Sports

The Milwaukee Brewers finished a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians in six games for the American League pennant. The World Series opens Friday, Oct. 23, in Milwaukee.

According to the Associated Press, it is the first World Series between two teams that have never won a title since 1980, so the champion will be a first-timer. Both clubs are in the bottom half of MLB payrolls, and both play under roofs, so the AP says it will likely be baseball's first all-indoor championship.

The Brewers began as the 1969 Seattle Pilots and lost their only previous World Series, in 1982, to St. Louis. The Rays lost theirs in 2008 and 2020. Jake Bauers, a former Ray, was MVP of the NLCS; Freddy Peralta, a former Brewer, was ALCS MVP.

Jennifer MacDonell of Ottawa ran the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 18, in 3:23:59, a new W70-74 world record pending ratification, Canadian Running reports. The previous mark, 3:27:00, was set by France's Laurence Dupont Alnet in 2024.

The run capped eight days in which she also set Canadian age-group records for the mile (6:51) and 5K (21:40) in Montreal. With two kilometres to go she was fighting a cramping calf and a headwind, and told the magazine she repeated Dory's line from Finding Nemo, "just keep swimming."

She prepared for a year with coach Steve Boyd, and organizers started her just behind the elite field. Her plan afterward, she said, was to enjoy the moment before setting a new goal.

China won the women's team final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam on Wednesday, Oct. 21, scoring 165.764 to the United States' 165.531, the AP reports. It ends a U.S. run of seven straight world team titles that began in 2011, and it is China's first world team gold since 2006.

The Americans led by nearly two points after vault and uneven bars. China then took over on balance beam, where Zhang Qingying's 15.066 was the top score of the day on any event, and a U.S. fall on a beam dismount opened a lead of more than two points heading into floor.

Japan took bronze, its first world championships podium in 60 years, according to the AP. The U.S. team was largely made up of athletes in their first worlds.

Como, coached by former Spain midfielder Cesc Fàbregas, beat Manchester United 4-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, Oct. 21. Nico Paz scored after 118 seconds, scored again and set up another goal before Jacobo Ramón's header made it 4-0, according to the report on Yahoo Sports.

"I told my players to slow down at 4-0," Fàbregas said. Joshua Zirkzee's late goal kept United from matching its heaviest European defeat, 5-0 to Sporting in 1964. United coach Michael Carrick was seen apologizing to the traveling fans, and the report says captain Bruno Fernandes appeared to question the tactics afterward.

England's Harry Brook scored 202 against Sri Lanka in a one-day international in Rawalpindi on Thursday, Oct. 22, the first ODI double century by an England batter and, per the report on Yahoo Sports, the fastest in the format, off 114 balls. England made 429-4.

Sri Lanka chose to bat second, recovered from 24-2 and won by two wickets with one ball left, reaching 430-8; Pavan Rathnayake made 130. Needing six from two balls, Janith Liyanage hit a six. It is the second-highest successful chase in ODI history, and the 847-run match aggregate is second only to South Africa and Australia's 872 in 2006. The 123 boundaries were an ODI record.

William Goodge, an ultramarathoner from London, is trying to run a marathon in each of the 50 U.S. states in 24 days, raising money for cancer research and attempting a world record, WBAL reports from an interview with sister station KMBC in Kansas City.

Goodge said he started running after his mother died of cancer, as a way to turn "emotional pain" into something positive. His Kansas City runs, including the Garmin Marathon on Saturday, were days nine and 10 of the attempt. He said he has to finish each marathon in five hours or less to stay on schedule.

The Arizona Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Rams 18-16 on Sunday, Oct. 18, on Chad Ryland's 43-yard field goal as time expired, his sixth of the game, according to CBS Sports. Arizona entered as 13.5-point underdogs; CBS calls it the largest upset of the season and tied for the largest of any game in the past five years.

The Rams took a 16-15 lead with 47 seconds left on a Matthew Stafford touchdown pass. Arizona then gained 21 yards on its first play and 15 more on a Rams penalty to set up the kick. Both teams are now 2-4; the Rams entered the season as Super Bowl favorites.

Unranked Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 in Athens on Saturday, Oct. 17, on Alex McPherson's field goal as time expired. CBS Sports says the loss snapped Georgia's 54-game winning streak against unranked opponents; Georgia committed three turnovers and three personal fouls on Auburn's quarterback. A tearful first-year Auburn coach, Alex Golesh, said his son had asked to come onto the field "after we win."

Yahoo Sports' live coverage lists the rest of the day: unranked Florida won 27-24 at No. 7 Texas, No. 14 Tennessee beat No. 6 Alabama, No. 4 Ohio State ended No. 5 Indiana's 22-game win streak 19-15, and No. 8 BYU held off No. 2 Notre Dame on the final play.

The NBA season opened Tuesday, Oct. 20, and LeBron James played his first game for the Philadelphia 76ers, a 106-100 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on the night the Knicks, the defending champions, received their rings and raised their banner, CBS Sports reports.

In 34 minutes James, 41, had 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting, nine rebounds, seven assists and one turnover. The Knicks shot 37% from the floor. CBS notes that the Sixers have not been past the second round of the playoffs in 25 years, and that the season is James's 24th.