Good Morning! Today is Thursday, September 18. Here’s what happened this week in the world of sports.

MLB

I had the privilege of attending an absolutely fantastic baseball game on Monday night when the Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NL East in a thrilling extra-innings battle against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course, Shohei Ohtani had a crazy few games this series where he gave up zero hits as a pitcher, blasted a few home runs, and hit the guy two seats away from me with a foul ball (he’s ok). Blake Snell went seven innings with 12 Ks last night, but the Phils took two out of three from LA and inched closer to earning home-field advantage as the two seed in the National League. “That’s all exciting,” you might be thinking, “but what about the other playoff races? Are any of them close?” I’m glad you asked. Let’s take a look as we head down the stretch:

• Chicago became the third team to clinch a playoff spot. The Cubs are back in the postseason for the first time since 2020 and hold a large lead for the first NL Wild Card.

• Houston clings to a 0.5 game lead over Seattle in the AL West. The Astros and Mariners play a MASSIVE three-game set that starts tomorrow.

• Seattle and Boston are tied for the second wild card, with a 2.5 game lead over Cleveland. Meanwhile, Texas has fallen 4.5 games out of the playoffs.

• And Arizona is making a late charge for the final NL wild card. They only trail the Mets by 1.5 games, in large part because of the performance of Corbin Carroll. Look at this insane stat–

WNBA

Playoffs! Playoffs! Playoffs!

• Atlanta and Indiana are tied 1-1, with a winner-take-all game in Atlanta tonight. A reminder that Indiana are without their injured superstar, Caitlin Clark.

• The number two seed Las Vegas Aces are also tied 1-1 with the Seattle Storm. They’ll play a deciding game tonight as well.

• The road team has won each game between the Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty. They’ll play game three back in Phoenix on Friday.

• Only one team swept their first round series– the top seed Minnesota Lynx won each of their games, including a 75-74 clinching win on the road last night. They may be eliminated, but lots of credit to the Golden State Valkyries on an incredible inaugural season!

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The best teams in European football have kicked off in the prestigious Champions League! The first stage lasts for a few months, so don’t worry if you missed anything. Here’s a great breakdown of all 36 teams competing and what to expect:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

Monday Night Football gave us a classic and a clunker. The Chargers made easy work of the Raiders. But in game one, Baker Mayfield led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a comeback victory over the Texans in the final seconds. Is Baker an MVP candidate? At the very least he’s one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the league.

Paige Bueckers was named the WNBA Rookie of the Year. You can see the moment she’s surprised with the award backstage at the Jennifer Hudson show:

…AND OTHER NEWS

Molly Qerim, the longtime host of First Take, will be leaving ESPN at the end of the year. Stephen A. Smith sounded a bit blindsided by the announcement.

We’ve got a big wave of early NFL injuries. The Vikings have lost running back Aaron Jones and QB JJ McCarthy. Joe Burrow’s lengthy absence was already announced, but the injured QB ranks also include the Jets’ Justin Fields and potentially Jayden Daniels, who is questionable to take the field for the Commanders on Sunday. Get ready for a lot of backups this weekend!

The Commanders have officially been given approval to build a new stadium in DC. The team will return to the site where it played in the 60s in the next five years.

College football will no longer have two separate transfer windows, instead containing all player movement to January. The chaos of the spring portal has been eliminated.

THIS WEEKEND’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

THREE KEY BASEBALL SERIES:

• Mariners @ Astros

• Phillies @ Diamondbacks

• Giants @ Dodgers

THURSDAY:

• Dolphins @ Bills, 8:15 PM on Prime

FRIDAY:

• The Laver Cup, Team Europe vs Team World, all weekend on Tennis Channel

SATURDAY:

• Manchester United @ Chelsea, 11:30 AM on USA

• (17) Texas Tech @ (16) Utah, Noon on Fox

• Oregon State @ (6) Oregon, 3 PM on Big Ten Network

• (22) Auburn @ (11) Oklahoma, 3:30 PM on ABC

• Tulane @ (13) Ole Miss, 3:30 PM on ESPN

• (9) Illinois @ (19) Indiana, 7:30 PM on NBC

• Florida @ (4) Miami, 7:30 PM on ABC

• Michigan State @ (25) USC, 11 PM on Fox

SUNDAY:

• Arsenal @ Manchester City, 11:30 AM on Peacock

• Bengals @ Vikings, 1 PM on CBS

• Rams @ Eagles, 1 PM on Fox

• Broncos @ Chargers, 4:05 PM on CBS

• Cowboys @ Bears, 4:25 PM on Fox

• Chiefs @ Giants, 8:20 PM on NBC

“If they want me gone, if they’re tired of winning, they can send me on my way because that’s all we’ve done is win. So if they’re tired of winning, we’ve won this league eight out of the last 10 years, is that not good? I’m just asking. Is that good? To go to the Playoff seven out of 10 years, be in four national championships, win it twice? If Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way, but I’m gonna go somewhere else and coach. I ain’t going to the beach,” –Dabo Swinney, head coach of Clemson football… where everything is fine

Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday