Be honest, Yankee fans: Are you mad?

Angry at Aaron Boone for falling short once again? Well, the man lost his ace in March, managed the team to a tie for a division title and kept them alive in an American League Division Series in which their starters couldn’t get past the third inning.

Irate that Aaron Judge still isn’t the Truest Yankee because he doesn’t yet have a World Series ring? Well, the man simply hit one of the greatest home runs in recent playoff history to save their season, had 13 hits in 26 postseason at-bats and produced one of the finest offensive seasons ever.

Incensed that GM For Life Brian Cashman simply isn’t doing enough, or that owner Hal Steinbrenner isn’t willing to do what it takes to get the Yankees over the top? Well, the latter laid out $750 million for Juan Soto only to see him skip across town, and the former pivoted brilliantly to reallocate resources and put a championship-caliber club on the field.

Sure, this isn’t the old days, where no expense was spared, sustainability was a word reserved for losers and The Boss demanded a level of success that rarely was met.

No, this is 2025, and while the pinstripes can evoke nostalgia and newest Yankee Stadium’s roars can still intimidate an opponent, a different reality has settled in.

The Yankees are simply one of a half-dozen or so teams committed to winning every year, yet no more powerful to bend the capricious postseason odds in their favor.

It’s somewhat appropriate that the Yankees are going home after losing this American League Division Series, 3-1, to the Toronto Blue Jays while the Seattle Mariners are still alive, at least pending their decisive Game 5 in the other ALDS.

The Mariners’ GM, Jerry Dipoto, caused a great deal of concern and disgust within the game when, after the club fell shy of a playoff berth in 2023, he said any franchise’s aim should be to win “54% of the time.” The implication: Win 87.5 games every single year, and you’ll make the playoffs more often than not, and perhaps one of these autumns every ball will bounce the right way, every deep fly ball won’t die at the track and you’ll win the last game of the season.

Dipoto was ripped mercilessly, an avatar of the game’s modern urge to drain all the passion out of the sport and create a frictionless, sterile pastime.

He apologized profusely, but it’s kind of funny to look back a few years later: The Mariners have won between 85 and 90 games every year since 2021 and, this year, have a fairly legitimate World Series shot.

The Yankees would never admit to such cold calculations, but the same concept applies, just in a slightly higher tax bracket. Just call them The 58 Percenters: They won 94 games in 2024 and 94 games in 2025, a .580 winning percentage that earned them one division title, a tie for another and a World Series appearance.

That the Blue Jays claimed the division title on a tiebreaker forced the Yankees, for the first time, into the wild card series. In the most generous interpretation, that means they had a 1 in 12 shot of winning it all.

Is this a failure worth kvetching over?

It is unfortunate for them that they haven’t been able to construct a true “death star” like the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose unparalleled draft-and-develop apparatus and deep pockets have produced 13 straight playoff berths, two World Series titles and four NL pennants.

Not only has that kept the Dodgers an October constant (the Yankees have missed the playoffs four times since their World Series title in 2009), it also makes them incredibly attractive to outsiders.

They’re favorites to repeat as World Series champions because of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and perhaps even Rōki Sasaki, a trio whose Dodger destination seemed a fait accompli.

A generation ago, that would’ve been the Yankees’ domain. But Hal Steinbrenner and fam never seemed inclined to throw money around, in a relative sense, like the Boss did, or even like the restless Steve Cohen across town.

So, they’ll have to make do with $320-ish million rosters, a perpetual hole or two that must get patched each winter and the hope that there’s enough dry powder in the farm system to reup at the trade deadline.

The process begins anew. Cody Bellinger is probably a goner, perhaps finally earning the nine-figure payday he long seemed due. Same with Paul Goldschmidt and Devin Williams, worthy contributors in their single year in pinstripes.

There are growing rumblings of a so-called Judge window, that the big fella turns 34 in April and 6-foot-7 bodies are a little more challenging to maintain relative to the average dude.

That’s kind of silly. Judge has many good years ahead of him and has been a virtually constant October presence. This is no Mike Trout situation, a generational great stuck in baseball purgatory more than a decade, until his body no longer does the things that made the masses thirst for a championship on his behalf.

Judge should get his ring at some point, perhaps next year. Gerrit Cole should be back sometime in the first half, and Luis Gil healthy from the jump, while retaining or replacing Bellinger (uh, Kyle Tucker?) remains the biggest lift on the lineup side.

The greater concern may be cleaning up the fundamentals on a club prone to lapses – such as Jazz Chisholm’s costly error in their Game 4 elimination – although shortstop Anthony Volpe made great strides on both sides of the ball to that end late in the season.

And if Judge never wins it all? There have been worse indignities in this game. Judge will probably pass 400 home runs in 2026 while Giancarlo Stanton closes in on 500. The Yankees remain a highly entertaining team in a business built on, well, entertainment.

But it’s also a competitive business, with the most demanding fans in the industry. Just keep in mind: The Dodgers needed 11 consecutive playoff runs to win their first full-season title in this run.

The Yankees are going on eight fruitless playoff runs in nine years. They should be impervious to such modern trappings as “playoff odds” or “win curves,” but come October, they’re no different than the Phillies or Dodgers or Mets or, now, the Blue Jays.

Sure, it’s disappointing for a Yankee fan. It’s just not worth getting mad about.

