Yahoo Sports AM: Ohtani inches closer to history
In today's edition: Ohtani inches closer, NFL power rankings, Bayern explodes for nine goals, how Netflix could help Jordan Chiles reclaim her bronze, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🏈 A new way to pay players: The University of Tennessee will add a 10% "talent fee" surcharge to 2025 football season tickets, and that money will be used to pay players as the NCAA moves to a revenue-sharing model. Expect more programs to follow suit.
🏀 Queen of the boards: MVP favorite A'ja Wilson already set the WNBA record for most points in a season. Now she has the record for most rebounds, too, surpassing the mark set by Angel Reese earlier this year.
⚾️ Trout open to change: After missing 370 games over the past four seasons due to injuries, Mike Trout says "everything's on the table" when it comes to his future, including a possible move to corner outfield or DH.
🏈 NFL transactions: The Dolphins placed Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve, the Chiefs brought back Kareem Hunt after losing Isiah Pacheco, and the Patriots released former first-round pick Jalen Reagor hours after he published a cryptic social media post.
🎾 King's historic honor: Tennis legend and activist Billie Jean King will become the first individual women's athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal after a bill to honor her passed the Senate and House.
⚾️ 50-50 watch: Ohtani inches closer
Shohei Ohtani hit his 48th home run of the year on Tuesday, inching him closer to MLB's first 50-50 season. With 11 games to go, the Dodgers superstar has 48 homers and 48 stolen bases (which has also never been done).
Feeling lucky? You could always buy a lottery ticket. Or, thanks to Ohtani's historic chase, you could buy an outfield ticket to an upcoming Dodgers game, where "the equivalent of a housing down payment — dependent on the market, of course — could come hurtling out of the sky," writes Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg.
Sports memorabilia experts told Yahoo Sports that the home run ball that cements Ohtani as the inaugural member of baseball's 50-50 club could be worth six figures to the fan who snares it. The value of the ball won't change, they say, whether Ohtani's 50th home run comes before or after his 50th stolen base.
The 50th home run ball "could fetch upwards of $200,000" at auction, according to Brahm Wachter, head of modern collectables at Sotheby's. Chris Ivy, director of sports collectibles at Heritage Auctions, wrote that he'd conservatively estimate the ball's value "at a nice round number like $100,000+ and expect it to storm past that figure, likely by multiples."
Those numbers reflect the popularity of Ohtani and the rarity of his potential achievement. "It's never easy to predict the price at auction of a piece without any comps to consider, but that's also what makes it the ideal auction piece," Ivy said. "If it happens, it will be fair to consider it among the top five greatest single-season achievements in baseball history."
Upcoming schedule: The Dodgers play six games in Los Angeles, two in Miami and three in Denver. I included the current get-in price for each game, via SeatGeek, to give a glimpse of the general demand (obviously outfield tickets will be more expensive).
Tonight: at Marlins ($5)
Thu, Sep 19: at Marlins ($5)
Fri, Sep 20: vs. Rockies ($32)
Sat, Sep 21: vs. Rockies ($82)*
Sun, Sep 22: vs. Rockies ($25)
Tue, Sep 24: vs. Padres ($60)
Wed, Sep 25: vs. Padres ($70)
Thu, Sep 26: vs. Padres ($51)
Fri, Sep 27: at Rockies ($20)
Sat, Sep 28: at Rockies ($24)
Sun, Sep 29: at Rockies ($7)
*Saturday is "Shohei Ohtani T-Shirt Night." Considering how previous Ohtani promotions have gone (one word: pandemonium), the atmosphere and ticket demand** could be absolutely insane. Can you imagine if he enters with, like, 49 homers and 50 steals?
**Pro tip: I'm not here to promote ticket scalping, but there is another way to potentially make money on this. Step 1: Buy ticket(s) now to the game(s) you think will see increased demand in the coming days (which is virtually guaranteed to happen if/once Ohtani reaches 49). Step 2: Assuming you're correct, flip those tickets the night before/day of the game when prices skyrocket. Step 3: Profit.
🏈 NFL power rankings: Upsets shake things up
Week 2 featured a number of upsets, which shook up the top of our NFL power rankings, courtesy of Yahoo Sports' Frank Schwab.
Favorites go down: Seven of our top 10 from last week lost, resulting in 12 teams that moved up or down by at least five spots.
Risers: The Saints (+10) and Vikings (+9) were the biggest risers after beating the Cowboys and 49ers, followed by the Falcons (+6), Raiders (+5), Packers (+5), Texans (+5) and Chargers (+5).
Fallers: The Rams (-15) and Dolphins (-14) are in free fall after blowout losses and critical injuries to Cooper Kupp and Tua Tagovailoa. The Colts (-7), Bears (-6) and Jaguars (-6) also tumbled.
🎙️ Fresh pod: Week 2 Panic Meter (Yahoo Fantasy Forecast)
📸 The world in photos
Munich — Bayern Munich broke the Champions League record for goals in a game with a 9-2 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb. Harry Kane found the back of the net four times, moving him past Wayne Rooney for most Champions League goals by an Englishman (33).
Washington, D.C. — The Liberty (32-7) clinched the WNBA's No. 1 seed with a win over the Mystics, giving last year's runner-up the league's best record for the first time since 2015. The Lynx, who beat the Sun, moved to 30-9 and will be the No. 2 seed.
Santiago, Chile — Not a bad backdrop for Tuesday's Copa Libertadores quarterfinal match between Colo Colo (Chile) and River Plate (Argentina).
