Monday Sports – Lions beat Browns 34-10, back in first place in NFC North

NFL – National Football League – Week 4
Yesterday
Detroit Lions 34, Cleveland Browns 10
Los Angeles Rams 27, Indianapolis Colts 20
Chicago Bears 25, Las Vegas Raiders 24

Lions 34, Browns 10 – Goff throws 2 TD passes to St. Brown, Lions beat Browns 34-10 for 3rd straight victory
Jared Goff threw two touchdown passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kalif Raymond returned a punt 65 yards for another score and the Detroit Lions beat the Cleveland Browns 34-10. The Lions took advantage of Joe Flacco’s two interceptions in the first half and scored 20 straight points, giving them a 13-point lead at halftime. Detroit forced Flacco to fumble in the fourth, setting up another touchdown. The Browns opened with an 88-yard, 13-play touchdown drive, then had 44 yards with three punts and two turnovers the rest of the half.  Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson had a sack for a third straight game and forced a fumble for the second time in less than a week, including a win last Monday night at Baltimore.  He has 11 1/2 sacks in nine games, dating to the 2024 season that was cut short by a broken leg.

Rams 27, Colts 20 – Tutu Atwell makes a late 88-yard TD catch, and Rams rally past Colts 27-20
Tutu Atwell caught an 88-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford with 1:33 to play, and the Los Angeles Rams rallied to end the Indianapolis Colts’ unbeaten start with a 27-20 victory. Daniel Jones passed for 262 yards for the Colts, but Indy couldn’t overcome receiver Adonai Mitchell’s mind-boggling fumble right before he crossed the goal line with what was about to be a 76-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. Stafford passed for 375 yards and three touchdowns for the Rams, and he hit Puka Nacua for a 9-yard score with 3:20 left.

Bears 25, Raiders 24 – Josh Blackwell blocks field goal to preserve Bears’ rally for 25-24 win over Raiders
Josh Blackwell blocked a 54-yard field-goal attempt by Daniel Carlson in the final minute to preserve a fourth-quarter rally led by Caleb Williams, and the Chicago Bears stunned the Las Vegas Raiders 25-24. After D’Andre Swift’s 2-yard touchdown run with 1:34 left put the Bears in front, Geno Smith led the Raiders into position for Carlson’s kick with 38 seconds left. Blackwell came in nearly untouched from the left side, dived and deflected the ball. Chicago had four takeaways for the second game in a row, including three interceptions of Geno Smith. The Raiders have lost three straight.

Other scores
Pittsburgh 24, Minnesota 21
Atlanta 34, Washington 27
Buffalo 31, New Orleans 19
Houston 26, Tennessee 0
N.Y. Giants 21, L.A. Chargers 18
New England 42, Carolina 13
Philadelphia 31, Tampa Bay 25
Jacksonville 26, San Francisco 21
Kansas City 37, Baltimore 20
Green Bay 40, Dallas 40, OT

Sunday
New York Jets at Miami Dolphins, 7:15 p.m.
Cincinnati Bengals at Denver Broncos, 8:15 p.m.

WNBA – Women’s National Basketball Association Playoffs – Semifinals (best of five)
Yesterday
Indiana Fever 90, Las Vegas Aces 83                                                (Series tied 2-2)
Phoenix Mercury 86, Minnesota Lynx 81                                            (PHX wins 3-1)

Fever 90, Aces 83 – Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell lead Fever past Aces 90-83 to even series and set up Game 5
All-Star center Aliyah Boston finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds while Kelsey Mitchell scored 25 points to help the Indiana Fever avoid elimination in the WNBA semifinals with a 90-83 victory over the second-seeded Las Vegas Aces on Sunday. The best-of-five series is now tied 2-2 with a winner-take-all Game 5 set for Tuesday in Las Vegas. The winner faces either top-seeded Minnesota or fourth-seeded Phoenix. A’ja Wilson scored 31 points to become the seventh player in league history with 1,000 points in her playoff career. But the Fever led the entire second half and closed it out late when Las Vegas mistakenly called an extra timeout, resulting in a technical foul and possession going back to the Fever.

