Sports
Red-hot but inexperienced Tigers prepare for veteran Astros
Sep 24, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images HOUSTON — The Astros had to rebound from a miserable start to the season to win their fourth straight American League West title. Now they carry an overwhelming advantage in postseason experience into their matchup vs. the Detroit Tigers in the American League wild-card series, which begins Tuesday.
Game 1 of the best-of-three series will be a battle of left-handed aces: Tarik Skubal of Detroit (18-4, 2.39 ERA, 228 strikeouts in 192 innings) against Framber Valdez of Houston (15-7, 2.91 ERA).
Skubal claimed the AL pitching triple crown this season and this will mark his first postseason appearance, with Skubal representing a Tigers organization that last qualified for the postseason in 2014.
The Astros, on the other hand, are postseason participants for the ninth time during that 10-year span with two World Series titles, four AL pennants and seven consecutive ALCS appearances on their ledger.
Coincidentally, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch was at the helm for the first half of the Astros’ current run of success. He will try to impart his vast playoff experience on a club sorely lacking it.
“It’s super important as a manager to have postseason experience, not as important for the players to have played in the postseason,” Hinch said, tongue in cheek. “I can’t lay it out any simpler than that.
“Obviously you cannot replace experience. We’ve got guys that have never played in Houston let alone played in a playoff atmosphere, so we’re going to learn on the fly. We’ve done that. We’ve gone to a couple of pretty rowdy places in September and our guys got to play playoff baseball for the better part of two months just to be a part of the playoffs. Come (Tuesday) afternoon, we’re going to be a playoff-experienced team.”
While Hinch touted the Tigers’ status as underdogs, both Detroit and Houston arrived in the postseason via a similar trajectory. The Astros were 10 games behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West on June 18 before mounting their rally.
The Tigers were sellers at the trade deadline but took full advantage of the collapsing Minnesota Twins down the stretch of the regular season. Detroit won 18 of 26 games to claim their postseason bid, and the Astros are acutely aware that the squad they’ll meet in this best-of-three series barely resembles the team they last faced in mid-June.
“If you really watch their games, they have matured a lot as a club,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Making fewer mistakes than you probably saw earlier in the season. They’re playing good baseball so there’s that emotional aspect as a team when they start believing in themselves. That’s what you’ve seen with this Tigers team. I’m expecting a pretty good series and we’ll be ready for them.”
As for Houston, Valdez’s volatility on the mound has been well documented, and his postseason history is checkered.
He did exceptional work during the Astros’ championship run in 2022, finishing finished 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA in four starts, including a stellar effort in Game 6 of the World Series. Then came his struggles in 2023, when he finished 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts, punctuated by his collapse in Game 2 of the AL Championship Series, when he allowed five runs on seven hits and lasted just 2 2/3 innings.
Valdez will likely garner some top-five votes for the AL Cy Young Award on the strength of a brilliant second half, when he went 7-2 with a 1.96 ERA across a dozen starts. Should that version of Valdez arrive at the ballpark Tuesday, the Astros will feel emboldened going against the presumptive Cy Young Award favorite in Skubal.
Houston needs the best iteration of Valdez — and for Valdez to forget how much he labored during their repeat bid.
“He has left that in the past,” Espada said. “I expect Framber to go out there and perform the way Framber has performed this entire second half as one of the best pitchers in the league. He wants the ball, and I expect him to go out there and give us a great start.”
–MK Bower, Field Level Media
Sports
NHL roundup: Stars sink Predators in OT, win 8th straight
Feb 28, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson (21) celebrates with his teammates after he scores the game winning goal against the Nashville Predators during the overtime period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Jason Robertson’s goal 1:47 into overtime capped a comeback and gave the host Dallas Stars a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.
Wyatt Johnston had a goal and an assist and Nathan Bastian also scored for the Stars, who trailed 2-0 with less than four minutes left in the second period. Jake Oettinger stopped 25 shots in Dallas’ eighth win in a row.
Michael Bunting and Steven Stamkos scored the goals for the Predators, who led 2-0 but are now 1-1-2 in their last four. Luke Evangelista had two assists and Juuse Saros made 22 saves.
With his team-leading 33rd goal of the season, Robertson converted a cross-crease pass from defenseman Miro Heiskanen for the OT winner.
Rangers 3, Penguins 2 (SO)
Vincent Trocheck scored in the first round of the shootout as New York snapped a five-game losing streak by rallying for a victory over visiting Pittsburgh.
Trocheck scored the only goal of the shootout when he cut from the lower edge of the left circle, and his shot beat goalie Stuart Skinner to the glove side.
The Rangers chipped away at a 2-0 deficit after allowing goals to Anthony Mantha and Ryan Shea in the opening three minutes of each of the opening two periods.
Mika Zibanejad started the comeback with a power-play goal with ten minutes remaining in the second period and Taylor Raddysh tied it 2:57 into the third.