Kansas City — Royals phenom Bobby Witt Jr. stole his 30th base of the season, making him the first shortstop in MLB history with multiple 30-30 campaigns. Last year: 30 HR, 49 SB. This year: 32 HR, 30 SB (and counting).
🥉 How Netflix could help Chiles win bronze
Jordan Chiles is continuing her fight to reclaim the bronze medal she won, and then lost, at the Paris Olympics. Whether she gets it back could hinge on… Netflix.
The latest: The American gymnast filed a formal appeal with Switzerland's Supreme Court on Monday in an attempt to overturn the ruling by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that resulted in the forfeiture of her individual bronze medal in the floor exercise.
Catch up quick: Chiles, the last gymnast to compete during the final, initially finished fifth behind Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, USA's Simone Biles and a pair of Romanians. But a few minutes later, she erupted in celebration when a score change vaulted her to third.
As it turns out, her coach, Cecile Landi, had submitted an inquiry with the judges after Chiles' score was posted, arguing it should have been 0.1 points higher. The judges agreed, and that extra tenth-of-a-point was enough for bronze.
But five days later, CAS ruled that Landi had taken 64 seconds to submit her inquiry — four seconds over the limit — and thus restored the initial scores. The IOC then stripped Chiles of her bronze and awarded it to Romania's Ana Bărbosu.
The USOPC tried to appeal the decision on behalf of Chiles, saying it had video evidence proving the inquiry was submitted on time, but CAS refused to reopen the case. Now, they'll be forced to do so if Chiles wins her appeal.
How Netflix is involved: Footage for Simone Biles' docuseries, "Simone Rising," could be the smoking gun in Chiles' appeal. Cameras reportedly caught Landi calling for the inquiry 47 seconds after Chiles' score was first posted — well inside the 60-second deadline.
📆 Sept. 18, 1996: 20 Ks for Clemens
28 years ago today, Red Sox ace Roger Clemens tied his own MLB record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game.
By the numbers: The 34-year-old threw 151 pitches, allowing five hits and no walks in a 4-0 win over the Tigers. Every Tiger struck out at least once, including notable names like Hall of Famer Alan Trammell and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark.
20-strikeout club: Three pitchers (Kerry Wood of the Cubs, Randy Johnson of the Diamondbacks, Max Scherzer of the Nationals) have since matched Clemens. None of them walked a single batter — further evidence of the ridiculous command each pitcher had that day.
April 29, 1986: Clemens (20 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 1 R)
Sept. 18, 1996: Clemens (20 K, 0 BB, 5 H, 0 R)
May 6, 1998: Wood (20 K, 0 BB, 1 H, 0 R)
May 9, 2001: Johnson (20 K, 0 BB, 3 H, 1 R)
May 11, 2016: Scherzer (20 K, 0 B, 6 H, 2 R)
Farewell, Boston: This was Clemens' 192nd win with the Red Sox, tying Cy Young for the most in franchise history. It was also his last, as he signed with the Blue Jays that offseason.
The rarest feat in baseball? Sure, there are ridiculous achievements like hitting two grand slams in one inning... but among reasonable feats, a 20-strikeout game is hard to beat. For context: 13 players have hit two grand slams in the same game, there have been 15 unassisted triple plays, and 24 pitchers have tossed a perfect game.
📺 Watchlist: AL Central clashes
Four AL Central teams are firmly in the playoff hunt (we don't talk about the fifth team), and all four of them play each other tonight.
Twins at Guardians (6:40pm ET, MLB.TV Free Game) … Cleveland (87-65) is closing in on the division title while Minnesota (80-71) is trying to hold onto the final wild card spot.
Tigers at Royals (7:40pm, MLB) … Kansas City (82-70) has a solid grip on the second wild card spot, while Detroit (79-73) trails Minnesota by just 1.5* games.
More to watch:
⚽️ Champions League: League Phase (12:45-3pm, Paramount+) … Manchester City vs. Inter Milan headlines the six-game slate.
⚽️ U20 Women's World Cup: USA vs. North Korea (5:30pm, FS2); Netherlands vs. Japan (9pm, FS2) … Semifinals.
⚽️ MLS: Orlando vs. Charlotte (8:15pm, FS1); LAFC vs. Austin (10:30pm, FS1)
🏐 Women's Volleyball: No. 4 Louisville at No. 11 Kentucky (7pm, ESPN)
*A comeback and a collapse: Detroit trailed Minnesota by 9.5 games on August 22. Since then, the Tigers have gone 17-7 (while the Twins have gone 9-15) and suddenly have a real shot at making the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
⚾️ MLB trivia
Aaron Judge (53) and Juan Soto (40) are the third Yankees duo in history to reach 40+ home runs in the same season.
Question: Who are the other two duos?
Answer at the bottom.
💵 Stat of the day: 68 of 100
68 of the world's 100 highest-paid athletes in 2023 were American, per Sportico's annual rankings. No other country had more than four athletes on the list.
Yes, but: The top of the list is far less USA-dominant, with non-American countries representing the three highest-paid athletes (Cristiano Ronaldo, Jon Rahm, Lionel Messi), six of the top eight (Kylian Mbappé, Neymar, Giannis Antetokounmpo) and 13 of the top 20 (Karim Benzema, Rory McIlroy, Max Verstappen, Shohei Ohtani, Canelo Álvarez, Erling Haaland, Lewis Hamilton).
Trivia answer: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931); Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle (1961)
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