Mercury 86, Lynx 81 – Mercury overcome 13-point deficit in 4th quarter, beat Lynx 86-81 to advance to Finals
Alyssa Thomas scores 23 points, and DeWanna Bonner hits clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Phoenix Mercury rally from a 13-point deficit to beat the Minnesota Lynx 86-81 in Game 4. The Mercury advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021. Phoenix will face the Indiana-Las Vegas winner. Indiana forced a Game 5 earlier Sunday with a 90-83 home victory. The Mercury won the last three.  Minnesota’s Kayla McBride leads with 31 points. The Lynx play without coach Cheryl Reeve and All-Star guard Napheesa Collier

MLB – Major League Baseball
Last Night
Boston Red Sox 4, Detroit Tigers 3
Chicago White Sox 8, Washington Nationals 0
Chicago Cubs 2, St. Louis Cardinals 0
End Regular Season

Red Sox 4, Tigers 3 – Red Sox beat Tigers 4-3, clinching AL Central title for Guardians
José De León pitched a career-high 6 2/3 innings in his first outing in two years to help the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers that clinched the AL Central title for the Cleveland Guardians. The Red Sox had clinched a postseason berth on Friday, and the Tigers did so on Saturday. De León, called up from Triple-A, allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks. Greg Weissert pitched the ninth for his fourth save. The Tigers will play at Cleveland in the wild-card round and Boston travels to New York.

White Sox 8, Nationals 0 – Shane Smith give up one hit in six innings as White Sox rout Nationals, 8-0
Shane Smith took a perfect game into the sixth inning, Brooks Baldwin homered and drove in three, and the Chicago White Sox limited the Washington Nationals to one hit in a 8-0 rout in the season finale for both last-place teams. Miguel Vargas and Dominic Fletcher also homered for the White Sox, who concluded their first season under Will Venable at 60-102. Smith (7-8) retired the first 16 batters he faced before Brady House singled. The right-hander struck out eight in six innings. Brad Lord (5-1) took the loss allowing five runs in four innings.

Cubs 2, Cardinals 0 – Suzuki and Assad power playoff-bound Cubs to a 2-0 win over the Cardinals
Seiya Suzuki homered in his fourth straight game, Javier Assad pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning and the playoff-bound Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 for a three-game series sweep to close out the regular season. Suzuki hit five homers and drove in 10 runs in his last four games. He raised his season totals to 32 homers and a team-leading 103 RBIs. Moises Ballesteros added an RBI single for the Cubs (92-70), who finished as the top NL wild card. Chicago will host San Diego in the first round of the playoffs. Game 1 of the best-of-three series is Tuesday. The Cardinals finished in fourth place in the NL Central and out of the playoffs for the third straight season.

Tuesday
Wild Card Round – Best of 3
Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians, 1:00 p.m.  WSJM                              (Game 1)
San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs, 3:00 p.m.                                               (Game 1)
Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees, 6:00 p.m.                                           (Game 1)
Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:00 p.m.                                       (Game 1)

MLB – Tigers return to Cleveland for Wild Card Series after falling short of AL Central The Detroit Tigers are set to face the Cleveland Guardians in the wild-card round starting Tuesday. Cleveland claimed the AL Central title on the last day of the regular season. Detroit reached the postseason as a wild-card team. Tigers ace Tarik Skubal will start the playoff opener after being pushed back from the regular-season finale. The Tigers say getting into the playoffs was the important thing. The teams met six times in the last 12 games, with Cleveland taking five of those matchups.

Golf – Europe wins the Ryder Cup and reasserts its dominance over the Americans
Europe has won the Ryder Cup, just like everyone expected. It just didn’t happen without a few nervous moments. The Americans rallied from a seven-point deficit to have a flicker of hope. Europe needed only two points to retain the cup. Ludvig Åberg in the fifth match got the first one. Matt Fitzpatrick earned a halve that felt like a consolation because he had Bryson DeChambeau down by 5 holes at one point. Shane Lowry put his name in Irish lore with a halve to secure the cup. And then Tyrrell Hatton got the winning half-point for Europe.

