Yahoo Sports AM: The Dodgers are world champs

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⚾️ The Dodgers are world champs

For the eighth time in their storied history, the Dodgers are World Series champions. And on Wednesday night in the Bronx, they really earned that ring with a stunning 7-6 victory.

What a comeback: The Yankees offense picked up right where it left off after Tuesday’s 11-run outburst, as New York took an early 5-0 lead behind home runs from Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Then, chaos ensued.

MVP: Who else but Freddie Freeman, whose historic home run streak was snapped in Game 5 but who still got in on the action with a two-run single. That gave him 12 RBIs in the series, tied for the most ever in a single World Series (Yankees 2B Bobby Richardson, 1960).

The rest: Mookie Betts, who also had an excellent series (5 hits, 4 runs, 4 RBIs), became the first active hitter with three World Series rings.

A rare feat: This was just the eighth time in the wild card era (since 1994) that the team with the best regular-season record won the World Series, with the 2024 Dodgers joining the 1998 Yankees, 2007 Red Sox, 2009 Yankees, 2013 Red Sox, 2016 Cubs, 2018 Red Sox and 2020 Dodgers.

Fun fact… For the fifth consecutive season, a player named Will Smith won the World Series: The Dodgers catcher in 2020 and 2024, and the lefty reliever in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Offseason previews: Dodgers | Yankees

🏈 NFL power rankings: Week 9

The undefeated Chiefs remain the top team in our power rankings as the season nears its midpoint. But watch out for the Eagles, who are suddenly healthy and looking dangerous after three straight victories.

How’s your team looking?

🏀 Has the NBA’s 3-point evolution gone too far?

From Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor:

The NBA’s deep dive into 3-point shooting has transformed the game entirely. Today, the 3 isn’t just a weapon; it’s the foundation of almost every offense. Analytics demand it, coaches preach it and players adapt to it.

But here’s the question: Has this evolution really been good for the game? Is basketball more enjoyable to watch, or has something been lost in the process?

Last season the Celtics won the NBA Finals and shattered the all-time 3-point rate previously set by the Rockets. Now other teams are following along.

3-pointers are way up across the league with 41.7% of shots coming from behind the arc. If this continues, it’ll be the first time in NBA history the 3-point rate eclipses 40%.

Think about the way basketball used to be. A tapestry of styles, each team carrying its own identity. The 3-pointer used to be the surprise. The knockout punch. Now it’s just another jab.

You could watch a game and instantly know: “This is Spurs basketball” or “This is the Seven Seconds or Less Suns” or “This is the Grit and Grind Grizzlies.” Today? You’d be forgiven if you mixed up the styles.

When everyone’s running similar high-volume 3-point strategies, that signature identity fades into the background, and what we’re left with is a league that sometimes feels like a copy-and-paste job.

Full story: Is the 3-ball evolution good or bad?

⚾️ A league of their own

For the first time in 70 years, the United States is getting a women’s professional baseball league.

Coming soon: The Women’s Pro Baseball League will launch in 2026 with six teams based “predominantly in the Northeast.”

• The WPBL was co-founded by Justine Siegal, a baseball pioneer who became the first woman to coach in MLB when she joined the A’s organization in 2015.

• “We have been waiting over 70 years for a professional baseball league we can call our own,” said Siegal. “Our time is now.”

The big picture: This felt inevitable given the recent explosion in women’s sports, generally, and women in baseball, specifically.

They’ve taken the field more, too: In 2022, Kelsie Whitmore became the first woman to start a game in the MLB-affiliated Atlantic League. And last year, Brown’s Olivia Pichardo became the first woman to play D-I baseball.

The bottom line: “A League of Their Own” wasn’t just an iconic 90s sports movie; it told the true story of the AAGPBL, the last American women’s pro baseball league. 70 years later, a new story is being written.

🏀 Oct. 31, 1950: Lloyd breaks the NBA’s color barrier

74 years ago today, Earl “Big Cat” Lloyd made his debut for the now-defunct Washington Capitols, becoming the first Black player in NBA history.

Three trailblazers: Lloyd was the first of three Black players to suit up that season, followed by Chuck Cooper and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, who both debuted days later. Lloyd, a Hall of Famer, played 560 games across nine seasons and won the 1955 title with the Syracuse Nationals.

What he said: Three years earlier, Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in baseball. When asked about him, Lloyd humbly downplayed any comparison:

“I don’t think my situation was anything like Jackie Robinson’s — a guy who played in a hostile environment, where some of his teammates didn’t want him around. In basketball, folks were used to seeing integrated college teams. There was a different mentality.”

More firsts: In 1960, Lloyd became the first Black assistant in the four major North American sports leagues (Pistons). Then in 1971, the Pistons made him the NBA’s first “coach-only” Black head coach (Bill Russell and Lenny Wilkens had previously pulled double duty as player-coaches).

📺 Watchlist: Jets-Texans on Prime

Halloween is extra spooky this year for the Jets, who’ve lost five straight games and host the first-place Texans tonight in New Jersey (8:15pm ET, Prime).

An unexpected tailspin: When Aaron Rodgers went down last year, the Jets season went down with him considering Zach Wilson’s obvious limitations. But last year they were 4-4 through eight games, and this year they’re 2-6, tied for the NFL’s third-worst record.*

More to watch:

• 🏀 NBA: Bucks at Grizzlies (8pm, NBA); Suns at Clippers (10:30pm, NBA)

• 🏈 NCAAF: Tulane at Charlotte (7:30pm, ESPN)

*The NFL’s crowded cellar: The hapless Panthers (1-7) and Titans (1-6) have the worst records in the league, but the Jets are one of seven teams sitting at 2-6 along with the Patriots, Browns, Jaguars, Raiders, Giants and Saints. That’s nearly a quarter of the league!

⚾️ World Series trivia

The Dodgers are the sixth team to win multiple World Series this century. Can you name the other five?

Hint: 3 AL, 2 NL.

Answer at the bottom.

🎥 Worth a watch: Drone shot

Have you ever wondered how those drone videos that take you through seemingly every inch of a sports venue are shot?

Then you’re in luck: Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at a video produced at Amalie Arena, home of the Lightning.

Trivia answer: Red Sox (2004, 2007, 2013, 2018); Giants (2010, 2012, 2014); Yankees (2000, 2009); Cardinals (2006, 2011); Astros (2017, 2022)

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