Sports

7:00 AM ET Paolo UggettiESPN You’re a linebacker ready to rush the opposing kicker to try to block his field goal. You break through, but not fast enough; the kick is good and you end up barging into the holder instead. Suddenly, the kicker is in your face, pointing his finger at you, shouting at

7:00 AM ET Into the second week of the second month of the 2021-22 NHL season, two Western Canadian teams have continued their climb up the power rankings, making homes in the Top 5 this week. Plus, which players are the most underrated for each team? We’ve identified one for all 32 clubs here. How

9:06 PM ET CARLSBAD, Calif. — The Chicago White Sox are open to moving reliever Craig Kimbrel days after picking up his $16 million contract option for 2022. “We view him as a potentially impactful reliever as he’s been for the vast majority of his career,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Tuesday on

7:21 AM ET Justin Thomas pointed to the positives after his third-place finish at World Wide Technologies Championship, a tournament where he was in contention through three rounds but could not close the gap on Sunday and finished 5 shots behind winner Viktor Hovland. That has — save for the Players Championship — been the

9:00 AM ET Forget the race for the Premier League title: the stakes are at their highest in the battle to finish fourth. Three huge clubs — Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur — appear locked in a race for the final spot in next season’s Champions League after all being plunged into crisis this

7:11 PM ET Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson won. That was the expected result of NASCAR’s season-ending championship race, right? Larson closed his comeback season in NASCAR with his first championship Sunday, where he capped his return from a nearly yearlong suspension with a title-winning victory at Phoenix Raceway. “I can’t believe it,”

11:58 PM ET It is notoriously difficult to see a truly great race car driver ever show us a lot of real, raw emotion. Not anger. We’ve all seen that plenty. Not celebratory joy. That’s what we see most, when the driver who has just pulled into Victory Lane finally shows us their face after

6:39 PM BST As starts to the autumn programme goes, this was pretty much ideal for England and Eddie Jones. An 11-try victory over Tonga, with young faces in the squad combining seamlessly with the more experienced players in front of a packed Twickenham, is all they could have asked for. England had to navigate

2:22 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim NEW YORK — A pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter steps into the cage with the second-best fighter in his weight class and makes him look second rate. That was the narrative early on in the UFC 268 main event, as welterweight champion Kamaru Usman bloodied Colby Covington in the first round

9:30 PM ET Associated Press DEL MAR, Calif. — Knicks Go burst into the lead out of the starting gate and kicked away to a 2¾-length victory in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Del Mar. No one seriously pressed the colt, who earned his fourth straight victory and in the process

6:10 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Canelo Alvarez faces Caleb Plant on Saturday (Showtime PPV, 9 p.m. ET, prelims at 6 p.m. ET) and all four major super middleweight title belts are on the line. The bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, will be for Alvarez’s WBA, WBO and WBC titles and

9:30 AM ET Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Keita Nakajima became the first No. 1 amateur to win the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, closing with a 3-under 68 and outlasting Taichi Kho on the second hole of a playoff Saturday. Needing three putts from 20 feet to win, Nakajima finished in style by making

2:23 PM ET Associated Press Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat unseeded American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3 on Friday to reach the Paris Masters semifinals and remain on course for a record-extending sixth title at the tournament. Djokovic is also vying for a record 37th Masters title. He is tied on 36 with fellow 20-time Grand Slam

6:36 AM ET The 38th edition of the Breeders’ Cup will kick off two days of action Friday afternoon at Keeneland. A lot of eyes will be on the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and with so many high-profile races in the mix, there are numerous opportunities to wager on horses that offer significant value. Chris “The

3:29 AM ET LOS ANGELES — If the Lakers had managed to protect two massive leads against the Oklahoma City Thunder — up 26 on the road last week and up 19 at Staples Center on Thursday night — they would be sitting pretty with a 7-2 record and OKC would be winless at 0-8.