Golf – McIlroy calls out ‘unacceptable and abusive behavior’ from fans at Ryder Cup
Rory McIlroy helped Europe win the Ryder Cup and then called out the hostile New York crowd for “unacceptable and abusive behavior.” Over his five matches at Bethpage Black, McIlroy endured a torrent of insults about everything from his personal life to past failures on the golf course. People shouted out as he lined up to swing and putt. Someone threw a beer at his wife. During the European team’s winning news conference, McIlroy said golf “should be held to a higher standard” for fan behavior. He noted that the hecklers were a minority in a crowd of “true golf fans.”

NCAAFB – College Football – Week 5
Saturday
(22) Notre Dame 56, Arkansas 13
Central Michigan 24, Eastern Michigan 13
Western Michigan 47, Rhode Island 14
Michigan and Michigan State were off this weekend

NCAAFB – Oregon moves to No. 2 behind Buckeyes
Oregon has moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll, while Mississippi has its highest ranking since 2015. Alabama jumped back into the top 10, and Virginia entered the Top 25 for the first time in six years. Ohio State remains No. 1 for the fifth straight week. The Buckeyes received 46 first-place votes. Oregon’s two-overtime win at Penn State boosted them to their highest ranking since last year. Miami slipped to No. 3, followed by Mississippi and Oklahoma.

NCAAWBB – USC’s JuJu Watkins out for the season recovering from from ACL injury
Southern California star JuJu Watkins announced on social media that she will be sidelined for the season after suffering an ACL injury in the NCAA Tournament last season. The USC junior was the AP Player of the Year last season after leading the Trojans to their best season in 40 years. Watkins became just the fourth player to win the award in her sophomore year. The AP started giving out the award in 1995, and Watkins is the first Trojans player to win it. The star guard isn’t eligible for the WNBA draft next year. A U.S. player must be at least 22 in the year of the draft or have graduated from a four-year school within three months of the draft to be eligible.

NHL – National Hockey League – Preseason
Yesterday
Chicago Blackhawks 4, Minnesota Wild 1

Tonight
Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings, 7:00 p.m.

MHSAA – Michigan High School Athletic Association
Tonight
Boys Soccer
Michigan Lutheran at Howardsville Chr., 5:00 p.m.
Eau Claire at Our Lady of the Lake, 5:00 p.m.
Schoolcraft at Berrien Springs, 7:15 p.m.
Dowagiac at Buchanan, 5:00 p.m.
Vicksburg at Edwardsburg, 5:30 p.m.
Three Rivers at Paw Paw, 6:30 p.m.
Niles at Plainwell, 6:30 p.m.
Otsego at Sturgis, 6:30 p.m.
New Buffalo at Covert, 6:30 p.m.
Lawton at Allegan, 6:00 p.m.
Holland Black River at South Haven, 6:30 p.m.
Bridgman at Saugatuck, 5:30 p.m.
Fennville at Watervliet, 6:30 p.m.
Parchment at Constantine, 5:00 p.m.
Kalamazoo Christian at Kalamazoo Hackett, 5:00 p.m.
Kalamazoo Phoenix at Bloomingdale, 6:00 p.m.
Comstock at Cassopolis, 5:00 p.m.
Bangor at Hartford, 5:00 p.m.

Girls Golf
SMAC at Lake Michigan Hills, 4:00 p.m. (St. Joseph host)

Boys Tennis
Lakeshore at Berrien Springs, 4:00 p.m.
Brandywine at Niles, 4:00 p.m.
Buchanan at Three Rivers, 4:00 p.m.
Vicksburg at Harper Creek, 4:00 p.m.

Girls Volleyball
Three Rivers at St. Joseph, 6:30 p.m.
Buchanan at Edwardsburg, 6:00 p.m.
Lakeshore, Dowagiac, Brandywine at Bridgman Quad, 5:30 p.m.
Battle Creek Pennfield, Paw Paw, Parchment at Kalamazoo Central Quad, 5:00 p.m.