Yahoo Sports AM: Basketball without borders

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🚨 Headlines

🏈 This just in: The Chiefs are reportedly finalizing a trade for Titans WR DeAndre Hopkins to help strengthen their injury-plagued receiving corps.

🏀 WNBA Finals ratings: Game 5 drew an average of 2.2 million viewers (and peaked at 3.3 million), the highest viewership for the championship series since the 1990s.

💔 RIP Fernando: Dodgers legend Fernando Valenzuela has died at age 63, the team announced. “Fernandomania” forever.

💵 UFC antitrust lawsuit: A 10-year legal battle appears to finally be over, as a judge approved a $375 million settlement between the UFC and its former athletes.

🏈 Kupp on the block: The Rams are reportedly looking to trade WR Cooper Kupp in exchange for a second-round pick. They’ve been in contact with multiple teams.

🏀 The NBA is a global game

The NBA’s global growth remains on display this season: opening night rosters feature a record-tying 125 international players from a record-tying 43 countries.

Where are they from? Canada (21) leads the way for the 11th consecutive season, followed by France (14), Australia (13), Germany (8) and Serbia (6). Europe (61) has the most non-U.S. players of any continent, followed by North America (28), Africa (17), Australia (13), Asia (4) and South America (1).

By the numbers: All 30 teams have at least one international player, led by the Thunder and Trail Blazers with seven each.

• The All-NBA teams have featured at least five international players for six straight seasons, and 15 active international players have been All-Stars.

• Three of them have won the last six MVP Awards: Serbia’s Nikola Jokić (3x), Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (2x) and Cameroon’s Joel Embiid.

The new normal: This is the fourth straight year with at least 120 international players on opening night NBA rosters, and the 11th straight year with at least 100.

But it wasn’t always like this… In 1992, the year the Dream Team went to Barcelona, there were 23 non-U.S. players in the NBA. At the turn of the century, there were 36.

📸 The world in photos

Los Angeles — LeBron and Bronny James became the first father-son duo in NBA history take the court together in the Lakers’ 110-103 win over the Timberwolves, their first season-opening victory of the LeBron era (1-6). Guess he just needed his son by his side!

Boston — The Celtics had quite a night, raising their record-breaking 18th championship banner, blowing out the Knicks and tying the NBA’s single-game record with 29 made threes. They should have broken it, though, missing their final 13 attempts from deep.

Montreal — Atlanta beat Montreal, 5-4 in a shootout, in the opening match of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Next up: A best-of-three series against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.

Milan, Italy — Christian Pulisic stayed hot in Milan’s 3-1 Champions League win over Club Brugge, scoring an Olimpico when he curled a corner kick directly into the net for his seventh goal across 11 games this season.

⚾️ Ohtani’s 50-50 HR ball sells for $4.4 million

The baseball that sealed MLB’s first 50-50 season sold at auction on Tuesday for $3.6 million. With a 22% buyer’s premium added, the full price tag comes out to $4.392 million.

From Yahoo Sports’ Jack Baer:

That shatters the record for most expensive baseball ever sold at auction, beating the $3.005 million brought in by Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball (a figure that includes the buyer’s premium).

Goldin Auctions’ website also mentions a 0.9% insurance fee and a shipping fee of $19. Apparently, breaking a two-decade-old record doesn’t get you free shipping and handling.

Last-minute flurry: Bidding began on Sept. 27 at $500,000 and the price stood at $2.1 million for the final two days, until two bids — for $2.2 million then $2.3 million — came in the final three minutes of bidding Tuesday. That triggered an extended window in which 13 more bids came in to push the price way up.

The bidders kept trying to wait until the last minute to put in their new price, but each bid reset the clock to 30 minutes.

It was basically a rich version of eBay users trying to jump in at the last minute for a baseball card. The bidding finally ended at 9:26pm PT, nearly 2.5 hours after it was scheduled to end.

🏒 NHL Frozen Frenzy: 32 teams, 16 games, 1 night

All 32 NHL teams were in action on Tuesday (at staggered times) for the second edition of NHL Frozen Frenzy.

By the numbers: 16 games, 98 goals (6.1 per game), 958 shots and 861 saves. The first goal was scored at 6:14pm ET and the last goal came at 1:36am.