LOS ANGELES — Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber swung the bat, turned around, and looked into his own dugout.

The ball sailed over the head of Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernandez, but he never bothered to look up.

Dodgers starter Yoshinobu peeked as it soared, and then immediately spun around, not wanting to see where it landed.

“I’ve never seen a ball go up like that,’ Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said, “especially in LA at night.’

The sound of the ball leaving the bat at 117.2 mph could be heard all the way in Philadelphia, traveling 455 feet into the night halfway up the right-field pavilion – and perhaps dramatically altering this National League Division Series.

“When I hit it,’ said Schwarber, who homered again in the eighth inning, “I know it’s a home run. I didn’t even see where it landed. I was looking in the dugout trying to get the guys going, get back in the dugout, everyone is high-fiving. And I knew I hit it good. I didn’t know where it went. Eventually somebody tells me. You watch it on video where it goes. I was just more focused on our guys there. …

“But yeah, it was a cool moment.’

The home run was only in the fourth inning, tying the game at 1-apiece, but it was so loud and so epic, it singlehandedly brought the Phillies back from the dead with an 8-2 victory.

The Phillies still trail 2-1 in this best-of-five series, and will pitch ace Cristopher Sanchez against No. 4 Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow in Game 4 on Thursday, but they are alive.

And energized with the belief they could force a deciding Game 5 in Philadelphia, and perhaps even pull of the miracle and win the series.

Yes, the home run meant just that much to a team that had not hit a homer in the first two games, with their three biggest stars shut down.

“One-hundred percent,’ said shortstop Trea Tuner, who had a three-hit game. “It’s ridiculous how far that ball went. I just think like the vibes, the energy, it’s something to build off. Sometimes it’s hard to create your own momentum. You’ve got to build off things like that.

“No better way than leaving the ball leaving the stadium.’

This is a team that looked like a long, cold winter was just around the corner. They lost both games in Philadelphia. They complained about bad luck. Complained about pressure of playing in Philadelphia. Complained that sometimes the baseball gods just get in the way.

The Phillies’ $700 million trio of Harper, Turner and Schwarber went 2-for-21 in the first two games, struck out 11 times, and didn’t produce a single extra-base hit.

This night was a different story. They went 7-for-13 with two homers, one double, five RBIs, four runs, two walks and two stolen bases.

“Anytime we have Kyle going or Trea going or myself,’ Harper said, “we’re going to win games. I think we all know that. When we’re not doing our job, we’re probably not going to win many games. That’s something we need to do (Thursday), come in, do our job, have fun and enjoy it.

“Obviously, it’s a great opportunity.’

And made possible simply by one swing of the man who hit 56 homers during the regular season, but was hitless in his last 22 at-bats when he stepped to the plate.

“I think the Schwarber home run just sort of woke everybody up,’ Phillies manager Rob Thomson said, “and got a lot of energy going in the dugout.’

Just like that, they’re believing that when they fly back to Philadelphia after Thursday’s game, they’ll have the Dodgers in tow on their own chartered flights.

“I don’t think anybody’s feeling like it’s our time to go home,’ Turner said. “We want to keep playing. So we’re going to do it again. And today was a good start.’’

Harper, who grew up in nearby Las Vegas, kept saying how much everyone looked forward to playing at Dodger Stadium. They love the weather. Appreciate the vibe. And even a homecoming for a few of the players who grew up in the area and went to Dodger games.

“I think a lot of us love playing in LA,’ Harper said. “Fans are always great. It’s always a great atmosphere. A lot of us love the weather on the West Coast as well.’

The Phillies were reminded of all that, and the need to simply exhale, in a brief team meeting before the game. They had just beaten the Dodgers in two of three games at Dodger Stadium three weeks ago, so they certainly were capable of doing it again.

“I feel we match up with anybody really well,’ Turner said. “And it’s just a matter of doing enough to win the game. We didn’t do that the first two days, and now we’re kind of in the hole. But we have the group of guys to pull ourselves out.

“It’s not going to be easy. It’s a great team over there. They’ve got plenty of superstars, good players, great pitching. And we’ll have to play our best to do it, but it starts [Thursday], and today was a good start.’

The Phillies, who used right-hander Aaron Nola to start the game and pitch two shutout innings, and then turned to left-hander Ranger Suarez for the next five innings, feel confident with Sanchez taking the mound. He went 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA during the regular season, striking out 212 batters, and gave up just four hits and two runs in 5 ⅔ innings in Game 1.

“I’m ready, I’m going to give us the best chance I can,’’ Sanchez said. “I’m going to prepare myself like I always do.’’

Yet, if not for Schwarber’s blast, Sanchez’s next start may have been in Clearwater, Fla., next February when they report to spring training.

“It’s been a heavyweight battle of two starting pitching staffs out there,’ Schwarber said. “We know what the battle is going to be. We know it’s not going to be easy.

“But like Trea said, we have the guys to do this, and we’re going to keep fighting and scratching and clawing for anything that we can get.’

The Phillies are still in the hole, but the last thing the Dodgers want is another cross-country flight to Philadelphia.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure on us,’ Dodgers shortstop Mookie Bets said. “Pressure is a privilege.’

So, no stress trying to find a way to silence the Phillies’ top guns?

