All the Sports Stories You Need to Know This AM
MLB update, NBA teams to watch, NFL issues + more
World Series Preview
It’s a Midwestern battle for the ages: after shutting out the Dodgers for a 5–0 NLCS-clinching win Saturday night, the Chicago Cubs are moving on to face Cleveland in the World Series. You’ve heard all about how historic it is — how Cleveland hasn’t won it since 1948, but how even that’s recent compared to the Cubs’ last World Series win in 1908 (and until now, they hadn’t even made it in since 1945; looks like the Curse of the Billy Goat is officially broken).
That was then, this is now, and these two teams are set to play a dynamite best-of-seven. As we saw in their series against the Red Sox and the Blue Jays, Cleveland’s pitching throughout the playoffs has been out of this world, and the Cubs are no slouch in that department either. Add in penchants for stealing bases, diving catches and huge hits, and we are absolutely stoked for Game 1 tomorrow. Want more? Check out our What You Need to Know About the World Series cheat sheet here!
P. S. Did you notice that we didn’t use Cleveland’s baseball team’s name? That was on purpose: protests are escalating over it and the team’s logo, Chief Wahoo. Now that the team’s in the spotlight, more and more people are recognizing the name and logo as racist. During the ALCS against Toronto, a Canadian First Nations activist filed a court injunction to try and stop the team from displaying the name and logo on their uniforms, but was denied; even so, there were Toronto sports announcers who refused to say the team’s name, just as there are those around the NFL who refuse to say the Washington team’s name. While the Cleveland organization has made efforts to provide an alternate to the caricature logo, it still hasn’t disappeared entirely — here’s hoping this national stage will give advocacy groups who are planning to protest more leverage moving forward.
NBA Preview + 5 Teams to Watch Who Aren’t the Warriors
Not a baseball fan? You’re in luck: the NBA regular season starts tomorrow night, too. Last year’s finalists — the Cavaliers and the Warriors — are still set to be great, especially since the latter brought in Kevin Durant during the offseason, but there are some other teams we think you should be keeping your eyes on too.
- They may be young and often overlooked, but don’t count out the Minnesota Timberwolves: they have a couple of stars in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.
- The Boston Celtics have gotten better and better under coach Brad Stevens, and the addition of Al Horford should kick their game up yet another notch.
- Last year was Paul George proving he could come back from a broken leg. This year, it’s time for him to lead the Indiana Pacers even further, especially since he now has recent acquisitions like Jeff Teague by his side.
- The Toronto Raptors kept most of the team that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year, including All-Star pair Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan; there’s no reason to believe they can’t do well again.
- The San Antonio Spurs may have lost a leader when Tim Duncan retired (though not really — he has whatever role he wants on the team’s staff, according to coach Gregg Popovich) but they still have Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, and LaMarcus Aldridge, and they brought in Pau Gasol this offseason — yeah, they’re going to be just fine.
When Dessert Is Way Better Than Dinner
Guys. What was that last night. After a fairly bland game, overtime went into overdrive for the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals. Both kickers choked, leaving the score 6–6, the first tie in the NFL since 2014. Ties in pro football are maybe more common than you realized. While this was the first in Seahawks’ history, the Cardinals have had three 6–6 ties, the other two in 1970 and 1972.
Had no idea these could end in ties? It’s okay, Donovan McNabb didn’t know either when it happened to the Eagles in 2008.
Annie Apple Is Over It
In an essay on SI.com, Annie Apple (mother of New York Giants CB Eli Apple) addressed Giants kicker Josh Brown’s domestic violence case — and Giants co-owner John Mara for not doing more after Brown admitted to the abuse. “How are you a so-called champion of domestic violence but lack basic compassion for a victim?” she asked. Apple reveals that she is a domestic violence survivor and urges anyone in a similar situation to seek help.
Her son, while supportive, gave an uneasy interview about it: “…she’s always going to speak up no matter what. I can’t really control that, so I just have to do what I have to do, which is play football.’’
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