Yahoo Sports AM: “Today there is crying in baseball”

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🚨 Headlines

⚾️ MLB playoff tracker: The Yankees beat the Orioles to clinch the AL East crown; the Dodgers beat the Padres to clinch the NL West; the Mariners were officially eliminated.

🏀 D-Rose retires: Derrick Rose is retiring from the NBA after a 16-year career that saw him reach incredible highs (No. 1 pick, youngest-ever MVP) and depressing lows (countless injuries). He walks away having averaged 17.4 points and 5.2 assists in 723 games played.

🏈 Cowboys 20, Giants 15: It wasn’t pretty, but Dak Prescott has now won 13 straight games against the Giants. Meanwhile, Daniel Jones has still never won on a weekday (0-13).

⛳️ Americans take early lead: Scottie Scheffler and the U.S. Team pulled off an opening session sweep to grab a 5-0 lead at the Presidents Cup entering today’s foursomes matches.

🏎️ Red Bull fires Ricciardo: F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo was released by Red Bull Racing, likely ending his career. He’ll be replaced by Liam Lawson for the rest of the season.

⚾️ “Today there is crying in baseball”

After 57 seasons and four World Series titles, the Oakland Coliseum hosted its final Athletics game on Thursday, as the team is set to play in Sacramento for the next 3-4 seasons before relocating to Las Vegas.

The final out: A’s closer Mason Miller sealed the 3-2 win over the Rangers with two of the fastest pitches he’s ever thrown (103.5 mph and 103.8 mph), the latter of which was the fastest pitch in the history of the Coliseum. How can you not be romantic about baseball?

The scene on the ground: From Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg…

It was last call at the venerable Oakland Coliseum, but none of the regulars was ready to leave. Thousands of green-and-gold-clad die-hards remained at their seats and soaked in the nostalgia, long after the final out.

A man in a Rickey Henderson jersey lit a joint in the right-field bleachers. A group of friends a few rows away stood with their backs to the field and snapped a selfie together. Someone else raised a middle finger while shouting expletives at A’s owner John Fisher.

A woman along the third-base line held aloft a homemade sign that read, “Today there is crying in baseball.” Proof that she was right was all around her, as a grown man in a World Series cap wiped tears from his eyes and a young girl with an A’s chain around her neck bawled uncontrollably.

While security vigilantly kept watch for people ripping Coliseum seats out, the worst vandalism was a couple of knuckleheads tearing out the cupholders. Caught red-handed, one of the men sheepishly forked over his cupholder and said with a guilty smile, “What, I can’t have a relic?”

Those melancholy, sentimental scenes marked Oakland’s farewell to big-time sports. A fiercely loyal, often underappreciated sports town had its heart ripped from its chest three times in the past five years at the hands of team owners who sought greener pastures.

“Imagine that a loved one was murdered, and you’re told you have to go to that funeral 81 times,” said Bryan Johansen, who has been going to A’s games at the Coliseum for 40 years. “That’s what this entire season has been like. And it has only gotten more intense as the days pass.”

More from Oakland: Here’s Yahoo Sports’ Russell Dorsey…

When you walk around the Coliseum, the vibe you feel isn’t one of a downtrodden fan base. It’s one of a fan base that is celebrating the culture they created, regardless of decisions beyond their control. Even the people who work in the ballpark, whom you wouldn’t blame for being upset or bitter, are still positive.

“It’s emotional,” says Eric Raliegh, a security guard for 34 years. “Dave Stewart, Rickey Henderson, Dave Henderson, Jason Giambi, Nick Swisher, Eric Chavez … they all show me love and come back to see me because I’ve been in this same spot. Mark Kotsay was playing center field while I was here, and now he’s the manager. How they’ve treated me here, man. It’s special.”

❤️ “This is generations, and you’re ripping that away. For what?”

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more perfect description of why we love sports — and why sports matter — than what this A’s fan said outside the Coliseum…

My dad didn’t know what to do with me, so he brought me here. And we used to walk across that BART bridge to games and it was like magic. I watched Dwayne Murphy and Rickey Henderson out there, running the outfield, stealing bases, hat flying off. It was beautiful. And that’s what made me fall in love with baseball.

I had a little brother who was 13 years younger than me, and I didn’t know what to do with him. So what did I do? I brought him here. When I went away to college, I would send him tickets and he would call me for the national anthem. He would call me for Jason Giambi’s first at-bat as a Yankee so I could hear the boos.

And then when I had kids, I knew what to do with them: I brought them here. That’s what baseball in Oakland is. This is generations. This is father to son, to brother to child, and you’re ripping that away. For what? To fill a stadium [in Vegas] with 70% visiting fans? That’s ridiculous.

Bonus quote: I loved this answer from A’s slugger Brent Rooker on what differentiates the Coliseum from the 29 other MLB ballparks:

There’s no frills. I think a lot of stadiums have kind of become less about the actual baseball game and more just about an entertainment product. And I think what the Coliseum offers is, like, here’s just a bunch of seats and here’s a field, and there’s gonna be a baseball game happening, and that’s why everyone is here. And that’s really cool.

🏀 The WNBA’s unsung superstar

Even as the WNBA explodes in popularity, one of its best players continues to fly under the radar. But perhaps Napheesa Collier’s latest tour de force will garner her the attention she’s long deserved.

In her prime: Collier, 28, had a career year for the Lynx, finishing second in MVP voting after averaging 20.4 points (fifth-best), 9.7 rebounds (third), 1.9 steals (second), 1.4 blocks (fifth) and 3.4 assists (18th), while also ranking near the top in efficiency and defensive statistics.