“I don’t have to pitch to them,’ Betts said, smiling as he left his locker, “so I don’t have to worry about that.’

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PHOENIX — The Las Vegas Aces had never won Game 3 of the WNBA Finals under head coach Becky Hammon entering Wednesday’s matchup.

The No. 2 seed Aces changed that with a 90-88 victory over the No. 4 seed Phoenix Mercury at Mortgage Matchup Center to take a 3-0 in the best-of-seven championship series. A’ja Wilson hit the go-ahead jumper with 0.9 seconds remaining, a shot Wilson called one of the best of her career.

‘Under Becky Hammon, we’ve never won a Game 3, so this was a must win for us just for that sake,’ said Wilson, who finished with 34 points and 14 rebounds. ‘I’m happy we finally won a Game 3… Look at us.’

Wilson tops our list of winners from Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. The Mercury, on the brink of elimination, round out our list of losers.

Winners

A’ja Wilson’s game-winning shot for the Aces

If the game and championship are on the line, there is no one else the Aces trust more than four-time MVP A’ja Wilson. With less than a second remaining, Wilson launched a jumper with ice in her veins. The coldest part wasn’t even seeing her get the ball up. It was the A’ja Wilson bounce the ball took after it left her hands, hit the rim and rolled in. What’s even more impressive? Aces coach Becky Hammon did not call a play for Wilson. She drew up who was getting the ball to her superstar and told everyone else to “get out the way.”

Jewell Loyd’s first quarter 3-point shooting

Loyd was on fire in the first quarter. As soon as she put one shot up, the rim seemed massive. Loyd drained shot after shot around the perimeter until she had hit the most 3-pointers in the first quarter (four) in WNBA Finals history. The record for the most 3-pointers in a single quarter of a WNBA game is five. Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Sami Whitcomb, Arike Ogunbowale and Rhyne Howard are among the players who’ve accomplished the feat.

Aces birthday girl, Chelsea Gray 

Happy birthday, Chelsea Gray. Birthdays have been good to the Aces during their WNBA Finals run. The Aces secured a Game 3 victory on Gray’s 33rd birthday on Wednesday, days after the Aces delivered a Game 2 win for Jewell Loyd’s 32nd birthday on Sunday. “Does anybody have a birthday on Friday?” Aces head coach Becky Hammon joked, alluding to Friday’s Game 4 in Phoenix, where the Aces have an opportunity to close out the best-of-seven championship series and hoist their third title in four years. Gray finished with 11 points, five assists, three steals, three blocks and two rebounds. ‘Maybe she’ll have one drink tonight to celebrate,’ Hammon said.

Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner off the bench

The Mercury brought DeWanna Bonner to Phoenix for her veteran leadership and playoff experience. The two-time WNBA champion has struggled throughout the postseason, but delivered a breakout playoff performance on Wednesday and fueled the Mercury’s comeback. Bonner had a team-high 25 points and 10 rebounds in the Mercury’s Game 3 loss, all while battling an illness. ‘I just knew Game 3, I needed to be more aggressive. I felt like the first two games in Vegas, I was a little hesitant, so I already had the mindset that I was going to come and attack the paint today regardless,’ she said. The Mercury will need an aggressive Bonner moving forward if they want to extend this championship series.

Losers

Mercury forward Satou Sabally’s injury

The Mercury could be without Satou Sabally in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals. Sabally left Game 3 with 4:25 remaining in the fourth quarter after hitting her head on Aces forward Kierstan Bell’s knee while trying to grab a rebound. Aces guard Jackie Young was called for a loose-ball foul. Sabally, who had 24 points, did not return to the game and coach Nate Tibbetts did not have an injury update postgame.

Phoenix’s free throw issues

In Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas missed two free throws with 24.6 seconds remaining. One made free throw would’ve tied up the game, while two made free throws would’ve given Phoenix the lead late in the fourth quarter. The Mercury’s troubling trend continued in Game 3 on Wednesday as Phoenix shot 74.2% (23-of-31) from the free throw line. That came back to bite the Mercury, again. Tibbetts said his team did a ‘good job of getting to the line,’ but needs to do a better job converting. The Aces’ in comparison shot 92% (23-of-25) from the free throw line.

Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb’s shooting 

For the second consecutive game in the WNBA Finals, Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb was held scoreless. Whitcomb has been a pivotal to the Mercury’s bench all season long, but she has come up empty handed in Game 2 and Game 3. She went 0-of-3 in 14 minutes in Sunday’s Game 2 and shot 0-of-5, including 0-of-4 from the 3-point line in 25 minutes on Friday. Whitcomb temporarily left Game 1 with a knee injury and later said she was ‘fine,’ but she hasn’t looked like herself in the Mercury’s previous two games. Whitcomb’s averaging two points in the WNBA Finals, down from her regular-season season average of 9.1 points.

WNBA officiating

“Refs, you suck” chants happened in Games 1 and 2, and on Wednesday, as the fouls for both teams stacked up, the crowd became increasingly frustrated with the officiating. The chants were started quietly at first, but soon they engulfed Mortgage Matchup Center in a synchronized fashion. Not counting the team fouls during Game 3, there were a combined 45 personal fouls between the teams and Aces guard Dana Evans fouled out.

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NEW YORK – The New York Yankees started off the 2025 season torpedoing the team that ended up with the best record in baseball.

