Yahoo Sports AM: No punts, no turnovers

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🚨 Headlines

🎓 Pac-12 expansion: Utah State is joining the Pac-12 and UNLV could be next, sources tell Yahoo Sports. The conference is also eyeing Gonzaga.

⚾️ Goodbye, Oakland: Athletics owner John Fisher issued a goodbye letter to fans ahead of the team’s final series in Oakland this week, saying “we did our very best” to keep the team in the city. (Fact check: No they didn’t.)

🏈 Underdog at home: No. 4 Alabama is currently a 1.5-point underdog ahead of Saturday’s home game vs. No. 2 Georgia. If that holds, it will be the first time the Tide haven’t been favored in Tuscaloosa since 2007, a streak that spans 90 consecutive games.

⚽️ Brutal blow: Manchester City star midfielder Rodri is likely to miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL during Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal, ESPN reports.

🏈 Bush files NIL lawsuit: Reggie Bush, who had his 2005 Heisman Trophy reinstated back in April, is now suing the NCAA, USC and the Pac-12 over past use of his name, image and likeness.

🏈 No punts, no turnovers

The Commanders’ 38-33 win over the Bengals on Monday night was historic: For the first time since 1940, an NFL game featured zero punts and zero turnovers.

1st quarter:

2nd quarter:

• Bengals missed FG

• Commanders TD

• Bengals FG

• Commanders TD

• Bengals FG

• Commanders End of Half

3rd quarter:

4th quarter:

• Commanders FG

• Bengals TD

• Commanders TD

• Bengals TD

• Commanders End of Game

Star of the night: Jayden Daniels was nearly perfect through the air (21/23, 254 yards, 2 TD), giving him the highest completion percentage for a rookie QB in NFL history. He also added 39 yards and a touchdown with his legs. Not bad for his third career game.

• Fellow LSU Heisman winner Joe Burrow was spectacular in defeat (29/38, 324 yards, 3 TD), becoming just the second QB to throw for 300 yards and 3 TDs this season.

• But alas, the Bengals are 0-3, which is somewhat of a death sentence in this league. Since 1979, only six NFL teams have made the playoffs after losing their first three games.

Must-see throw: Daniels, the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, lobbed a beautiful 27-yard TD pass to Terry McLaurin to put the Bengals away. The throw had a completion probability of 10.3%, per Next Gen Stats, making it the most improbable TD of the season.

It would be hard to put the ball in a better spot if you were standing two feet away…

Red-hot offense: The Commanders are the first team in the Super Bowl era to play two consecutive games without punting the ball or turning it over. They’ve scored on 13 straight drives (not counting kneel downs), with eight field goals and five TDs.

Not a bad gig… Commanders punter Tress Way, who hasn’t punted since Week 1, will earn $3.4 million this season, which is $200,000 per game. So he’s made nearly half a million dollars over the past two weeks just holding for the kicker.

🇺🇸 Photos across America

Philadelphia — The Phillies are NL East champs for the first time since 2011, clinching the division title on Monday night with a 6-2 win over the Cubs in front of a sellout crowd.

Orchard Park, New York — Are the Bills the best team in football? It’s hard to argue otherwise after their dominant 47-10 victory over the Jaguars. They’re now 3-0 with the NFL’s best scoring offense (37.3 ppg) and seventh-best scoring defense (16.0 ppg).

Washington, D.C. — President Joe Biden welcomed NJ/NY Gotham FC to the White House on Monday to celebrate their 2023 championship, marking the first time in the NWSL’s 11-year history that a team has received a White House invite.

Los Angeles — LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards and Domantas Sabonis attended the premiere of “Starting 5” on Monday at the Egyptian Theatre. The 10-part Netflix series, which follows the NBA stars during the 2023-24 season, debuts October 9.

🏀 The Robinhood trio: Heat, Grizzlies, Wizards

Robinhood put its logo on Wizards uniforms last season. Now, the financial services company has signed jersey patch partnerships with two more teams: The Heat (announced this morning) and the Grizzlies (announced last week).

