MLB
NEW YORK (AP) — All the playoff matchups in Major League Baseball have been set.
The expanded 16-team field was filled out on the final day of this pandemic-altered season.
The best-of-three wild-card round begins Tuesday with four American League games, including the marquee matchup of the New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians. The other AL pairings: Top-seeded Tampa Bay-No. 8 Toronto, No. 2 Oakland-No. 7 Chicago White Sox and No. 3 Minnesota-No. 6 Houston,
In the NL, it’s No. 1 Dodgers-No. 8 Brewers, No. 2 Atlanta-No. 7 Cincinnati, No. 3 Chicago Cubs-No. 6 Miami and No. 4 San Diego-No. 5 St. Louis on Wednesday.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels fired general manager Billy Eppler on Sunday after the team finished its fifth consecutive losing season under his watch.
Eppler was under contract for one more year with the Angels in an extension he signed in July with no public announcement, but team president John Carpino said the franchise will move forward with new baseball leadership after missing the playoffs for the sixth straight year.
BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke will not return in 2021, the team said before its final game on Sunday, ending his tenure as a one-year, shotgun stopgap for a pandemic-shortened season with a last-place finish in the AL East.
Hired on the eve of spring training after Alex Cora was caught cheating during his time in Houston, Roenicke took over a roster that would soon shed 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and 2012 AL Cy Young winner David Price, who were traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ace Chris Sale (Tommy John surgery) and Eduardo Rodriguez (COVID-19) never threw a pitch for the team this year.
Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom also commended Roenicke for navigating the coronavirus shutdown and for holding the team together when racial protests interrupted the season.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Four-time All-Star outfielder Hunter Pence announced his retirement Saturday following 14 major league seasons.
Most recently, the 37-year-old was a fan favorite for the San Francisco Giants, helping the club to a pair of World Series championships after being acquired from the Phillies at the 2012 trade deadline.
A career .279 hitter, Pence had 244 home runs and 942 RBIs playing for Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Texas.
The Giants released him last month from a second stint with the club after Pence batted just .096 with two homers and six RBIs in 17 games.
CHICAGO (AP) — Major League Baseball suspended Chicago White Sox reliever Jimmy Cordero for three games Saturday and fined him an undisclosed amount for hitting the Cubs’ Willson Contreras with a pitch.
Manager Rick Renteria was suspended for one game, and he and pitching coach Don Cooper were also fined. Renteria, who served his suspension on Saturday, expected Cordero to appeal his punishment.
Cordero, Renteria and Cooper were ejected from Friday’s 10-0 loss by plate umpire Dan Bellino after Cordero hit Contreras with a pitch in the seventh inning. Cordero said after the game it was unintentional and he simply threw a bad pitch.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Houston Astros third base coach Gary Pettis has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and will miss the rest of the 2020 season.
Pettis, 62, is expected to make a full recovery from this cancer of plasma cells. He most recently coached third base in a game on Sept. 15 before being sidelined with hip discomfort.
Pettis is in his sixth season with Houston has included two trips to the World Series. He has coached in the majors for 23 seasons beginning with the then-California Angels in 1995. Pettis coached with Texas from 2007-14, including two other Series trips.
NBA
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The NBA Finals matchup is set, with the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers emerging as the last two teams standing in the chase to be crowned champions of the most tumultuous season in NBA history.
The Heat won the Eastern Conference title Sunday night, finishing off Boston a day after the Lakers won the Western Conference crown.
So, for the first time — well, excluding the league’s inaugural season — two franchises that missed the playoffs the previous season will meet in the NBA Finals. Game 1 of Heat-Lakers is Wednesday night at Walt Disney World.
NHL
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings acquired defenseman Marc Staal and a second-round draft pick from the New York Rangers for future considerations Saturday.
The draft pick is in 2021. The 33-year-old Staal had two goals and nine assists in 52 games this past season. He has played his whole 13-season NHL career so far with the Rangers.
Staal ranks sixth on the Rangers’ career list in games played with 892.
AUTO RACING
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Luck finally fell Kurt Busch’s way at his home track, where he pulled out an upset Sunday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to sneak his way into the third round of the NASCAR Cup playoffs.
Busch ended an 0-for-21 losing streak at Las Vegas with good timing and then three tremendous restarts. He entered the race 12th in the standings and in danger of elimination from title contention, but the victory earned him an automatic berth into the next round.
The win, the first of the season for the 2004 Cup champion, was celebrated alongside younger brother, Kyle. The reigning NASCAR champion slammed doors with his big brother on the cool-down lap. Busch then took the checkered flag to the finish line and smacked it on each of the letters in Las Vegas.
SOCCER
SAO PAULO (AP) — A Rio de Janeiro-based judge suspended a Brazilian championship match between Flamengo and Palmeiras due to an allegedly high risk of COVID-19 contagion on Saturday.
The ruling came after a request from the union of Rio de Janeiro’s soccer club workers, which argued 21 Flamengo staffers and players contracted the disease this week.
The judge set a fine of 2 million Brazilian reals ($360,000) if the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) decides to proceed with the match anyway.
WNBA
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Breanna Stewart scored a career playoff-high 31 points — tying Seattle’s franchise playoff record — and Sue Bird had 16 points and nine assists, and the Storm beat Minnesota 92-71 on Sunday to sweep the Lynx and advance to the WNBA Finals.
Stewart added six rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. Mercedes Russell tied her season high with 10 points for the No. 2 seed Storm.
Seattle will face either Las Vegas or Connecticut in the finals.
MMA
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Unbeaten Israel Adesanya defended his middleweight title in style with a dominant second-round stoppage of Paulo Costa at UFC 253 on Sunday
Poland’s Jan Błachowicz also stopped Dominick Reyes late in the second round on Fight Island, the mixed martial arts promotion’s bubble performance venue in the Middle East, to claim the light heavyweight title vacated by Jon Jones.
Adesanya (20-0) carved up his previously unbeaten Brazilian opponent with flair and ease, battering Costa with leg kicks before ending it late in the second round. Adesanya crumpled Costa with a combination at the center of the octagon, and the champion finished on the ground with 61 seconds left in the round.
BOXING
LONDON (AP) — Josh Taylor retained his WBA and IBF super lightweight belts after knocking out unbeaten challenger Apinun Khongsong in the first round on Saturday.
Taylor (17-0, 13 KO) caught the Thai (16-1, 13 KO) with a left-hand body shot to secure victory after 2 minutes, 41 seconds at York Hall.
Apinun rolled off the canvas and left the arena on a stretcher.
The title bout was Taylor’s first fight in 11 months, since winning the WBA title against Regis Prograis.
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