In that opening three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Bronx Bombers hit anything that was near the strike zone, smacking 15 homers, tying the major-league record for most team home runs in the first three games of the season, while scoring 36 and having the baseball establishment at large wondering if they were using illegal bats.

It turns out that perceived cheating was much ado about nothing, and they got right back to the business of trying to capture the franchise’s 28th world championship.

Their 2025 season ended Wednesday with the pitching staff being torpedoed by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays, culminating in a 5-2 loss and a four-game thumping in the American League Division Series, leaving the same old questions about why a talented, highly-paid team hasn’t hoisted the World Series trophy since 2009.

It was the Yankees’ starting pitching that struggled in the ALDS, ultimately leading to an early October exit. Luis Gil allowed two runs in just 2⅔ innings in a 10-1 rout in Game 1, Max Fried got shelled for seven runs in three innings in Game 2, and Carlos Rodón gave up six earned runs in only 2⅓ innings in Game 3, combining for a 16.88 ERA in eight innings pitched.

The offseason questions began immediately after the game for manager Aaron Boone, who has won 90 or more games in six of his eight seasons but still has just one AL pennant to show for it – despite a 2025 opening day payroll of nearly $285 million, the third highest in MLB behind the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers.

‘The awful part of this is the journey that you go on that – and this has been a tough year for me personally. But all you go through to kind of become this kind of team you think can really do something special, and for it to abruptly end is always difficult,’ Boone said.

‘You pour so much in to go on this long journey to have a chance to chase a dream and win a championship. And when it ends this way, it’s always terrible. It hurts.

‘But I know for me personally, I know for a lot of those guys, it also continues to ignite your fire to want to get back and play in these meaningful games and have a chance at glory.’

Gerrit Cole is expected to return to full health after missing the season following Tommy John surgery, re-joining the pitching rotation alongside Fried, who won 19 games in his first season of an eight-year, $218 million contract with New York.

Rodón, the starting pitcher in Game 3, won 18 games, and then there’s 24-year-old Cam Schlittler, whose performance in Game 3 of the wild card series against the Boston Red Sox drew the league’s attention. Schlittler was the losing pitcher in Game 4 of the Division Series, but was solid in 6⅓ innings. Boone said he has supreme confidence that Schlittler can be a stalwart in the rotation that figures to be one of the AL’s best.

‘He gave us a really good chance to win a baseball game,’ Boone said of Schlittler. ‘I think we all understand how excited we are about Cam and his future and what he could become in our rotation moving forward. He had a phenomenal season and finished strong tonight.’

Despite the struggles in the regular season, the Yankees were never more than 6.5 games out of the AL East lead at any point and a late-season surge – including an eight-game winning streak – got New York to 94-68, the same record as the Blue Jays. But the Yankees lost the tiebreaker after Toronto beat them in eight of the 13 games played head-to-head.

And of course, the focus will be on reigning AL Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge, who had another outstanding season with 54 home runs and 114 RBIs, while leading the majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS, despite missing time with a right elbow flexor strain that limited his time in the field upon returning.

But the Yankees’ captain and two-time MVP will be 34 and fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton will be 36 at the start of next season. The team has only so many more chances to enjoy the benefits and production of the best hitter in baseball. 

Judge was spectacular in the postseason, hitting .500 with a 1.273 OPS, including a majestic game-tying home run in Game 3 that will be talked about for years. But still, it was not enough.

‘I liked our chances all year,’ Judge said. ‘Just sucks for the guys that might be their last time wearing pinstripes and not being able to have a long run with them. Disappointed we let all those guys down.

‘We didn’t do our job, didn’t finish the goal. I want to get back out there right now, wish spring training was in a couple weeks.’

There are also questions about whether 30-year-old Cody Bellinger (.272, 29 HR, 98 RBIs), acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, will be back, as he has a $25 million player option for 2026 and could opt out and become a free agent. And third base will be a focal point over the winter, as trade deadline acquisition Ryan McMahon struggled at times, and opening day starter Oswaldo Cabrera is recovering from a broken left ankle suffered in May.

It will be up to owner Hal Steinbrenner, who will ultimately decide the fates of Boone and longtime general manager Brian Cashman, whose contract runs through 2026. Boone said he fully expects to be back in the fold next year.

‘I believe in so many of the people in that room. It’s hard to win the World Series, been chasing it all my life,’ Boone said. ‘I’m under contract, so I don’t expect anything.’

Eli Drinkwitz is 26-5 at Missouri since start of 2023 season. That matches Lane Kiffin’s record in that time.
If Missouri beats Alabama, it can silence some critics and skeptics.
Clash with Alabama is a chance to ‘go knock some heads off.’

Missouri’s top feats since joining the SEC tend to be qualified with a two-word rebuttal.

Yeah, but …

Missouri won the SEC East in 2013 and 2014.

Yeah, but, Florida and Tennessee were down, and Georgia hadn’t hired Kirby Smart.

Missouri won 21 games the past two seasons.

Yeah, but, it capitalized on a favorable schedule.

No. 14 Missouri is now 5-0, one of four undefeated SEC teams.

Yeah, but, who have the Tigers played?

Yeah, well, here comes No. 8 Alabama into Faurot Field. A win against the Crimson Tide would be an uppercut to the chin of the yeah, but, brigade.

