👋 Good morning! Happy Hump Day. In today's edition: NBA Opening Day, McDavid is on fire, meet our new hire, World Series payrolls, Big Numbers, college football midseason awards, and more. |
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🏒 McDavid makes history: Oilers superstar Connor McDavid notched three more assists in Tuesday's 4-3 (OT) win over the Wild to reach 20 through just nine games, the fewest in NHL history to hit that mark. He's also the sixth player ever with at least 25 points (6 G, 20 A) before his 10th game of the season. 🏀 Gamecocks top poll: For the fifth time in the past seven years, South Carolina will head into the women's college basketball season as the No. 1 team in the nation. UConn, USC, Duke and Michigan rounded out the top five of the preseason AP poll. ⚽️ PSG wins thriller: PSG took down Barcelona, 4-2, in Tuesday's Champions League action, as the two-time reigning champions handed Barça their first loss of the season in an epic match that featured four goals in the final 20 minutes. ⚾️ Record ticket prices: The get-in price for Friday's World Series opener in Milwaukee currently sits at $2,442 (via Gametime), making it by far the most expensive Game 1 ever. The previous record? $1,125 for Cubs-Indians in 2016. 🏈 Union calls for investigation: After the NFL concluded it would not punish the Eagles for how they handled the process of clearing Jalen Hurts to play with a blood clot, the NFLPA has called for a full investigation into the situation. |
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The new NBA season is here. Get the free NBA App and never miss a beat. See where every game is on, tap straight into the live action and keep up with the latest scores, highlights and alerts for your favorite teams and players all season. |
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IN PHOTOS: NBA OPENING DAY |
(Sarah Stier/Getty Images) |
New York, New York The Knicks left Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night with shiny new championship rings, but the 76ers walked away with the win, spoiling the banner-raising celebration in the Big Apple with a 106-100 victory. LeBron finally wins debut: For the first time in his 24-year career, LeBron James won his first game with a new team (previously 0-4, including his second stint with the Cavs). He flirted with a triple-double (14-9-7) in 34 minutes, and connected with fellow newcomer Jaylen Brown on an alley-oop. |
Cade Cunningham put up 22 points and 8 assists in the comeback win. (Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images) |
Detroit, Michigan The Pistons stormed back from a 22-point third-quarter deficit (and rattled off a 23-0 run in the fourth) to beat the Celtics, 121-113, in the matinee. The dizzying victory marked the largest comeback on the first day of an NBA season in the play-by-play era (since 1997-98). Historic in defeat: Paul George erupted for 38 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals, setting the record for the most points in a Celtics debut. He also nailed seven threes, bringing his career total to 2,456 and passing Kyle Korver (2,450) for eighth-most all-time. |
(Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) |
San Antonio, Texas Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32 points) and the Thunder beat the Spurs, 116-104, in the nightcap, reminding the league of their championship pedigree in a statement-making opening win. This was a stubborn, veteran group that looked more prepared, more ready for the moment. Yikes, Wemby: The Thunder limited Victor Wembanyama to just 12 points and one made field goal (1-13 FG, 10-12 FT). "I need to go back to playing the basketball I like," said the preseason MVP favorite. "I'm good when I have fun … I was indecisive, overthinking it." |
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Greetings, Yahoo Sports AM readers! If you've noticed a new person bombarding you with charts and data lately, allow me to introduce myself — I'm Neil Paine. I used to be the Sports Editor at FiveThirtyEight (RIP), and before that I worked as an analytics consultant for the Atlanta Hawks, wrote a weekly baseball column for The New York Times and worked for the Sports-Reference family of websites at their church-based HQ in Philly. Ever since, I've been running my own Substack while also writing for places like ESPN, NASCAR.com, Sherwood News, The Athletic and The Philadelphia Inquirer. I'm super excited to add Y! Sports AM to that list. The common thread running through it all is trying to understand sports through numbers — tracking historical data, building power ratings and forecast models, and creating cool data visualizations that help tell those stories in new ways. I'm constantly watching games in split-screen on my handy laptop (including Celtics-Pistons as I type this on Tuesday, lol), but my mind is usually wandering toward the larger patterns behind what we're watching, and how we can measure and convey them in ways that reveal something we might otherwise miss. Of course, I try to approach things with a sense of humor as well, leaning into the absurdity of the sports we love. I believe in taking the analysis seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. But above all, I hope to bring a spirit of curiosity that helps us learn more about this endlessly fascinating world of sports. I'm always looking for new questions I want to answer, and if I can get you wondering about some of those same things, I'll consider that a job well-done. So thanks for reading — and I hope I can help you see your favorite games in a slightly different light along the way. |
