Ohtani and Judge secure MVP honors (once more)

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🚨 Headlines

💵 Gambling headlines: The NFL is restricting prop bets in the wake of scandals in the NBA and MLB; Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase was arrested and pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces in the aforementioned MLB scandal; 14 people were charged in New Jersey for their roles in a Mafia-backed betting ring involving college athletes.

🏀 Curry splits from Under Armour: After more than a decade, Stephen Curry and Under Armour are parting ways. The Warriors guard’s Curry Brand, which was launched in 2020, will continue independently of the company.

🏈 CFP committee shake-up: Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek is replacing Baylor AD Mack Rhoades as the College Football Playoff selection committee chair after Rhoades took a leave of absence amid an investigation into a potential violation of school policies.

⚾️ Coming home: The Tampa Bay Rays are set to return to Tropicana Field next year after being displaced this past season due to damages caused by Hurricane Milton.

📺 Pac-12’s new home: The rebuilt Pac-12 has finalized its TV contract for the near future, inking a deal with USA Sports to televise 22 football games a year through the 2030 season.

📺 Weekend Watchlist

Will MVP frontrunner Matthew Stafford continue his torrid pace in a huge divisional matchup against Seattle? (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

🏈 NFL, Week 11

The Commanders and Dolphins meet in Madrid on Sunday morning (9:30am ET, NFL) for the seventh and final international game of the season. Back home, the Week 11 slate is headlined by four tantalizing heavyweight matchups:

Buccaneers at Bills (1pm, CBS): Both are 6-3. Both are led by MVP candidates. Both are coming off losses.
Seahawks at Rams (4pm, Fox): The game of the weekend. These NFC West foes are tied atop the division at 7-2 and have both won four straight games. Los Angeles has the second-best title odds (+700 at BetMGM) and Seattle has the fifth-best (+1100).
Chiefs at Broncos (4:25pm, CBS): With an eighth straight win, Denver (8-2) would make it very tough for KC (5-4) to challenge for their 10th consecutive AFC West crown.
Lions at Eagles (8:20pm, NBC): Not a bad way to end the day, with first-place Philly (7-2) and first-place Detroit (6-3) playing on «Sunday Night Football.»

Best of the rest: Bears at Vikings (1pm, Fox); Bengals at Steelers (1pm, CBS); Chargers at Jaguars (1pm, CBS); Panthers at Falcons (1pm, Fox)

🏈 NCAAF, Week 12

Saturday’s slate features four matchups between ranked teams, including two SEC showdowns inside the top 11.

No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 22 Pitt (12pm, ABC)
No. 11 Oklahoma at No. 4 Alabama (3:30pm, ABC)
No. 21 Iowa at No. 17 USC (3:30pm, BTN)
No. 10 Texas at No. 5 Georgia (7:30pm, ABC)

Best of the rest: NC State at No. 15 Miami (3:30pm, ESPN); No. 13 Utah at Baylor (7pm, ESPN2); UCLA at No. 1 Ohio State (7:30pm, NBC); TCU at No. 12 BYU (10:15pm, ESPN).

🎾 ATP Finals

Today’s group stage finale pits Jannik Sinner against Ben Shelton (8am, Tennis) and Alexander Zverev against Félix Auger-Aliassime (2:30pm, Tennis). Sinner is already through to the semis, where he’ll play Alex de Minaur tomorrow, while the winner of the Zverev-FAA match will face Carlos Alcaraz in tomorrow’s other semifinal. The championship is on Sunday (12pm).

⚽️ NWSL Semifinals

The second-seeded Washington Spirit host the third-seeded Portland Thorns on Saturday (12pm, CBS). The fourth-seeded Orlando Pride host eighth-seeded Gotham FC on Sunday (3pm, ABC).

Fun fact: It would have been nearly impossible to hand-pick a more appropriate final four. The league’s last four champions? Washington (2021), Portland (2022), Gotham (2023) and Orlando (2024).