“How many of the old guard,” mused Mike Kelly, Missouri’s play-by-play voice since 1994, “said, ‘Yeah but,’” after any Missouri achievement since it joined the SEC from the Big 12?

“You never really got full credit for having damn good football teams,” Kelly added, “because others — the longtime guard in the league — would not give you credit for that.

‘If you beat Alabama, does that give you more credibility among those longtime viewers of this conference?”

Never mind the naysayers. A win against Alabama would cement Missouri as a College Football Playoff contender and polish the bona fides of sixth-year coach Eliah Drinkwitz.

This isn’t Nick Saban’s Alabama that won six national titles, but the resurgent Tide snapped Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak two weeks ago.

Many within this generation of college football players started paying attention to the sport while Alabama’s dynasty still ruled.

“It was the ‘A.’ You saw them, and it was just like, that was the school you wanted to get offered by, or you wanted to go to,” Missouri linebacker Josiah Trotter told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m just looking forward to the opportunity to just go play them and go knock some heads off.”

A horse-riding Heisman Trophy contender

The first thing you need to know about Missouri tailback Ahmad Hardy is he rides horses.

The second thing you need to know about Hardy is he’s a bundle of tenacity, a portrait of toughness, and he leads the nation in rushing.

By Trotter’s telling, these facts are related.

“Anybody that says they ride horses, especially in the SEC,” Trotter says, “I would think they’d probably be a load to tackle.”

Hardy, a Louisiana-Monroe transfer, is the latest in a line of flourishing transfer running backs in Missouri’s outside zone scheme.

Drinkwitz learned the merits of the outside zone after spending three seasons on North Carolina State’s staff with offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford, who now coaches the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive line.

The outside zone benefits offenses with athletic linemen. It’s designed to get 300-pound defensive linemen moving from sideline to sideline. Get those big defenders moving laterally, and they become easier to move out of the way. That’s the idea.

“It allows the running backs to put their foot in the ground and find a hole,” Drinkwitz said. “Defenses all want to fit gaps. Well, those gaps are now moving at a rapid rate.”

That’s all very technical sounding, but quarterback Beau Pribula boils it down to brass tacks.

“When you have one of the best backs in the country,” Pribula said, “it makes your job a lot easier.”

A play caller, plus Beau Pribula, feed Missouri uprising

Pribula, like Hardy, became a jewel of Missouri’s transfer class that ranked among the nation’s finest. Pribula showed his running ability as Penn State’s backup last season. In five games starting for Missouri, he’s proven to be much more than a set of wheels, while completing nearly 76% of his passes.

Pribula visited Mississippi, Central Florida and Iowa last winter while evaluating transfer options, after first visiting Missouri.

“I knew after that visit, (Missouri) was going to be tough to beat,” Pribula said.

Nobody ever surpassed Missouri, where he knew he’d have a chance to start and would fit the scheme.

Drinkwitz came up coaching on offense, and he called Missouri’s plays his first few seasons. His record after three seasons: 17-19.

Drinkwitz describes himself as college football’s dorkiest coach, and, what the heck, dorks like calling plays, so he admits handing off play-calling was tough — but necessary. He hired Kirby Moore as his offensive coordinator before the 2023 season and delegated play-calling duties.

“I just had to fully embrace that my role for the team was to be the head coach,” Drinkwitz said.

Drinkwitz’s record since that fork-in-the-road alteration: 26-5.

If you’re scoring at home, that record identically matches Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin’s record the past 2½ seasons. Kiffin generates more headlines, but Drinkwitz keeps the wins coming, too.

It would be an oversimplification to say Drinkwitz’s play-calling change triggered this windfall of success, but his decision to delegate those duties “might have been the final straw that helped us break through,” he says.

Eli Drinkwitz allows Missouri ‘to dream’

What’s Drinkwitz meant to Missouri?

Kelly, the voice of the Tigers, describes it like this:

Former coach Larry Smith gave Missouri hope in the late 1990s. Gary Pinkel provided Missouri with consistency. Drinkwitz gives Missouri “the opportunity to dream,” Kelly says.

Dream, even, of a home playoff game played in front of a sellout crowd.

An old joke around Missouri is that home attendance would be steady until it came time to put venison in the freezer. Although Faurot Field is not currently at peak capacity amid ongoing stadium projects, Missouri’s game against Alabama will mark an 18th consecutive home sellout.

“We’ve been able to overcome deer season,” Kelly quipped.

Add that to Drinkwitz’s ever-improving resumé.

Missouri took a circuitous route to hiring Drinkwitz. Its board of curators rejected the first batch of candidates during the 2019 search. The search then pivoted toward Drinkwitz, who won 12 games in a single season coaching Appalachian State.

The Missouri job called to him for two reasons: The campus is located 125 miles away from two metropolitan areas, St. Louis and Kansas City. Proximity to metros aids recruiting. Also, coaching Missouri meant the chance to build an unrivaled legacy.

Missouri stood on the doorstep of preeminence under Pinkel, but Lucy kept yanking the football away. The Tigers were positioned to play for the BCS national championship in 2007, before Oklahoma routed them in the Big 12 championship.

A win in the 2013 SEC Championship could have propelled Missouri into a spot in the national championship game. Auburn ensured that possibility went no further with a 59-point outburst in Atlanta. As Kelly joked of that game, “Tre Mason is still picking up yards somewhere against” Missouri.