• She’s been even better in the postseason, scoring 80 points (on 64% shooting) in Minnesota’s first-round series, the most in any two-game playoff stretch in WNBA history.

• Yet despite leading the Lynx to the No. 2 seed, and now bringing them three wins shy of a trip to the WNBA Finals, the 6-foot-1 forward remains largely unknown to casual fans.

What they’re saying: “I definitely think that Phee should be getting more attention than she’s gotten. People need to appreciate her game,” 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart told the Washington Post. “She’s one of the top five players in the world,” added former Sparks coach Curt Miller.

So, what gives? How does someone with excellent pedigree (drafted sixth overall out of UConn in 2019) and such a strong track record (four-time All-Star, two-time All-WNBA, three top-5 MVP finishes) go relatively unnoticed by the masses?

• The easy answer is lack of exposure: Despite finishing with the league’s second-best record (30-10), the Lynx had just 20 nationally-televised games compared to 33 for the Liberty, 35 for the Aces and 36 for Caitlin Clark’s Fever.

• The more nuanced answer is that Collier’s game — one that relies on elite basketball IQ and footwork rather than eye-popping athleticism or long-range shooting — isn’t the kind that draws headlines. She’s not flashy. She’s just always in the right place.

What’s next: The Lynx host the Sun on Sunday in Game 1 of their best-of-five semifinal series, and for Collier, the goal is clear: Lead Minnesota back to the Finals for the first time since 2017. Perhaps then the world will start paying attention.

Looking ahead… If Collier’s on-court talent doesn’t make her a household name, her latest off-court move might: She and Stewart recently co-founded Unrivaled, a new 3-on-3 league aimed at keeping WNBA stars at home during the offseason. Unrivaled is set to launch in January, with some of the league’s biggest names already signed on.

📆 Sept. 27, 1998: “1st and 10” debuts

26 years ago today, the way we watch football changed forever when the now-ubiquitous virtual first-down line debuted during ESPN’s Sunday night Ravens-Bengals broadcast.

How it works: The “1st and 10” line was developed by a company called Sportvision, which ran its operation with six people in a 48-foot truck outside the stadium and required an impressive feat of engineering to make the yellow line appear as if it were part of the field.

• They created a 3D model of the field, and during the game collected real-time data on each camera’s movement (zoom, pan, tilt). That combination of information allowed them to draw the line at the proper perspective — and then re-draw it for every frame of the broadcast.

• The final challenge was ensuring the line sat on the field instead of looking like it rested on top of any objects that got in the way. To do that, they treated the field like a green screen: it would always be in the background while the ball and players remained in the foreground.

A resounding success: Fans immediately fell in love with the new technology that took the guesswork out of determining how far their team was from a first down. A 1999 Harris poll found that 92% of fans approved of the graphic, and within two years it was used by every network.

The seeds of innovation: A few years earlier, Fox Sports put infrared sensors in NHL pucks to make them glow blue on the broadcast, with a red comet tail when they went above 70mph. The “glow puck” didn’t catch on, but the engineers who developed it left Fox to start their own company: Sportvision.

📺 Watchlist: MLB season finale

With three days left in the MLB regular season (not counting the likely Braves-Mets doubleheader on Monday), there are six teams battling for four Wild Card spots.

More to watch:

• ⛳️ Presidents Cup: Days 2-4 (Fri-Sun, Golf/NBC/Peacock)

• 🏈 NFL Sunday: Vikings at Packers* (1pm, CBS); Eagles at Bucs (1pm, Fox); Commanders at Cardinals (4:05pm, Fox); Bills at Ravens (8:20pm, NBC) … Week 4.

• 🏈 CFB Saturday: No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State (12pm, ESPN); No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame (3:30pm, Peacock); No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama (7:30pm, ABC); No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State (7:30pm, NBC) … Week 5.

• 🏀 WNBA Playoffs: Aces at Liberty (Sun. 3pm, ABC); Sun at Lynx (Sun. 8:30pm, ESPN)

• ⚽️ EPL: Newcastle vs. Man City (Sat. 7:30am, USA); Chelsea vs. Brighton (Sat. 10am, Peacock); Man United vs. Tottenham (Sun. 11:30am, USA)

• ⚽️ MLS: 14 games (Sat. 7:30-10:30pm, Apple)

• ⚽️ NWSL: Angel City vs. Washington (Fri. 10pm, Prime); KC vs. Gotham (Sat. 1pm, CBS)

• 🏁 NASCAR: Kansas Speedway (Sun. 3pm, USA) … First of three races in the Round of 12.

*Returning to Lambeau: Vikings RB Aaron Jones spent his first seven seasons with Green Bay. If he scores a touchdown on Sunday — something he did 63 times as a Packer — you’d better believe he’s making the Lambeau Leap. “I’m definitely leaping up there,” he said Wednesday.

🏈 Super Bowl trivia

The NFL intends to award the 2028 Super Bowl to Atlanta, per Sports Business Journal, which would be the city’s fourth time hosting “The Big Game.”

Question: Which city has hosted the most Super Bowls?

Hint: Hosted in 2020.

Answer at the bottom.

⚾️ 400 bases: Ohtani joins the club, Judge is close

Shohei Ohtani made more history on Thursday when he became the 19th player in MLB history (and first since 2001) to reach 400 total bases in a season.

Meanwhile, in New York: Aaron Judge went yard for the fifth straight game to give him 58 home runs (12th-most ever), and he’s now just eight bases away from joining Ohtani in the 400 club.

Folks, we are currently witnessing two of the best offensive seasons in baseball history…

Trivia answer: Miami (11 times)

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