Zoom out: Jersey patches are a relatively new phenomenon in North American major sports, and Robinhood is upping the ante by investing in multiple teams across one league. For the Heat, let’s just hope this goes better than their last partnership with a trading platform (RIP, FTX Arena)…

🏊‍♂️ This guy just swam 87 miles… non-stop

With all due respect to Jayden Daniels, the Athlete of the Week award goes to Neil Agius, who just completed a world record 140-kilometer (~87 mile), non-stop swim around the islands of Malta. I’m struggling to even wrap my head around this…

via The Times of Malta:

A large crowd burst into long applause as the 38-year-old emerged from the water after 52 hours, made his way to a chair, and waved to well-wishers after having surpassed his own world record distance of 125.7km achieved in 2021.

“It was not a swim for me, it was a swim for Malta,” Agius said in a short comment, looking remarkably well after having been in the water for three days and three nights. … His swim will now have to be ratified by the World Open Water Swimming Association.

Man on a mission: Agius used the swim to raise awareness about Malta’s marine habitat and coordinate coastal clean-ups around the tiny Mediterranean country, resulting in thousands of pounds of waste being removed.

📆 Sept. 24, 1920: Ruth hits “a half-century”

104 years ago today, Babe Ruth became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs in a season, smacking Nos. 50 and 51 in a doubleheader against the Washington Senators.

Calling his shot: No, this wasn’t his iconic “called shot,” but the Babe — in his first season with the Yankees — did make it known publicly that he had his sights set on 50 long balls.

• One year earlier, his last with the Red Sox, he’d hit 29 to break the previous record of 27 that had stood for over three decades.

• After breaking that record in July of 1920, he said his goal was to reach “a half-century.” Experts said he was “cookoo in the attic.” Two months later, the “Sultan of Swat” made them eat their words.

A man amongst boys: Ruth ended the season with 54 home runs, which was 35 more than second place (George Sisler, 19) and more than second-place, third-place and fourth-place combined (51).

The 50-HR club: 32 players have eclipsed 50 home runs in a season, including 10 who’ve done so at least twice.

• 4x: Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa

• 3x: Aaron Judge, Alex Rodriguez

• 2x: Jimmie Foxx, Ken Griffey Jr., Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ralph Kiner

Meanwhile, in Illinois… On that very same day, the 1919 White Sox plot to throw the World Series was made public for the first time after testimony was given to a grand jury in Cook County, Illinois.

📺 Watchlist: Division rivalries

AL East and NL West rivals go head-to-head tonight on TBS, and both games have playoff implications.

• Orioles at Yankees (7:05pm ET): New York (92-64) can clinch the division with a win; Baltimore (86-70) still holds a four-game lead for the first wild card.

• Padres at Dodgers (10:10pm): If San Diego (90-66) sweeps Los Angeles (93-63), they’ll be tied for the division lead with three games left.

More to watch:

• 🏀 WNBA Playoffs: Dream* at Liberty (7:30pm, ESPN); Storm* at Aces (9:30pm, ESPN)

• 🏒 NHL Preseason: Capitals at Bruins (7pm, NHL); Kraken at Canucks (10pm, NHL)

*Win or go home: The Dream and Storm must win on the road tonight to avoid elimination and force a winner-take-all Game 3.

🏒 NHL trivia

10 days until the NHL season…

Who were the “Original Six” NHL teams that comprised the entire league from 1942-67?

Hint: Four in the U.S., two in Canada.

Answer at the bottom.

🏀 “Vinsanity” to join exclusive club

Vince Carter’s No. 15 jersey will be retired twice this upcoming season, with the Raptors joining the Nets in honoring a franchise legend.

Exclusive club: Carter will be the 17th NBA player to have his jersey retired by multiple teams, joining Bill Russell (league-wide), Kobe Bryant*, Wilt Chamberlain, Pete Maravich, Michael Jordan, Nate Thurmond, Bob Lanier, Charles Barkley, Earl Monroe, Clyde Drexler, Oscar Robertson, Moses Malone, Julius Erving, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dikembe Mutombo.

*The Lakers retired both of Bryant’s numbers (No. 8 and No. 24), and the Mavericks made the decision to retire his No. 24 on the day he tragically died.

Trivia answer: Bruins, Black Hawks (it was two words back then), Red Wings, Rangers, Canadiens, Maple Leafs

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