Flyers 3, Bruins 1
Philadelphia scored back-to-back goals to start the third period and held on to defeat the visiting Boston, snapping the Bruins’ eight-game point streak (5-0-3).
Travis Konecny and Jamie Drysdale both scored and assisted on each other’s goals for Philadelphia, which got 26 saves from Dan Vladar and has won two of its three games since the Olympic break.
Boston’s Charlie McAvoy extended his point streak to nine games with a third-period goal that cut the hosts’ lead to 2-1. Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves.
Sharks 5, Oilers 4
Shakir Mukhamadullin scored the game-winner on a slap shot midway through the third period as San Jose defeated visiting Edmonton.
Michael Misa had a goal and an assist, and 12 different players recorded points for the Sharks, who ended a five-game losing streak, their second longest of the season. Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves for San Jose.
Connor McDavid, the NHL’s leading scorer, led Edmonton with three assists, while Evan Bouchard had a goal and two assists and Connor Ingram stopped 28 shots.
Islanders 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT)
Simon Holmstrom scored with 3:12 left in overtime for visiting New York, which remained perfect in the extra session and earned another comeback win by beating Columbus.
Anders Lee, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Scott Mayfield also scored for the Islanders, who trailed 2-0 before earning their fourth straight win and improving to 8-0 in games decided in overtime. Three of New York’s last four victories have been of the comeback variety. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves.
Isac Lundestrom, Mason Marchment and Adam Fantilli scored for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two straight (0-1-1) following a seven-game winning streak. Jet Greaves recorded 22 saves.
Devils 3, Blues 1
Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves as New Jersey snapped its five-game losing streak with a win over host St. Louis.
Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils and Luke Hughes earned an assist in his first game since Jan. 19. He had been sidelined with an upper-body injury.
Pavel Buchnevich scored for the Blues, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games. Jordan Binnington stopped 30 of 32 shots in defeat.
Avalanche 3, Blackhawks 1
Cale Makar scored twice, Gavin Brindley also had a goal, and Colorado beat Chicago.
Mackenzie Blackwood turned away 14 shots and Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas had two assists each for Colorado, which bounced back from a disappointing home loss to Minnesota on Thursday night. The Avalanche have an NHL-best 87 points.
Connor Bedard scored and Spencer Knight made 32 saves for Chicago, which has lost eight of its last nine. The Blackhawks are averaging just 1.5 goals in those eight losses.
Hurricanes 5, Red Wings 2
Taylor Hall and Shayne Gostisbehere each finished with a goal and two assists as Carolina extended its winning streak to five games with a victory over Detroit in Raleigh, N.C.
Frederik Andersen finished with 27 saves, while Jackson Blake, Sebastian Aho and Eric Robinson also scored as the Hurricanes extended their point streak to 12 games (9-0-3).
Simon Edvinsson and Patrick Kane scored for the visiting Red Wings. Cam Talbot made 31 saves in the loss.
Sabres 6, Lightning 2
Josh Norris scored twice as Buffalo found the net four times in the first period, and the visitors easily won their third straight outing since the Winter Olympics break in a rout of host Tampa Bay.
Rasmus Dahlin hit the net and had two assists, while Zach Metsa had a goal and a helper. Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch also scored, and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 36 saves.
Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman tallied one goal and had an assist, and Dominic James scored. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy surrendered five goals on 14 shots in 21:54 of ice time. Jonas Johansson stopped 20 of 21 shots in relief.
Kings 2, Flames 0
Anton Forsberg made 29 saves for host Los Angeles in a shutout of Calgary.
Forsberg, who had allowed 16 goals while losing his previous four starts, posted his second shutout of the season and 10th in his 11-year NHL career. Alex Laferriere and Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings, who had lost five in a row, most recently an 8-1 drubbing against the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
Dustin Wolf made 35 saves for the Flames, who had won two in a row and three of four.
Canadiens 6, Capitals 2
Cole Caufield scored two first-period goals and host Montreal went on to beat Washington for points in seven straight games (5-0-2).
Nick Suzuki had a goal and two assists for the Canadiens. Mike Matheson, Kirby Dach and Jake Evans also scored goals. Jakub Dobes made 27 saves and improved to 9-0-2 in his past 11 starts.
Alex Ovechkin scored both goals for the Capitals, who had won three straight. Anthony Beauvillier had two assists and Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves for Washington, which was playing the second of a back-to-back after a 3-2 home win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.
Senators 5, Maple Leafs 2
Dylan Cozens had two goals and an assist, Drake Batherson scored twice and Ottawa defeated host Toronto.
Thomas Chabot added a goal and an assist for the Senators, who are 1-0-1 since the Olympic break. Linus Ullmark stopped 21 shots.
Morgan Rielly and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs, who are 0-3-0 since the break. Joseph Woll allowed five goals on 28 shots before Anthony Stolarz replaced him late in the second period and made 12 saves.
Kraken 5, Canucks 1
Jordan Eberle had two goals and an assist and Chandler Stephenson had a goal and two assists as Seattle opened a six-game homestand with a resounding victory over Vancouver.
