Sports
High-octane Jets face Predators, aim to continue win streak
Feb 26, 2025; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck (37) glances over during a break in the first period against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images The Winnipeg Jets will put their franchise-record 11-game winning streak on the line when they visit the struggling Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
The Jets, who last were defeated on Jan. 20, have climbed to the top of the NHL standings. That said, they were not fooling themselves on their performance in a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday to kick off a quick two-game road swing.
“It’s not going to be pretty every night,” said forward Cole Perfetti, who opened the scoring against Ottawa. “We’ve won 11 in a row, and not every game is going to be great, but we’re still finding ways to win when we’re not at our best, and I think that says a lot about our group.”
The Ottawa game is a textbook example of the scoresheet not telling the whole story. Even though the Jets scored a pair of first-period goals and posted a 3-0 lead just past the eight-minute mark of the second period, there were flaws.
The usually defense-first Jets surrendered a dozen shots against in the opening period and relied on two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck to keep the Senators at bay.
Jets coach Scott Arniel said his team’s play in the first two periods was “sloppy.”
“It’s bound to happen,” he said. “We couldn’t make a play. We weren’t connecting. We did a lot of things uncharacteristic. But at the end of the day we played a lot better in the third period and did a lot of good things.”
Winnipeg is the sixth team in the past five seasons to win 11 consecutive outings. Being the second game on consecutive nights on the road, the Jets likely are to start second-stringer Eric Comrie in net on Thursday.
The Predators will finish a string of five consecutive home games having lost two straight and eight of the past 10 outings overall.
Nashville, which sits 30th overall in the league and 18 points outside of a playoff spot, lost 4-1 to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
The defeat was made all the worse with an upper-body injury suffered by captain Roman Josi when he was hit from behind by Florida’s Sam Bennett.
Josi did not participate in practice on Wednesday, and the team said he was day-to-day, albeit with an ominous qualifier.
“I don’t really know, I’m not a doctor,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette told the Tennessean. “With those things, it’s day-to-day, week-to-week, or it could be season ending. We don’t really know.”
Regardless of how long Josi is out, the window of opportunity for a miracle run that earns the Predators a playoff spot appears to be slamming shut.
The team has scored two or fewer goals in eight of those 10 outings.
“You need to score to win in this league,” defenseman Luke Schenn said. “We get some big saves all the time. But you feel for both goalies, but (Juuse Saros) a lot. He doesn’t get much support. When you’re trying to win a game all the time and you don’t score, it’s obviously extremely challenging, and every play means that much more.”
As much as it may be a grind for the team to keep trying, Nashville’s situation is a mettle test for a club that was expected to make the playoffs.
“Just play with pride … no matter what happens throughout the rest of the year,” forward Michael McCarron said. “As a team, I don’t think we’ve really played too many full 60-minute games this year.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alex Palou takes checkers at rain-delayed Music City Grand Prix
NTT IndyCar Series driver Alex Palou (10) crosses the finish line ahead of Josef Newgarden (2) and David Malukas (12) to win the Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., Monday, July 20, 2026. Alex Palou got a day off to celebrate his native Spain’s triumph in the World Cup final before hitting the racetrack and adding to his own trophy collection.
Palou won the rain-delayed Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix on Monday afternoon in Lebanon, Tenn., for his fifth title in 12 races this season.
The race was originally scheduled for Sunday after Fox concluded its coverage of the World Cup final, in which Spain bested Argentina 1-0 for the country’s second title. But as the racers waited — and Palou celebrated — storms rolled across Nashville Superspeedway. By the time the track was dried later Sunday night, another spate of storms made it impossible to fit in the race.
“That’s a pretty cool weekend for Spain, right? It was impressive what they did (Sunday) over at the World Cup. Happy to top it off today on Monday. My first-ever win on Monday, never raced on Monday, so it’s very cool.”
Palou, 29, inched closer to his fourth straight series championship and fifth in six years. He gained an additional 27 points on the field and leads David Malukas by 83 with six races left to go.
Driving his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Palou finished 0.8731 seconds ahead of defending Nashville champion Josef Newgarden. Malukas, Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate, placed third. Palou led a race-high 97 laps.
