After losing their playoff opener, the Los Angeles Thieves reeled off five straight wins, culminating in a victorious battle over OpTic Texas on Sunday in the grand final of the Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major in Atlanta.

Los Angeles won the best-of-seven final 4-3 to earn $150,000 and 100 CDL points. OpTic Texas, which had advanced to the final with a 3-2 win over Toronto KOI earlier Sunday in the upper-bracket final, collected $90,000 and 75 points.

All 12 CDL teams began play on Friday along with four outside qualifiers in the double-elimination opening round, split into four groups. The group champions and second-place teams advanced to the playoffs which started on Saturday.

Matches were all best-of-five until the best-of-seven grand final on Sunday.

The Thieves’ path began with a 3-2 setback to FaZe Vegas in the upper-bracket quarterfinals. That dropped them to the first round of the lower bracket, where they dispatched GS Minnesota 3-1. A 3-0 sweep of the Riyadh Falcons in the quarterfinals matched them up with FaZe Vegas in Sunday’s lower-bracket semifinal, which Los Angeles won 3-1.

A 3-0 sweep of Toronto KOI in the lower-bracket final advanced the Thieves to the grand final and a meeting with OpTic Texas.

OpTic opened with a 250-219 win on Colossus Hardpoint before Los Angeles responded with victories on Raid Search and Destroy (6-3) and Den Overload (8-3).

Texas surged ahead with wins on Den Hardpoint (250-242) and Scar Search and Destroy (6-4), only for the Thieves to win the final two maps, 5-4 on Scar Overload and 6-2 on Den Search and Destroy.

Jeremiah “Nium” Harrison of the United States was the Match MVP for Los Angeles with a match-high 130 kills and a plus-13 kills-death differential. Brandon “Dashy” Otell of Canada paced OpTic with 124 kills and a plus-13 K-D differential.

OpTic Texas defeated Toronto KOI 3-2 in the upper-bracket final earlier on Sunday. Texas won 250-152 on Gridlock Hardpoint, then Toronto drew even with a 6-1 win on Raid Search and Destroy.

The back-and-forth continued, as OpTic won 5-4on Exposure Overload, then KOI triumphed 250-212 on Scar Hardpoint. Texas won 6-2 on Scar Search and Destroy to capture the match.

OpTic’s Otell was Match MVP with 83 kills and a plus-4 K-D differential. Tobias “CleanX” Jonsson of Denmark paced Toronto with a match-high 106 kills and a plus-18 K-D differential.

Toronto KOI dropped down to the lower-bracket final, where they were swept 3-0 by the Thieves. Los Angeles won 250-93 on Sake Hardpoint, 6-4 on Den Search and Destroy and 4-0 on Den Overload.

Harrison was Match MVP with 59 kills and a plus-15 K-D differential. American Joseph “JoeDeceives” Romero was the only Toronto player not in negative numbers, as he was even with 51 kills and 51 deaths.

Los Angeles began the day with a 3-1 victory over FaZe Vegas in the lower-bracket semifinal. The Thieves started strong with wins on Gridlock Hardpoint (250-245) and Den Search and Destroy (6-4) before Vegas stayed alive with a 5-4 win on Den Overload. LA closed out with a 250-164 victory on Den Hardpoint.

The Thieves’ Thomas “Scrap” Ernst of the United States was Match MVP with 87 kills and a plus-10 K-D differential. Chris “Simp” Lehr of the United States paced Vegas with 84 kills and a plus-2 K-D differential.

Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major prize pool, with money winnings and CDL points

1. $150,000, 100 — Los Angeles Thieves

2. $90,000, 75 — OpTic Texas

3. $50,000, 60 — Toronto KOI

4. $30,000, 45 — FaZe Vegas

5-6. $15,000, 30 — Paris Gentle Mates, Riyadh Falcons

7-8. $7,500, 15 — Miami Heretics, G2 Minnesota

9-12. no money, no points — OMiT, Carolina Royal Ravens, Boston Breach, Cloud9 New York

13-16. no money, no points — Vancouver Surge, Huntsmen, Project Notorious, ROC Esports

–Field Level Media

With the playoff participants already set, FlyQuest held serve Sunday with a win on the final day of the LCS 2026 Spring regular season, finishing in fourth place and booking a spot in the upper-bracket semifinals in the playoffs.