More to watch:

🏀 NBA: Heat at Knicks (Fri. 7pm, Prime); Warriors at Spurs (Fri. 9:30pm, Prime) … Day 3 of the in-season tournament.
🏒 NHL: Bruins at Canadiens (Sat. 7pm, NHL) … Montreal and Boston are part of a three-way tie with Ottawa atop the Atlantic
🏀 NCAAM: No. 5 Arizona at No. 15 UCLA (Fri. 10pm, Peacock); No. 3 UConn vs. No. 7 BYU (Sat. 7pm, Fox); No. 1 Houston vs. No. 22 Auburn (Sun. 3pm, ESPN)
🏀 NCAAW: No. 18 Notre Dame vs. No. 14 Michigan (Sat. 4pm, NBC); No. 2 South Carolina at No. 8 USC (Sat. 9pm, Fox); No. 17 TCU at No. 10 NC State (Sun. 1pm, ESPN)
⚽️ Friendly: USMNT vs. Paraguay (Sat. 5pm, TNT) … At Subaru Park outside Philadelphia.
⛳️ DP World Tour: Tour Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf) … Season-ending tournament in Dubai.
⛳️ LPGA: The Annika (Fri-Sun, Golf) … Haeran Ryu (-6) leads by one stroke after Round 1.
👊 MMA: UFC 322 (Sat. 10pm, ESPN+ PPV) … Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev (welterweight) and Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili (flyweight) are the headliners at MSG.
🥊 Boxing: Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn (Sat. 4:30pm, DAZN PPV) … Family rivals meet in a rematch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Full weekend slate.

⚾️ Ohtani, Judge win MVP (again)

For the first time in MLB history, the same two players won National League and American League MVP in back-to-back years.

NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani won his fourth MVP award (all unanimous) to join Barry Bonds (7) as the only players with more than three.

From Yahoo Sports’ Jack Baer:

When Ohtani signed his 10-year, $700 million with the Dodgers in 2023, the price shocked a baseball world that had never seen a contract larger than Trout’s $426 million deal. And two years later, that contract, and its deferrals, could not look like a bigger bargain.

Ohtani has been the most valuable player in the NL in back-to-back years, and a World Series champion in back-to-back years. He has transformed the business of the Dodgers, turning them into an advertising powerhouse in his native Japan, one of the richest countries in the world and a nation that worships him at a level of celebrity beyond anything in the U.S.

It’s quite possible Ohtani has already paid for himself as far as the Dodgers are concerned. The team had an enormous set of advantages, such as its enormous TV contract and the largest stadium in MLB, but Ohtani’s success has sent them to a higher plane, and there’s no telling if they come down as long as he’s on the field.

AL MVP: Aaron Judge beat out Cal Raleigh in a close race to win his third MVP award, joining Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio as the only Yankees to do so.

From Yahoo Sports’ Jake Mintz:

This third MVP all but secures Judge a place in Cooperstown. All the other three-time winners are either in the Hall of Fame (Berra, Roy Campanella, DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Mike Schmidt), not yet eligible (Ohtani, Albert Pujols, Mike Trout) or would be first-ballot shoo-ins if not for alleged PED use (Bonds, Alex Rodriguez).

There is a strong case to be made that Judge is the single greatest right-handed hitter in the sport’s history. His 179 OPS+ is the highest career mark for a righty since integration. Only 10 other hitters (Mike Trout, Mark McGwire, Dick Allen, Frank Thomas, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Manny Ramírez, Frank Robinson, Ralph Kiner and DiMaggio) are even above 150.

Put differently, Judge is the type of hitter so unavoidably good that he supersedes seasons like the one Raleigh just put up. It’s yet another data point on Judge’s résumé as one of the best sluggers to ever play the game. There remains a gaping void in his trophy case; that ever-elusive first World Series title. But as this October showed us, one locked-in dynamo cannot carry a franchise alone. Judge dominated this postseason and it made little difference.

MLB Awards: All-MLB first team, second team and more

⚽️ MLS 3.0: New calendar, no paywall

Major League Soccer made two sweeping changes on Thursday, voting to (1) overhaul its schedule and (2) ditch its paywall.

MLS will do away with the «Season Pass» paywall next season, meaning all games will be available to Apple TV subscribers at no additional cost.

From Yahoo Sports’ Steven Goff:

For decades, MLS rowed against the current, starting the season early in the calendar year, playing through soccer-busy summers and ending as Christmas lights went up.