📆 Oct. 23, 1993: Touch ’em all, Joe!

31 years ago today, Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter hit a walk-off home run in Game 6 of the World Series to clinch Toronto’s second straight championship.

Immortal words: “Touch ’em all, Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!” said Blue Jays radio announcer Tom Cheek as Carter hopped around the bases like a little kid.

Walk-off clinchers: There have been 11 title-clinching walk-offs in World Series history, and Carter’s three-run blast was one of only two home runs (Pittsburgh’s Bill Mazeroski).

1. 2001: Luis Gonzalez, Diamondbacks (single in Game 7)

2. 1997: Édgar Rentería, Marlins (single in Game 7)

3. 1993: Carter, Blue Jays (HR in Game 6)

4. 1991: Gene Larkin, Twins (single in Game 7)

5. 1960: Mazeroski, Pirates (HR in Game 7)

6. 1953: Billy Martin, Yankees (single in Game 6)

7. 1935: Goose Goslin, Tigers (single in Game 6)

8. 1929: Bing Miller, Athletics (double in Game 5)

9. 1927: Earle Combs, Yankees (scored on wild pitch in Game 4)

10. 1924: Earl McNeely, Giants (double in Game 7)

11. 1912: Larry Gardner, Red Sox (sac fly in Game 8*)

*Game 8? The 1912 World Series was a best-of-seven series, but because Game 2 ended in a tie on account of darkness they needed an eighth game** to determine the winner.

**Did you know: The 1903, 1919 and 1921 World Series also went eight games, but for a very different reason: MLB briefly used a best-of-nine format for the Fall Classic.

📺 Watchlist: NBA coast-to-coast

The NBA is back in full force tonight with 10 games across the league, including the first ESPN doubleheader* of the season.

More to watch:

• ⚽️ MLS Playoffs: Vancouver vs. Portland (10:30pm, Apple) … West Wild Card

• 🏒 NHL: Flyers at Capitals (7:30pm, TNT)

• ⚽️ Champions League: Matchday 3 of 8 (12:45-3pm, Paramount+) … Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich (3pm) headlines the nine-game slate.

• 🏈 NCAAF: Liberty at Kennesaw State (7pm, CBSSN); MTSU at Jax State (7:30pm, ESPN2)

• ⛳️ PGA: Zozo Championship (11pm, Golf) … Collin Morikawa looks to defend his title in Japan.

*Injury report: Joel Embiid (knee) and Paul George (knee) are out for Philly; Khris Middleton (ankle) is out for Milwaukee; Kawhi Leonard (knee) is out indefinitely for L.A. That’s a lot of star power on the sidelines to start the season.

🏆 Titletown trivia

The Liberty’s 2024 WNBA championship makes New York the fourth city to achieve the “Grand Sextet” of sports titles (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA).

Submitted by: Richard R. (Chicago)

Answer at the bottom.

🍿 Now streaming: “Game 7” on Prime

All five episodes of “Game 7,” a new series about five playoff matchups that went the distance, are out now on Prime Video.

From Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee:

If the Super Bowl is the annual equivalent of a massive summer blockbuster, a seven-game series is an 800-page novel, full of plot twists, complicated characters, exultation and heartbreak.

A one-and-done championship game can turn on a single play — a missed field goal, a helmet catch — but over the course of a seven-game series, every player gets the chance to rise to the moment. It’s why, as the old line goes, the two greatest words in sports are “Game 7.”

Episode list:

1. ⚾️ Deep into the Night: Yankees 4, Red Sox 3 (2003 ALCS)

2. 🏒 The Price of Winning: Oilers 4, Flyers 3 (1987 Stanley Cup Final)

3. 🏀 The Euro Step: Mavericks 4, Spurs 3 (2006 West Semifinals)

4. ⚾️ Next Year: Cubs 4, Indians 3 (2016 World Series)

5. 🏒 The Messiah Promised: Rangers 4, Canucks 3 (1994 Stanley Cup Final)

Looking ahead: The next great “Game 7” could be just around the corner. If the World Series goes the distance, the Yankees and Dodgers will meet in a winner-take-all finale on Saturday, Nov. 2, in Los Angeles.

Trivia answer: Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington D.C.

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