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Did you hear that the World Series is a matchup of small-payroll teams? If, by some miracle, that narrative has eluded you, consider this your Lloyd Christmas "We landed on the moon!" moment. Uncharted waters: This is the first matchup this century featuring two teams ranked in the bottom half of league payrolls. Whoever claims the title will be the stingiest winner since the 2003 Marlins. |
You get the idea: We won't belabor a point that has undermined a matchup of each league's best team. The tale of the tape is clear, but what does a battle of baseball's have-nots mean (if anything) for the sport's future at this critical juncture? The game within the game: The timing of a comparatively thrifty World Series matchup could hardly be worse for owners, who have extolled the virtues of a salary cap in creating greater competitive balance. This story was written by Dylan Dittrich, who authors our new sports business newsletter. Sign up for free. |
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🏈 105.6 passer rating Now that he's passed the threshold to qualify (1,500 pass attempts), 49ers QB Brock Purdy owns the highest passer rating in NFL history (105.6), well ahead of Lamar Jackson in second place (102.7). Not bad for the former "Mr. Irrelevant," picked last in the 2022 NFL Draft. MVP race: Purdy (+225 at BetMGM) — who's lighting it up for the undefeated 49ers with a 118.1 passer rating, 15 total TDs and just two interceptions — only slightly trails Bills QB Josh Allen (+190) as the betting favorite to win MVP. Patrick Mahomes (+900), Trevor Lawrence (+1100) and Joe Burrow (+1300) round out the top five. |
(Taylar Sievert/Yahoo Sports) |
🏀 5.44 points Yahoo Sports' Ben Fawkes asked oddsmakers to rank the most important NBA players against the spread (ATS). The prompt: "If a player wasn't on the injury report and then was declared out before the game, how much would the line move?" Nikola Jokić (5.44 points) led the way for the third straight year, though Victor Wembanyama (4.86) is closing the gap. Other notable names: Steph Curry (3.96) is the first name off the list above; LeBron James (1.92) is all the way down in 36th, behind new Sixers teammates Joel Embiid (2.84), Tyrese Maxey (2.70) and Jaylen Brown (2.22); Cam Boozer (1.14), tied for 63rd, leads the way among rookies. |
⚾️ 78 seasons The Guardians' ALCS exit means they've now gone 78 seasons since their last World Series title (1948), the longest active drought in MLB and tied with the NFL's Cardinals for the longest across the "Big Four" leagues. Arizona's drought will, however, pass Cleveland's assuming it doesn't win the Super Bowl this season. Look away, Clevelanders: The Guardians' drought has spanned 17 playoff appearances, breaking a tie with the Braves for the most consecutive trips to the postseason without winning it all. (Yes, 17 appearances in 78 years is pretty sparse, though 16 of them have come since 1995.) |
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WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21 |
Angel Reese defends Gabby Williams during Game 2. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) |
🏀 WNBA Finals, Game 3 The Dream host the Valkyries tonight (8pm ET, USA) after tying the series at one game apiece. And thanks to a schedule change that moved the game up a day, they'll play at the 17,000-seat State Farm Arena instead of their usual 3,500-seat venue, which is the smallest in the WNBA. Elite company: Dream star Angel Reese erupted for 30 points and 16 rebounds in Game 2, joining Jonquel Jones (2019) and Breanna Stewart (2020) as the only players in league history to drop 30 and 15 in the Finals. ⚽️ U.S. Open Cup Final The Columbus Crew host St. Louis City SC (8pm, CBSSN) in the finale of America's oldest ongoing soccer competition. Columbus seeks its second title (2002), while St. Louis, a 2019 expansion team, seeks its first. Proud history: St. Louis City may have never won the U.S. Open Cup, but teams from St. Louis have won 11 times, second only to New York City (23). Yes, but: The last such win came 38 years ago, by far the city's longest drought in the tournament's 112-year history. Can the Gateway City ascend to the top of the sport again? 🏀 NBA Doubleheader After Tuesday's three-game opening salvo, tonight brings a full 11-game slate, headlined by a doubleheader on ESPN: Timberwolves at Heat (7:30pm) and Warriors at Lakers (10pm). Debuts to watch: Giannis Antetokounmpo's first game in a Heat uniform after spending his first 13 seasons with the Bucks is tonight's main event. But we've also got LaMelo Ball (Timberwolves) and Walker Kessler (Lakers) debuting with new teams. More to watch: |
- ⚽️ Champions League: Bayern Munich vs. Arsenal (3pm, Paramount+) … The reigning German and English champions headline today's nine-game slate.
- 🏒 NHL: Flyers at Sabres (7:30pm, TNT); Panthers at Senators (7:30pm, ESPN+) … Florida already became the first team in NHL history to have a player record a natural hat trick in three straight games. Can they make it four in a row?
- 🏀 NCAAM: No. 11 Louisville at No. 17 Kansas (7pm, ESPNU) … Tonight's exhibition features Jayhawks newcomer Tyran Stokes, the top-rated recruit in the freshman class.
| Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now! |
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(Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) |
The Rays are one of five American League teams to make at least three World Series appearances (2008, 2020, 2026) since the year 2000. Question: Can you name the other four? Hint: No AL Central teams. Answer at the bottom. |
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(Dillon Minshall/Yahoo Sports) |
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Trivia answer: Yankees (5x), Astros (4x), Red Sox (4x), Rangers (3x) |
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