Vince Dunn and Matty Beniers also were credited with goals for the Kraken, who snapped a two-game skid. Goaltender Joey Daccord made 27 saves and nearly scored into an empty net, but his attempt rolled just wide left of the net.
Liam Ohgren scored and Kevin Lankinen stopped 20 of 24 shots for the Canucks, who have lost five in a row and are 2-15-4 in their past 21 games.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tundra Esports advances to grand final of DreamLeague Season 28 playoffs
Tundra Esports swept Team Liquid in the upper-bracket final on Saturday to advance to the grand final of the DreamLeague Season 28 playoffs.
The grand final on Sunday will pit Tundra Esports against the winner of the lower-bracket final earlier in the day between Team Liquid and Aurora Gaming in the double-elimination format.
The $1 million Dota 2 event began with 16 teams competing in a round-robin stage split into two groups of eight teams. All series consisted of two games, and the top four teams from each group advanced to Group Stage 2, a single round robin featuring best-of-three matches that ran through Friday.
The playoffs feature best-of-three matches until the grand final, which will be best-of-five.
The championship team will receive $250,000 in prize money and a $40,000 club reward. The runner-up side will get $100,000 and a $30,000 club reward.
Aurora Gaming opened play on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Xtreme Gaming in the lower-bracket semifinal. Xtreme Gaming opened with a win in 40 minutes on red before Aurora Gaming rallied to wins in 47 and 29 minutes, both on red.
Russia’s Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko logged a 21-4-28 kill-death-assist ratio for Aurora Gaming, while teammate Artem “Lorenof” Melnyk of Ukraine post a 23-8-30 K-D-A over three games. Wang “Ame” Chunyu of China had a 23-9-13 K-D-A ratio for Xtreme Gaming, which finished fourth in the tournament.
Tundra Esports dispatched Team Liquid 2-0 in the upper-bracket final, winning in 46 minutes on red and 39 minutes on green.
Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko of Russia posted a 32-2-19 K-D-A ratio for Tundra Esports and teammate Neta “33” Shapira of Israel had a 24-5-30. Michael “MiCKe” Vu of Sweden posted a 13-10-6 ratio for Team Liquid.
Dream League Season 28 prize pool, with prize money and club reward
1. $250,000, $40,000
2. $125,000, $30,000
3. $80,000, $25,000
4. $60,000, $20,000 — Xtreme Gaming
5. $45,000, $15,000 — Team Falcons
6. $35,000, $15,000 — PARIVISION
7. $30,000, $12,500 — BetBoom Team
8. $25,000, $12,500 — MOUZ
9-10. $20,000, $10,000 — OG, Natus Vincere
11-12. $17,500, $10,000 — Team Yandex, Team Spirit
13-14. $15,000, $10,000 — paiN Gaming, GamerLegion
15-16. $10,000, $10,000 — Yakult Brothers, Execration
–Field Level Media
Sports
LYON, Cloud9 in LCS Lock-In grand final
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
LYON knocked out Sentinels to earn a meeting on Sunday with Cloud9 in the grand final of the League Championship Series 2026 Lock-In at Los Angeles.
LYON won 3-1 on Saturday in the lower-bracket final, taking the first map in 31 minutes as Kim “Berserker” Min-cheol of South Korea posted a 7-0-1 kill-death-assist ratio. LYON won again in 37 minutes as Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, an American/Indian player, had a 7-3-6 K-D-A and Berserker a 5-0-6.
Sentinels stayed alive with a victory in 34 minutes in the third game as Ham “HamBak” Yoo-jin of South Korea recorded a 5-0-8 K-D-A.
But LYON wrapped up the match by winning the fourth game in 39 minutes on red. Berserker contributed a 6-3-7 K-D-A.
Following the eight-team Swiss stage in the League of Legends event, six teams competed in the double-elimination playoffs, with all matches best-of-five. The overall winner qualifies for the First Stand Tournament, while the second- and third-place teams will head to the Americas Cup.
Both of the latter two events will be contested in Sao Paulo.
Cloud9, which finished atop the Swiss stage standings with a 3-0 record, has moved through the playoffs by beating FlyQuest 3-0 in the upper-bracket semifinal and Sentinels 3-0 in the upper-bracket final.
LYON, who finished fifth in the Swiss stage, eliminated FlyQuest with a 3-0 victory in the lower-bracket quarterfinals, then a 3-1 triumph over Team Liquid in the bracket’s semifinal before Saturday’s victory.
2026 League Championship Series Lock-In at Los Angeles prize pool
1. TBD, qualifies for First Stand Tournament
2. TBD, qualifies for America’s Cup
3. Sentinels, qualifies for America’s Cup
4. Team Liquid
5-6. FlyQuest, Disguised
7. Dignitas
8. Shopify Rebellion
–Field Level Media
NHL roundup: Stars sink Predators in OT, win 8th straight
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