Pinkel’s 12-win seasons in 2007 and 2013 mark the program’s summit, at least since Dan Devine led the Tigers to triumphs in the Sugar and Orange Bowls in the 1960s.

“There’s things that we can accomplish that have never been done in Mizzou football,” Drinkwitz said, “and that’s something you can take great pride in.”

Two years ago, Missouri started 5-0 before losing at home to LSU. Yeah, but, here’s a fresh opportunity for Missouri to elevate onto a higher plane.

‘We got to go out there and earn our respect,’ Trotter said.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

Whatever superlatives are used to describe A’ja Wilson and her game, they are not enough.

The Las Vegas Aces center is more than the four-time MVP. More than the WNBA’s most prolific scorer and its most suffocating defender. She’s the best player on the planet right now, in that rare territory previously occupied by the likes of Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

The Las Vegas Aces are on the verge of their third title in four years because of Wilson. Her stepback jumper with Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner in her face with 0.3 seconds left Wednesday night is one of those instantly iconic plays, a shot that little girls, and boys, will spend hours in their driveways and backyards trying to recreate.

“She just drew up a play. It wasn’t really even a play,” Wilson said, referring to Aces coach Becky Hammon.

The play?

“Give the ball to A’ja and get out of the way,” Hammon said, laughing because it was so obvious.

“I’m appreciative Becky trusts me in those moments,” Wilson said. “Those are moments you live for.”

Of course Hammon trusts Wilson. She’d be a fool not to. Wilson has clutch in her DNA and ice in her veins, delivering in every big moment she’s been in. The NCAA title at South Carolina. Las Vegas’ previous two WNBA championships. The Paris Olympics last year.

Now these Finals, where Wilson is the first player in WNBA history with consecutive games of 25 or more points and 10 or more rebounds.

Wilson had 34 points and 14 boards, as well as four assists and three blocks, in the 90-88 win, which gave Las Vegas a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Friday night at Mortgage Market Center in Phoenix (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

“It just feels a little bit better, obviously, because it’s the Finals,” Wilson said. “These are the moments that you dream of, these are just the times that you see on TV sometimes. You’re watching and you’re like, `Oh my God, to be in that building.’ It’s truly powerful.”

Like those legends who came before her, Wilson’s dominance has become so expected it’s almost underappreciated. Of course she’s going to have a double-double. Of course she’s going to shut down the opposing team’s best player. Of course she’s going to deliver the game-winning shot.

But to take Wilson’s skills, savvy and smoothness for granted is to miss out on watching greatness in real time. How many times have you wished you could have seen Russell play? Or tried to recall what it was like when Jordan took over games? You have that chance now with Wilson.

That’s what made her shot Wednesday night so spectacular. It was a slap-in-the-face, pour-water-on-your-head reminder of how lucky we are to be watching Wilson in her prime. She will be the best women’s basketball player of all time — and one of the best to play the game, period — by the time her career is over, and we have a front-row seat.

Las Vegas blew a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter, with Bonner making a pair of free throws to tie the game with 1:01 to play. On the next possession, Wilson was cutting beneath the basket when the ball slipped from her hands and went out of bounds with 40 seconds left.

“My biggest thing was I had to get it back,” Wilson said. “That would have crushed my whole soul to know that (cost Las Vegas the game) because that’s just something I don’t do.

“Becky trusts me, so I’ve got to make something happen.”

Thomas missed a layup with 20 seconds left, and the Aces got the rebound. Wanting to ensure Las Vegas got the last shot, Hammon called a timeout with five seconds left. Chelsea Gray inbounded the ball to Wilson, as expected, and Thomas and Bonner squared up to try and keep her from getting a look.

Wilson drove toward Bonner and, seeing no opening, spun around to create space. She elevated and took her shot as she leaned backward, the ball arcing over Thomas and Bonner. As the ball swished through the net, Wilson took several steps backward, roaring and sticking her tongue out in triumph.

“I didn’t really see who was in front of me. I didn’t care,” Wilson told ESPN after the game. “This is the Finals, you’ve got to make shots.”

Of course she did. That’s what the greats do, and Wilson is one of the greatest of them all.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

LOS ANGELES — The Philadelphia Phillies tried to tell everyone they wouldn’t panic.

No one believed it.

They kept saying that maybe a change of scenery to Dodger Stadium would relax them.

No one believed it.

They insisted that their powerful trio of All-Star hitters would break out.

No one believed it.

When the Philadelphia Phillies lined up Wednesday night on the Dodger Stadium field for handshakes, blasting the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-2 in front of a stunned sellout crowd of 53,689, they suddenly have a whole lot of believers.

The Phillies still are in trouble, of course, trailing the Dodgers 2-1 in this best-of-five National League Division Series, with Game 4 scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 9 at Dodger Stadium.

Yet, they are alive.

And they also have that dynamic the Dodgers badly wanted to prevent.

Momentum.

“Momentum’s always something that you don’t know if it’s real or not,’ Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said before the game. “You definitely feel it, though, as a player in certain situations, you feel the momentum change.

‘Obviously we want to finish this tonight, and we don’t want to let anything slip away from us. That’s one of those things, when you talk about momentum, if you don’t finish it tonight, you feel like it’s slipping away. That’s definitely not something you want to have happen.’

