The League of Legends LCS Summer Split kicked off Saturday in Los Angeles, and LYON wasted little time asserting its dominance in the opening match of the event.

In a stark contrast, Sentinels and Dignitas needed a third map to decide their match, the second of the opening-day doubleheader.

The LCS Summer Split is an eight-team event beginning Saturday and running through the finals in October. The seven-week round-robin regular season — in which each all teams play each other once in a best-of-three match, will set the field for the six-team playoffs.

The top two teams in the regular season will advance to the semifinals in the playoffs, while the third- through sixth-place teams will advance to the quarters. The bottom two teams in the standings are eliminated.

The playoffs, which run Sept. 12 through Oct. 4, are best-of-five and double elimination. The top three teams will advance to the World Championships, played in New York, Los Angeles and Allen, Texas, from Oct. 15 through Nov. 11.

In Saturday’s first match, LYON dominated from the start, winning in 28 minutes on red and 33 minutes on blue. South Korean Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol led all players with 16 kills across the two maps, posting a 16/7/12 kill/death/assist ratio. Jonathan “Armao” Armao led all players with 24 assists in the win.

The second match opened with a tightly played first map, which Dignitas ultimately won in 37 minutes on red. Sentinels bounced back with a 27-minute on red then won the deciding match on blue, wining in 30 minutes.

Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin of South Korea led the winners with a 27/5/24 K/D/A.

Week 1 continues Sunday with a pair of matches.

LCS 2026 Summer Split Schedule

Sunday

–Team Liquid vs. Cloud9

–Shopify Rebellion vs. Disguised

LCS 2026 Summer Split Standings

Place, Team (Match Record, Map Record)

1. LYON (1-0, 2-0)

2. Sentinels (1-0, 2-1)

T3. Team Liquid (0-0, 0-0)

T3. Dignitas (0-0, 0-0)

T3. Disguised (0-0, 0-0)

T3. Shopify Rebellion (0-0, 0-0)

7. Dignitas (0-1, 1-2)

8.. FlyQuest (0-1, 0-2)

–Field Level Media

Maybe the way Saturday night’s game played out, there will be special momentum for the Baltimore Orioles as they close out the weekend.

They’ll take on the visiting Atlanta Braves again Sunday afternoon following a thrilling 3-2 triumph.

“Any win is a big win, but a tight game like that (especially),” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said, emphasizing the importance.

Baltimore, which swept a three-game series last year in Atlanta, will try to win this year’s series when the teams meet in the rubber game.

The teams have played a pair of one-run games. Atlanta won 7-6 in 10 innings Friday night and Baltimore responded by scoring the winning run in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s escape.

That final run came on Dylan Beavers’ two-out hit which plated Jackson Holliday.

“I think everyone in this clubhouse believes we can be really good,” Beavers said. “We just need to be better more consistently, all around. We’re all kind of in agreement on that. But I think, every day, we’ve got to win the day.”

Few things have come easily for the Braves lately, but despite Saturday’s result, they’ve won seven of their last 10 games.

“You’ve got to play well to beat teams in this league,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “There are some good things happening right now. It’s well documented, the tough June we had. But after the break, we’ve really turned it around and we’re playing well in pretty much all phases.”

The Orioles like what they’re seeing from third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who has played in six games for the team. He has hit three home runs, driven in nine runs and has at least one hit in five of those games.

“It has been really impressive,” Albernaz said. “It has been fun to watch. He hasn’t been missing good pitches to hit, and that’s a testament to him.”

The Braves will have right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (4-3, 3.95 ERA) in a starting role for Sunday’s series finale. He has come out of the bullpen in 13 of his 23 appearances this year, but he has worked into the fifth inning in each of his four starts in July.

Lopez has been roughed up for nine total runs in 9 1/3 innings in his last two outings. All-time against the Orioles, he’s 2-2 with a 2.38 ERA in 10 matchups, including three starts.

