Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Monday, October 7th.

MLB

Well if you didn’t know it yet, Tarik Skubal is legit. The AL Triple Crown winner and likely Cy Young continued his breakout season, completely shutting down the Cleveland offense in game two of the ALDS yesterday afternoon. Detroit’s ace gave up just three hits over seven scoreless innings– not to mention two clutch inning-ending double plays. But Cleveland’s pitching staff matched Skubal, holding the Tigers scoreless, too. That is until the 9th inning, when Kerry Carpenter stepped up to bat against all-star closer Emmanuel Clase… one swing was enough for Detroit to win the game 3-0 and even the series.

The other ALDS game was a bit less dramatic. Kansas City jumped on Yankee starter Carlos Rodon for four runs in the fourth inning, and the Royals bullpen held New York to just one run the rest of the game. The Yankees and Royals head to Kansas City all tied up at one game apiece.

NFL

The other Kansas City team in action last night were the undefeated Chiefs. Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints came to town for Monday Night Football, and… well, the home team took care of business:

• New Orleans struggled to get anything going on offense. Kansas City held the Saints to just 220 yards, adding an interception and a sack. 43 of those yards came on this impressive touchdown pass from Carr to underrated wide receiver Rashid Shaheed.

• In typical Kansas City Chiefs fashion, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce made the big plays. The duo connected on nine passes for 70 yards, including this definitely unscripted pitch play by Kelce on a long third and 22. Mahomes made a few highlight plays of his own, like when he iced the game by avoiding a sack and scrambling for a first down.

• The Chiefs may have won this one 26-13, but there’s no question that the play of the night was made by New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Khalen Saunders. Take a look at this:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Shams Charania has been named the successor to Adrian Wojnarowski at ESPN. The new senior NBA insider will continue to be at the forefront of breaking news.

POWER RANKINGS

It’s the start of a new season, so you know what that means… time for the Remix NHL Power Rankings! Usually these rankings are created using a super-secret formula. For the notoriously difficult-to-evaluate NHL, however, I’m going to tell you exactly how each teams was judged.

The following is a composite ranking of three well-respected pre-season lists: each team is ranked based on their average power ranking position on ESPN, projected standings according to the model at The Athletic, and Stanley Cup odds on the FanDuel Sportsbook. The Remix then added tiers, because as you’ll see from the average rankings, five clear groups emerge.

So, without further ado, here’s how the NHL landscape looks ahead of the 2024-25 season:

TIER FIVE: The bottom six (average rank: 31.3-27.3)

32. San Jose Sharks | 31. Columbus Blue Jackets | 30. Anaheim Ducks | 29. Chicago Blackhawks | 28. Montreal Canadiens | 27. Calgary Flames

TIER FOUR: A bit of a mess (average rank: 24.3-19.3)

26. Philadelphia Flyers | 25. Seattle Kraken | 24. St. Louis Blues | 23. Washington Capitals | 22. Buffalo Sabres | 21. Utah Hockey Club | 20/19. Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators | 18. Pittsburgh Penguins

TIER THREE: Playoff Competitors (average rank: 17.3-9)

17. Minnesota Wild | 16. New York Islanders | 15. Los Angeles Kings | 14. Winnipeg Jets | 13. Tampa Bay Lightning | 12. Vegas Golden Knights | 11. Boston Bruins | 10. Nashville Predators | 9. Vancouver Canucks

TIER TWO: Stanley Cup Expectations (average rank: 7.6-3)

8. New Jersey Devils | 7. Carolina Hurricanes | 6. New York Rangers | 5. Toronto Maple Leafs | 4. Colorado Avalanche | 3/2. Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars

TIER ONE: Undisputed Preseason Favorites

1. Edmonton Oilers

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

MLB: Pivotal game threes tonight in the National League– which teams will take a 2-1 advantage?

• Phillies @ Mets, 5:08 PM on FS1

  • Aaron Nola vs Sean Manaea

• Dodgers @ Padres, 9:08 PM on FS1

  • Walker Buehler vs Michael King

WNBA: Sun @ Lynx, 8 PM on ESPN2

• It’s a winner-take-all game five, for a chance to go to the WNBA finals. So yeah, this is a big one.

NHL: Welcome to opening night! Three fun matchups start off this new year on the ice, including the defending champions and the debut of the UHC in Salt Lake City:

• St. Louis Blues @ Seattle Kraken, 4:30 PM on ESPN

• Boston Bruins @ Florida Panthers, 7 PM on ESPN

• Chicago Blackhawks @ Utah Hockey Club, 10 PM on ESPN

“Fans don’t boo nobodies.” –Mr. October, Reggie Jackson