Well, it happened.

“We want to put these guys away,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game, “and don’t let them up for air.’

Well, after what transpired Wednesday, the Phillies suddenly have confidence too.

The Phillies, whose season was on life support after losing the first two games in front of their home crowd at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, believe they can pull this off.

After all, they became the first team in two weeks to beat the defending World Series champions, snapping the Dodgers’ nine-game winning streak.

While Ranger Suarez was brilliant in his five-inning outing coming in relief for Aaron Nola in the third inning, it was the Phillies’ powerful trio who reminded everyone just what they’re capable of doing to the opposition.

Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner, who were in a 2-for-21 skid entering the game, put on a power-hitting clinic for everyone to see.

There was Schwarber hitting two home runs, including a 455-foot blast in the fourth inning, with three RBIs.

Turner, who produced three hits and two RBI, broke the game open in the Phillies’ five-run eighth.

There was Harper who had a two-hit game and reached base three times.

Just like that, the Phillies looked like well … the Phillies.

They made sure that Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered the game with a 0.66 ERA in his last six starts, couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning.

It began with Schwarber, who had been hitless in his last 22 at-bats when he stepped up to the plate to lead off the fourth. The slump ended with one majestic swing of the bat.

Schwarber sent Yamamoto’s fastball nearly out of the stadium, landing 455 feet into the right-field pavillion. It was hit so far, and so hard (117-mph), that Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernandez didn’t move.

Just like that, the Phillies’ bats awoke.

Harper, who had also been handcuffed this series, followed by slapping a single to left field. Byson Stott singled and when Harper headed to third, center fielder Andy Pages tried to get him. The ball instead sailed past third baseman Max Muncy and bounced into the Dodgers’ dugout, scoring Harper with Stott advancing to third. Brandon Marsh made it 3-1 with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Yamamoto came out for the fifth, but was immediately greeted by with singles by Bryson Stott and Trea Turner knocking him out of the game. It was his shortest outing since June 1.

The Phillies, after a double steal, then had a golden opportunity to blow open the game against left-handed reliever Anthony Banda. Yet, Schwarber struck out. Harper hit a shallow pop-up to right field. And after Bohm was intentionally walked, loading the bases, Brandon Marsh struck out on three pitches. Well, technically two ptiches – with Marsh being charged with an automatic strike on a pich clock violation.

The Phillies threatened again in the seventh inning off three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw coming into the game relief, with a leadoff single by Turner and a walk by Schwarber. But Harper flied out to right, and then Schwarber was picked off first base when he wandered too far, and the opportunity ended on Brandon Marsh’s line drive to right.

Finally, they broke through in the eighth on J.T. Realmuto’s homer, Turner’s two-run single, and a two-run homer by Schwarber.

Who knows what can happen now, with Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts vividly remembering the feeling of struggling in the postseason before ending his slump last year.

“I’ve been there…,’ Betts said. “When you get in that rut and it seems like it’s quicksand. No matter what you do you just can’t get out of it. It’s tough. Hell, I didn’t get out of it. So I have no advice or anything. I mean, shoot, I would have if I knew what to do.

“Good luck to those guys and we’ll see if they have the answer.”

For one night, they certainly did.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

Here’s how Wednesday’s game unfolded:

Kyle Schwarber home run blows it open

Coming back out for a second inning, Clayton Kershaw gave up a leadoff home run to J.T. Realmuto. He then walked Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos reached on an error before Bryson Stott bunted them to second and third. With one out, Trea Turner hit a two-RBI single to make it 6-1 Phillies. Then, Kyle Schwarber delivered his second home run of the game, a two-run shot that extended Philadelphia’s lead to 8-1.

Clayton Kershaw comes out of the bullpen

Trailing 3-1 in the seventh, Dave Roberts brought Clayton Kershaw out of the bullpen for his first appearance of the 2025 postseason. Kershaw was met with the Phillies’ best hitters and gave up a leadoff single to Trea Turner before walking Kyle Schwarber. The veteran left-hander got Bryce Harper to fly out and then Schwarber was picked off in a baserunning blunder for the second out.

After intentionally walking Alec Bohm, Kershaw retired Brandon Marsh on a hard-hit line drive to right, getting out of the inning without allowing a run.

Kershaw, retiring at the end of the season, won three Cy Youngs and an MVP award, surely heading for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Phillies still lead 6-1 in the sixth

Anthony Banda (fifth) and Jack Dreyer (sixth) put up zeroes relieving Yoshinobu Yamamoto, managing to keep the Phillies from adding insurance runs despite Philadelphia loading the bases in the fifth.

Phillies ambush Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the fourth

Kyle Schwarber’s mammoth home run led off the top of the fourth and tied the game. The next batter, Bryce Harper, singled and then scored as a result of Andy Pages’ throwing error on Alec Bohm’s single. The ball went out of play and moved Bohm to third and Brandon Marsh brought him home with a sacrifice fly for the first out of the inning. J.T. Realmuto hit a ground-rule double but Yamamoto got Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos to end the frame with the Phillies up 3-1.

Kyle Schwarber home run ties it up

Leading off the fourth inning, Kyle Schwarber hit a 455-foot homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto to tie the game.

The Phillies slugger had been stuck in an 0-for-23 slump having led the Natioinaln League with 56 home runs in the regular season.