The Orioles have right-hander Shane Baz (4-9, 4.05) ready for another start. He has been sharper in his last two outings, allowing a combined three earned runs over 10 2/3 innings, recording 15 strikeouts without issuing a walk. Still, Baz is without a victory since June 12 — and the Orioles have won a game in only one of his last six stints.

Baz will be facing the Braves for the first time in his career.

The Orioles, who will be concluding a three-game homestand, might want to stay away from using reliever Rico Garcia for at least a game. In each of the last two games, he surrendered a game-tying home run in the eighth inning, running his streak of consecutive appearances with a homer allowed to three.

There was concern late in Saturday’s game about Atlanta outfielder Eli White, who fell while making it to second base on what turned out to be a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning. He later left the game.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Red Sox have won 16 of their last 18 games and will get two-time All-Star southpaw Ranger Suarez back from the injured list to face the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon.

Boston, which had a 15-game winning streak broken by the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, will try to win the three-game series against Toronto after being one-hit by All-Star right-hander Dylan Cease on Saturday in a 6-0 Blue Jays win.

Suarez (4-3, 3.15 ERA) has not pitched since he strained his groin July 5, the day he found out he was named to his second All-Star team.

The 30-year-old was scheduled to return last week, but his comeback was delayed because he was ill.

The Red Sox also were without left-hander Connelly Early the past few rotation turns but went 16-3 without Suarez and him.

Early, on the injured list since July 1 with elbow inflammation, was traded to the Washington Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead on Saturday night.

Early is 7-5 with a 3.44 ERA in 17 games (all starts) covering 91 2/3 innings this season, while Mead is batting .254 with 17 homers and 48 RBIs in 87 games.

“If you scripted that out before any of this happened and said, ‘This is going to happen — Suarez’s going to go down; Early’s going to go down — you’d be like, ‘That’s going to be the end of that (streak),’ ” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told MLB.com on Saturday before the trade was made. “But we’ve had guys that have stepped up. (Payton) Tolle’s been great all year. Jake Bennett came in and did great.”

Activating Suarez to pitch Sunday will allow rookie lefty Tolle to pitch Monday when the Red Sox open a series in West Sacramento, Calif., against the Athletics.

“When we talked about it (the rotation) … it’s like, first of all, if we can get Ranger the days he needs, but also sliding him behind (Patrick Sandoval) and (Sonny) Gray, not disrupting him,” Tracy said. “You get the other two guys (Tolle and Bennett) a little bit extra break, which is good for them, too.”

Suarez is 57-40 with a 3.35 ERA in 204 games, including 136 starts. He is 2-0 with an 0.00 ERA in three appearances (two starts) against the Blue Jays in his career. Suarez has thrown 17 1/3 innings against Toronto and has allowed only one unearned run while striking out 17.

The Blue Jays will counter with Kevin Gausman (4-9, 4.51 ERA). They have lost seven straight games he has started, with the last win coming June 7 against the Orioles.

The right-hander has not recorded a win since beating the Pirates 6-2 on May 22. The 35-year-old is 116-122 with a 3.85 ERA in 382 career games (343 starts) and is 9-11 with a 4.25 ERA in 33 games against the Red Sox, including 28 starts.

The Red Sox are just glad they won’t see Cease for a while.

Andruw Monasterio managed the only hit for the Red Sox on Saturday, a double to lead off the sixth.

The All-Star Game starter, Cease was averaging 93 mph on his fastball early in the game, and struck out Wilyer Abreu with a 99 mph to end the ninth.

“It was a great pitch, no regrets,” Cease said of his pitch to Monasterio. “My body was a little cranky early, but it woke up as the game went on. At the end, you don’t want to let it go. I emptied the tank.”

Cease also acknowledged that Fenway Park is his favorite place to play. He is 2-0 with an 0.88 ERA there and has held hitters to a .194 batting average.

“When I play Nintendo 64, it is always here,” Cease said.

He isn’t the only Blue Jays player who loves Fenway.

George Springer, who hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run third inning Saturday, is a .320 hitter with 41 RBIs and 10 home runs in 50 career games in Boston.

–Field Level Media