Sentinels also won on Sunday, but with FlyQuest’s win, Sentinels finished in fifth place, meaning they will start the playoffs in the losers’ bracket.

Eight teams competed in the best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season with the top six advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event. The playoffs, which begin next weekend, will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.

In Sunday’s first match, Sentinels won with relative ease, beating Dignitas in 26 minutes on red and 32 minutes on green.

Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin of South Korea led Sentinels with a match-high 10 kills as part of a 10-1-13 kill-death-assist ratio.

In the day’s second game, FlyQuest topped LYON in 38 minutes on red before LYON won in 29 minutes on red. FlyQuest rebounded, however, winning the final map in 28 minutes on red.

Johnson “Gryffinn” Le, an American/Vietnamese player, led FlyQuest with 20 kills and a 20-4-15 K-D-A.

The playoffs begin Saturday when Cloud9, who finished atop the standings with a perfect 7-0 record, face FlyQuest. On Sunday, LYON take on Team Liquid. Both teams finished with 5-2 records.

Final regular-season standings (Win-loss total, map differential)

1. Cloud9, 7-0, 14-4

2. LYON, 5-2, 12-6

3. Team Liquid, 5-2, 11-7

4. FlyQuest, 4-3, 11-8

5. Sentinels, 3-4, 9-9

6. Shopify Rebellion, 2-5, 5-10

7. Disguised, 2-5, 4-11 (eliminated)

8. Dignitas, 0-7, 3-14 (eliminated)

–Field Level Media

It doesn’t get any easier for the Miami Marlins. After playing a three-game series at Tampa Bay, the team with the best record in the American League, they return home to open a four-game set Monday against the Atlanta Braves, the team with the best record in the National League.

The Marlins lost the rubber game of the series 6-3 against the Rays on Sunday and have lost nine of their last 14. The Braves beat the Boston Red Sox 8-1 on Sunday to take two-of-three and post their major league-best 32nd win.

This will be the second series between the two National League East teams. The host Braves took two of three from the Marlins in mid-April.

The pitching matchups for the opener features Miami right-hander Max Meyer (3-0, 3.21 ERA) vs. Atlanta righty JR Ritchie (1-0, 3.32).

Meyer is coming off a workmanlike effort at Minnesota on Wednesday when he picked up a win after throwing 5 2/3 innings and allowing four runs. He fanned a season-high nine batters and walked only two.

“Max was fine,” manager Clayton McCullough said afterward. “He grinded through this a little bit. Nice to have the weapons he does. He’s come so far as a starter. His ability to navigate through lineups, he has more weapons at his disposal. To pitch into the sixth, get out of a few jams in earlier innings, was big.”

Meyer is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in four career starts against Atlanta. He faced the Braves on April 14 and did not receive a decision, pitching five innings and allowing three runs in an eventual 6-5 Atlanta win.

Ritchie continues to impress since being recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett and inserted in the starting rotation. He did not receive a decision in his last outing on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs, a game the Braves won 4-1. Ritche’s high pitch count (87) caused him to be removed after 4 1/3 innings, although he allowed only one run on two hits. He has never faced the Marlins.

“I’ve talked about Ritchie having the weapons, for left-handed hitters, right-handed hitters,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “He spins the ball well, and there’s some power with the heater. So, he’s got all the weapons.”

Atlanta has led the opposition to three or fewer runs in 11 consecutive games dating to May 5. The Braves have pitched to a 1.95 ERA (21 earned runs in 97 innings) over that stretch. It is the longest such stretch by Atlanta since going 12 straight games in 2002.

Ritchie will need to deal with Miami shortstop Otto Lopez and catcher/first baseman Liam Hicks. Lopez had two more hits on Sunday and leads the majors with 63 hits and a .344 batting average. He is the seventh player in franchise history with 60-plus hits through 45 games to start the season. Hicks has 40 RBI, joining Giancarlo Stanton as the only players in Marlins history to reach that milestone through a season’s first 43 games.

The Braves are 28-5 when scoring at least four runs. The Braves hit two more home runs (Austin Riley and Mike Yastrzemski) on Sunday and upped their NL lead to 66.

–Field Level Media