Tommy Edman home run welcomes Ranger Suarez

Phillies manager Rob Thomson stuck with his plan to limit Aaron Nola’s exposure and pulled the right-hander after two innings to put in southpaw Ranger Suarez.

On Suarez’s first pitch of the night, switch-hitter Tommy Edman hit a solo home run to left field, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the third.

Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the Phillies hitless through three innings.

Aaron Nola escapes first-inning jam

Dodgers-Phillies Game 3 underway in Los Angeles

Yoshinobu Yamamoto worked around Bryce Harper’s two-out walk to toss a scoreless first at Dodger Stadium.

In his second year after signing a $325 million contract before throwing an MLB pitch, the Japanese right-hander was the Dodgers’ ace this season with an All-Star nod and a 2.49 ERA.

Phillies lineup today

Trea Turner (R) SS
Kyle Schwarber (L) DH
Bryce Harper (L) 1B
Alec Bohm (R) 3B
Brandon Marsh (L) CF
J.T. Realmuto (R) C
Max Kepler (L) LF
Nick Castellanos (R) RF
Bryson Stott (L) 2B

Dodgers lineup today

Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
Mookie Betts (R) SS
Teoscar Hernández (R) RF
Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
Will Smith (R) C
Enrique Hernández (R) LF
Max Muncy (L) 3B
Andy Pages (R) CF
Tommy Edman (S) 2B

Will Smith returns to Dodgers lineup

The Dodgers’ All-Star catcher is in the starting lineup for the first time this postseason in Game 3, coming off the bench in each of the first two games in the series. Smith had missed nearly a month with a hand fracture.

‘The at-bats have been fantastic especially considering the arms that he’s had to face coming into both those games and the lay-off,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before Game 3.

‘If I didn’t feel he could finish a game I wouldn’t have started him. I feel good. He’s in a good spot. I think the at-bat quality has been great.’

The proverbial “lights-out bullpen” is the desire of every Major League Baseball playoff team. Yet it doesn’t take much for the indicator lights on the dashboard to start blinking.

The Seattle Mariners found this out in Game 4 of their American League Division Series when they bumped up against the two f-words of postseason relief.

Familiarity. And fatigue.

They were up three runs and just 15 outs from dispatching the Detroit Tigers and claiming the first spot in the AL Championship Series when the diminishing returns of relief pitching reared its head.

Detroit struck for seven runs over two innings against Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo, who’d been near-perfect in the first three games of the series, to salvage its season and send both teams winging it back to Seattle for a decisive Game 5.

Where presumed Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal will await the Mariners.

That’s how quickly these things can turn: From comfortable lead and bullpen security blankets to lightning striking, the Tigers evening the series with a 9-3 victory that squares this ALDS 2-2.

And to think the Mariners nearly rocked these Tigers to sleep.

Comerica Park was a funeral parlor into the bottom of the fifth, with Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller outkicking his 2025 statistics to allow just two hits through four innings. Then things got loud – and unsuspecting fans were about to see nine unanswered runs on the board.

Dillon Dingler’s double scored Spencer Torkelson, who’d singled. It was 3-1. Dan Wilson, in his first full season as manager, prudently hooked Miller for the lefty Speier – only to get outflanked by his counterpart.

Sure, Speier had seen eight Tigers hitters in this series – and retired all eight of them, striking out four. But increased exposure brings adversity for even the more immortal pitchers.

‘There are no secrets,’ says Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, ‘when you get this deep into a series.’

And Speier suddenly looked like a mere mortal.

Hinch threw up righty-swinging Jahmai Jones to pinch-hit in Parker Meadows’ place, and he hooked an RBI double down the left field line. A 3-2 game.

No. 9 hitter Javy Baez reawakened the echoes of 2016 with a solid single to plate Jones. A 3-3 game.

Speier worked around a Baez stolen base, got a groundout, issued an intentional walk to Gleyber Torres and escaped the jam with the score tied.

That should have been it.

But Wilson opted to bring back Speier, despite having to sit down and run back out there, despite the familiarity that Greene might enjoy, having seen Speier twice already this series.

“Just trying to get it to the next guy. Just trying to get on base for the guys behind me,” the ever-humble Greene, 2 for 14 with no extra-base hits in the series before that at-bat, said after the game.

He did much more – clouting a Speier slider 454 feet into the right field seats. Suddenly, the Tigers had a lead for the first time since the 11th inning of Game 1.

Hey, no worries. Wilson simply turned to Eduard Bazardo, who’d pitched in Games 1, 2 and 3, who’d recorded seven outs and gave up just one hit.

Wilson was asked after the game if he was concerned that the Tigers had seen Speier twice and Bazardo three times before Game 4.

‘These guys have thrown the ball so well, and I don’t think that’s a risk,’ says Wilson. ‘These guys have done the job and thrown the ball extremely well, and today they just – they were able to get to us.’

The Tigers rocked Bazardo for four hits, including a Baez home run, fattening the lead and ensuring they’d only need closer Will Vest for one, not two innings.

Game 5?

Well, they’ll all have a day off as they hop from the D to the Pacific Northwest. The arms should ostensibly be rested. Skubal will be breathing fire, still stinging from his Game 2 loss.

The Mariners? They can only hope one more game of familiarity doesn’t set off the fireworks in Detroit’s lineup.