 2024 WNBA Finals are set up to a be a terrific series. And hopefully we are lucky enough to get all five games. 

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MLB’s quadrupleheader madness: What to watch in four LDS matchups

A blitzkrieg of raucous, roller-coaster playoff baseball is about to reach its zenith: A quadrupleheader featuring a pair of potential closeout games and two more pivotal Division Series Game 3s.

From the moment the Detroit Tigers greet a Comerica Park crowd awaiting its first playoff game in 10 years until the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres exit the stage – perhaps for good in the Dodgers’ case – some nine hours of taut, tense postseason play will unfold.

It’s the last day there’ll be so many games to track until 2025, and for the first time, all four Division Series began with 1-1 splits. As this day of reckoning arrives, USA TODAY Sports breaks down what to watch in these pivotal hours:

Guardians-Tigers, 3:08 ET (TBS): Hitting accelerator in Motown

After two games at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, which can feel claustrophobic, the Guardians and Tigers return to the spacious confines of Comerica Park, their ALDS tied 1-1.

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

And the Tigers are surely thrilled with the chance to not only play in front of their home fans, but stretch their legs on the base paths.

Detroit led the major leagues with a 49% rate taking extras bases in 2024, and since third base coach Joey Cora led a fiery August meeting that touted the upside of aggressive baserunning, the Tigers have gone first-to-third more than any team in the majors.

And after they took Cleveland’s best punch in Game 1 – the Guardians scored five runs before the Tigers recorded an out – the series has settled down considerably. Cleveland has scored just two runs in 17 innings since that breakout, while Detroit managed just one run-scoring hit – Kerry Carpenter’s stunning three-run homer off peerless Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase in the ninth inning of Game 2.

Now, the series is square, back on Detroit ground and perhaps on their terms. A day off has rested their bullpen and with right-hander Alex Cobb starting for Cleveland, they can throw speedy Parker Meadows back atop the lineup.

Sure, Comerica remains a tough yard to hit a ball in the seats. But don’t take your eye off the Tigers, lest they steal away with another win against the AL’s top seed.

Phillies-Mets, 5:08 ET (FS1): End of the road?

Once again, Mets slugger Pete Alonso is facing his potential Last Home Game At Citi Field, a road first crossed way back on Sept. 22, when New York closed its home schedule with a Sunday night win over the Phillies.

That launched the Mets into a furious flurry of elimination baseball, 10 consecutive road games bridging the regular season and playoffs until finally, Tuesday, the Mets hosted Philly again for Game 3 of their NLDS.

And Alonso made sure this improbable party raged on, his second-inning homer off Aaron Nola ensuring the Mets never trailed in their 7-2, series-turning win.

Yes, today, Alonso, a pending free agent and four-time All-Star, could play his final home game in Flushing. But this time, odds are he won’t.

The Mets hold a 2-1 lead in this NLDS, with two shots to close out the Phillies: In Game 4, behind Jose Quintana, or back in Philly, where they’d have to topple Phillies ace Zack Wheeler again.

But all the pressure, suddenly, is on the other side of the field.

The Phillies have taken terrible at-bats in almost all the 27 innings of this series, save for a late uprising in Game 2. Their hopes rest on Ranger Suarez’s left arm, and while he’s been a clutch playoff performer he did not finish the year in good form.

And it’s more useful to ponder what the Phillies might be frittering away.

Their 95 regular season wins, for naught. An undeniable feeling that, for all the good vibes at Citizens Bank Park, they are backsliding: Pennant winners in 2022, NLCS losers in 2023, NLDS exit in 2024.

Simply, it will be a nauseous evening in both dugouts Wednesday night. Yet for the Mets, it will be anticipatory; for the Phillies, simple dread.

“This whole experience,” Alonso said after Game 3, “has just been incredible.”

Yankees-Royals, 7:08 ET (TBS): Same as it ever was?

After their own 17-day road odyssey, the Royals are finally home. And Salvador Perez is once again saying that 2015 “feels just like yesterday.”

The Royals certainly hope so. Their classy old ballpark will host its first two playoff games since beating the Mets in a five-game World Series conquest in 2015. Perez, the respected and likely future Hall of Fame catcher, is of course the only soul remaining from that roster.

It is quite a hornet’s nest for the Yankees to happen upon.

They are tied 1-1 in this ALDS. They face a daunting matchup in veteran right-hander Seth Lugo, who dominated them at Yankee Stadium exactly a month ago, striking out 10 in seven shutout innings. And while they love their own starter, Clarke Schmidt, he’s made just five starts since returning from a nearly four-month absence due to a strained right lat.

It would help if he gave them some length. Right now, the only element firing properly for the Yankees is their bullpen, which has absorbed 9 ⅓ innings and given up just one run.

That feels unsustainable. And the Royals have managed to score nine runs in two games while their greatest player, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., goes 0 for 10 with four strikeouts.

He’ll have a far more welcoming crowd greeting him in Game 3. The Yankees would do well to get out of town with their season intact – which will require a win Wednesday or Thursday night.

“Now the boos are going to be for them, not for us like it was in New York,” Perez said Tuesday. “Super excited. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Dodgers-Padres, 9:08 ET (FS1): Going for the kill

It’s going to be a hot mess.

There’s really no other way this crazy NLDS can end, and end it probably will in Game 4, with San Diego tapping ace Dylan Cease on three days’ rest to suppress the Dodgers once and for all.

It’s been a crazy fall for the Dodgers, who once engendered huge hopes entering the postseason, only for the strangest calamities – some self-inflicted – to befall them.

Now, they’re going on two consecutive years of staggering into October with uncertain pitching plans and, unsurprisingly, failing in occasionally spectacular fashion. One more loss, and they’ll be eliminated in the NLDS a third consecutive season – twice by the Padres.

Yet unlike last year’s sad sweep at the hands of Arizona, these Dodgers fight back. Sure, they lost a crucial Game 3 at Petco Park 6-5, but given that they trailed 6-1 and pushed every last high-leverage Padres reliever into the fire is not an insignificant victory.

Now, to parlay that win into the momentum provided by the next day’s starting pitcher….

“It’s a bullpen game,” manager Dave Roberts said after Game 3. “I see one of our relievers starting.”

Ah, well.

The Dodgers aren’t just ailing in the arms department. Shortstop Miguel Rojas aggravated an adductor injury and first baseman Freddie Freeman once again couldn’t complete nine innings on a bum ankle, though of course he banged out a base hit before hobbling off.

L.A. got to Cease in Game 1, or more specifically Shohei Ohtani did, wiping out an early deficit with a three-run homer. Padres manager Mike Shildt says Cease will have “some bullets” for Game 4, and said his bullpen will be “ready to rock” despite absorbing four high-stress innings Wednesday.

“It’s good to get two,” says Shildt, “but it doesn’t matter until we get three.”

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