8:50 PM ET Mike WellsESPN Staff Writer Close Previously worked at Indianapolis Star, covering the Indiana Pacers for nine seasons Also covered Vikings for St. Paul Pioneer Press Follow on Twitter Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print INDIANAPOLIS — Running back Nyheim Hines didn’t let quarterback Carson Wentz and the Indianapolis Colts‘ passing game

1:13 PM ET Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck has agreed to a new seven-year contract that will keep him with the Golden Gophers through the 2028 season, it was announced Wednesday. The agreement between the university and Fleck, who is eight games into his fifth season as the Gophers’ head coach, is pending approval from the

7:00 AM ET After another week of the 2021-22 NHL season, we’ve had more changes in the top 5 of the power rankings. Here are our updated rankings of all 32 teams, plus the newcomer — either a free-agent signing, trade addition or rookie — that has made the biggest impact thus far for each

11:34 PM ET ATLANTA — The narrative shape of the 2021 Atlanta Braves, the newly crowned champions of baseball, was not an arc, as fantastical tales tend to be. It was more like a wave chart, with ebbs and flows leading to one final tidal wave that began gathering momentum in early August and crashed

9:24 PM ET Associated Press Knicks Go is the early 5-2 favorite for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic this weekend at Del Mar. The two-day world championships drew 169 horses from eight countries, including 46 foreign horses to the seaside track north of San Diego. Del Mar is hosting for the second time in

10:50 AM ET The time for talking is over — let the battle commence! It’s time for our managers to pit their teams representing the Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Eredivisie, Major League Soccer and Liga MX against each other for global supremacy in ESPN’s Battle of the Leagues, presented by EA

7:31 PM BST Beauden Barrett marked his 100th test with two intercepted tries to lead New Zealand to a convincing 54-16 win over Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. The All Blacks outscored their hosts by seven tries to one at a capacity Principality Stadium in another ominous reminder of their power as they went back

7:15 PM ET Associated Press MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Alex Bowman was the only driver celebrating after NASCAR set its championship four — and he’s not even racing for the title. Bowman picked up the victory Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in the final elimination race ahead of the winner-take-all season finale. Bowman wasn’t eligible to make

3:35 PM ET Glover Teixeira finally did it. At 42, the perennial light heavyweight contender defeated Jan Blachowicz by second round submission via rear naked choke in the main event of UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday. Teixeira became the 14th undisputed UFC champion in the division and the oldest first-time

6:53 PM ET Associated Press SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Taylor Pendrith of Canada got married two weeks ago and wasn’t sure what to expect out of his game. Once the weather cooperated, it proved to be better than ever Friday in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Pendrith ran off five straight birdies at the turn and flirted

2:15 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — Celtics star Jaylen Brown said he’s still feeling the after-effects of COVID-19, saying that at times he feels like he’s played three games in one. “I think so,” Brown said after Boston’s practice Friday, when asked if he’s still recovering from his positive diagnosis earlier this month. “I’ve

11:58 PM ET GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Arizona Cardinals learned what life is like with an injured DeAndre Hopkins. And it wasn’t pretty. The wide receiver left Thursday night’s game midway through the first quarter because of a hamstring injury and didn’t return until midway through the third quarter. When he returned, Hopkins was little

7:49 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN When COVID took hold of the world in March 2020, it also greatly hampered sports, but perhaps none more so than boxing. After all, the fight game hinges on major live gates to deliver its truly marquee events. While the other major sports leagues experienced plenty of pauses and cancellations,

7:00 AM ET GROWING UP, Jordan Davis was obsessed with mythology. He devoured books about ancient Greece and studied the Egyptians. He still downloads TED Talks on everything from ancient civilizations to modern religion. His favorite stories were the Percy Jackson novels, about a boy who discovers he’s part god then goes on mystical quests,

7:00 AM ET We’re two weeks into the 2021-22 NHL season, and there have been many surprises in the early going — both positive and negative. Here is our updated ranking of all 32 clubs, plus the key takeaways that stand out most for each. How we rank: A panel of ESPN hockey commentators, analysts,

2:35 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” HOUSTON — Inside the training room of the visiting clubhouse at Minute Maid Park during Game 1 of the World Series, friends kept dropping by to apologize to Atlanta Braves pitcher Charlie

11:51 AM ET Kyle Bonagura Close ESPN Staff Writer Covers the Pac-12. Joined ESPN in 2014. Attended Washington State University. Jeff Carlisle Close U.S. soccer correspondent Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC. With just a couple of weeks to go until Decision Day, Major League Soccer‘s stars and top

James Slipper described it as clunky; Dave Rennie said the performance was rusty and frustrating. Yet the Wallabies still made it five straight wins as they defeated Japan 32-23 to get their spring tour off on the right foot on Saturday afternoon. But no one should be reaching for the celebratory sake, particularly when far