Malukas, 24, hit his right knee against the steering wheel in a crash at practice Saturday and spent some time in the hospital this weekend for tests. The Indianapolis 500 runner-up was told he didn’t break or tear anything in the knee.
He went from last at the start of the race to third, leading 59 laps along the way.
“It’s so cool to see, when you have all these people work on a collective project, you can see it come to fruition and it’s gonna happen,” Malukas said. “And what a result. We needed that for the championship (race). We’re still there. It’s a good result, good recovery. Big thank-you to everybody. That was the hardest race of my life.”
Kyle Kirkwood, starting from pole position, settled for 10th.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Marlins All-Star RHP Max Meyer (neck) goes on IL
Jul 18, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Miami Marlins pitcher Max Meyer (23) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images The Miami Marlins placed All-Star right-hander Max Meyer on the 15-day injured list Monday due to a neck strain.
The move is retroactive to Sunday.
Meyer departed after three innings of Saturday’s start against the Milwaukee Brewers. He gave up two runs and three hits before exiting.
Meyer, 27, struggled despite having off since July 7. He didn’t pitch in last Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Meyer (9-1, 2.68 ERA) has made 20 starts and pitched a career-high 111 innings. He has 121 strikeouts.
He entered the season with 25 games of big-league experience.
“We are in uncharted territory with this, but also, we don’t have any concern as much as, we do the responsible thing is just to be aware and cognizant of we do have a young athlete that is and already has surpassed a number of career highs,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough told reporters.
Miami recalled right-hander Zach Brzykcy from Triple-A Jacksonville. He gave up one run in two innings in his lone appearance for the Marlins on June 30.
Overall, Brzykcy has made 33 major relief appearances and is 0-1 with a 9.68 ERA.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Spain new No. 1 in FIFA rankings; Norway are biggest climber
Spain midfielder Rodri (16) holds up a trophy after the FIFA World Cup Final game at MetLife Stadium, Jul 19, 2026, East Rutherford, NJ, USA. Spain overtook Argentina for the No. 1 spot in the FIFA men’s world rankings Monday, as expected after La Roja defeated the defending champions 1-0 in the World Cup final on Sunday.
Argentina were the No. 1 team in the world rankings as of the last official rankings update on June 11, the day the 48-team World Cup began in Mexico. Spain entered the tournament No. 2.
France and England remained third and fourth, respectively, despite England’s 6-4 triumph over the French in the World Cup third-place match. France still had enough of a cushion in the total points column to absorb that head-to-head defeat.
Brazil and Morocco moved past Portugal for the fifth and sixth spots. Portugal lost 1-0 to regional rival Spain in the round of 16.
Mexico climbed four spots in the 10th position after their strong showing at the World Cup. They went 3-0-0 in the group stage and blanked Ecuador 2-0 in the round of 32 before England pulled out a 3-2 win in the next round in Mexico City.
The United States also inched up one spot to No. 16 after winning their group and shutting out Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32. The Americans’ tournament ended in a disappointing 4-1 defeat at the hands of Belgium, who are now ranked eighth in the world.
But the biggest climbers were none other than Erling Haaland and Norway, who moved up 12 spots to No. 19.
The Vikings became one of the darlings of the tournament after getting through to the knockouts and upsetting Brazil in the round of 16. Their tournament also ended at the hands of England, 2-1 in the quarterfinals, but it was Norway’s furthest World Cup run in their history.
The nation with the largest drop since June, Tunisia, also moved 12 spots. They now sit back at No. 57 after being the only African nation out of 10 in the field not to qualify for the knockouts.
FIFA Men’s World Rankings (as of July 20, 2026)
1. Spain
2. Argentina
3. France
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Morocco
7. Portugal
8. Belgium
9. Netherlands
10. Mexico
11. Colombia
12. Germany
13. Croatia
14. Switzerland
15. Italy
16. United States
17. Japan
18. Senegal
19. Norway
20. Uruguay
21. Denmark
22. Iran
23. Austria
24. Egypt
25. Ecuador
–Field Level Media
Alex Palou takes checkers at rain-delayed Music City Grand Prix
Marlins All-Star RHP Max Meyer (neck) goes on IL