Starting in 2027, however, the 30-team circuit will align itself with most European leagues by conducting the season from mid-to-late July until late May.

It’s a seismic move, one that MLS executives and team owners weighed for years before finally finding consensus Thursday at the Board of Governors meeting in South Florida.

The last time they took such pronounced action was 2007 by instituting the Designated Player rule, a mechanism for teams to get around the salary cap and sign global superstars, such as David Beckham and Lionel Messi.

For a league with big ambitions but a history of puzzling decisions, the schedule change needed to happen. Ideally, it would have been enacted before the World Cup in North America casts an enormous shadow over the league next summer. But it will finally happen. Good for MLS.

Keep reading: Why MLS’ new calendar is its smartest move in years

🌎 The world in photos

Henderson after scoring his third touchdown. (Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)

🇺🇸 Foxborough, Massachusetts — The Patriots (9-2) cruised past the Jets, 27-14, for their eighth straight win behind a monster game from rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson (93 total yards, 3 TD), clinching their first winning season since 2021.

MVP? Drake Maye’s MVP-caliber campaign continued (281 yards, TD) and put him in rarefied air as the first QB in NFL history with at least 2,500 passing yards, 250 rushing yards, 20 passing TDs, a 70% completion rate and an .800 win percentage in a single-season span of 11 starts.

🇮🇹 Turin, Italy — Carlos Alcaraz defeated Lorenzo Musetti to finish the group stage of the ATP Finals undefeated and clinch his spot as the year-end world No. 1 for the first time since 2022. His record this season? 70-8. Not bad.

De Minaur finally breaks through: In the day’s other match, Alex de Minaur took down Taylor Fritz to secure his spot in the semifinals alongside Alcaraz, snapping an 0-5 lifetime record in the ATP Finals and an 0-16 streak against top-10 players.

Ronaldo sarcastically acknowledges Ireland's fans after being sent off. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) — Ronaldo sarcastically acknowledges Ireland’s fans after being sent off. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

🇮🇪 Dublin, Ireland — Well, there’s a first time for everything, and in Cristiano Ronaldo’s 226th career international match, the 40-year-old was shown his first red card with Portugal, which fell 2-0 to Ireland in World Cup qualifying.

Elsewhere: Norway beat Estonia, 4-1, behind a brace from Erling Haaland to put them on the verge of qualifying for their first World Cup this century. Haaland has now scored 30 goals for club and country in just 19 games this season. An absolute machine.

Rory McIlroy lines up a putt on the 16th green. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

🇦🇪 Dubai, UAE — While the PGA Tour continues its fall swing, the European Tour is holding its season-ending tournament, where Rory McIlroy seeks his second straight title, and record fourth overall.

Opening round recap: McIlroy (-6) is two strokes off leader Michael Kim (-8), who hit 11 of 18 greens inside 10 feet (!) on Thursday. Tommy Fleetwood (-7) is in second, continuing his torrid pace. He’s made just one bogey in his last 98 holes.

🏀 NBA all-breakout team

First Team

Jalen Duren, C (Pistons)
Deni Avdija, F (Trail Blazers)
Jaime Jaquez Jr., F (Heat)
Austin Reaves, G (Lakers)
Stephon Castle, G (Spurs)

Second Team

Alexandre Sarr, C (Wizards)
Trendon Watford, F (76ers)
Matas Buzelis, F (Bulls)
Ajay Mitchell, G (Thunder)
Reed Sheppard, G (Rockets)

Dive in.

⚾️ MLB trivia

The Padres could be up for sale soon, according to a statement from the Seidler family on Thursday.

Question: Four MLB teams have been sold so far this decade. Can you name them?

Hint: Three AL, one NL.

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 No more report cards?

The NFL has filed a grievance against the NFLPA over its annual practice of surveying players and handing out «Report Cards» for every team.

The league’s grievance stems from CBA Article 51, Section 6, that requires the NFLPA and league management council to «use reasonable efforts to curtail public comments by Club personnel or players which express criticism of any club…»

Above: How all 32 teams fared on their most recent report card (February 2025).

Trivia answer: Rays (2025), Orioles (2024), Royals (2020), Mets (2020)

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