SAN FRANCISCO — Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen is likely out for the postseason, after injuring his right shoulder warming up in the bullpen Saturday.
“I don’t know if it was a complete blowout, but really unfortunate,” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 4-3 win against the San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers plan to put Treinen on the injured list Sunday, Roberts said. And he’ll undergo imaging to diagnose the injury.
“It just popped up,” Roberts said.
Treinen, 38, is the longest-tenured Dodgers pitcher on the roster. He spent over two months on the IL earlier this season with inflammation in his right elbow. But in 36 appearances this season, he posted a 3.64 ERA.
Treinen has a history of shoulder injuries and underwent right shoulder labrum and rotator cuff repair surgery after the 2022 season.
Five months after pulling back from most of its Los Angeles soundstage business, production services company Quixote is selling much of its equipment operation.
Equipment rental house Cinelease recently announced that it had acquired Quixote’s grip and lighting and production supplies assets in Los Angeles and New York. The transaction resulted in roughly 60 layoffs, Quixote said. Most of the affected employees were based in L.A. with a few in New York.
The production supplies business will operate as Cinelease Pro Supplies.
“Our sales team is reaching out directly to clients with active or upcoming rentals from these businesses and will work with Cinelease to help ensure a smooth transition,” the company said in an email on Sept. 15 to its clients. “It has been our privilege to serve you, and we look forward to continuing to be your source for production and events transportation.”
Quixote has also closed its production services operation in Atlanta, following earlier closures in New Orleans and Albuquerque. Quixote’s Griffith Park studio will remain open.
Cinelease, a Los Angeles lighting and grip rental company founded in 1977, has been expanding in recent months. It has added rigging and fencing businesses and is pursuing work in live events and sports alongside film and TV.
Quixote was founded in 1995. Los Angeles-based real estate company Hudson Pacific Properties Inc. bought it in 2022 for $360 million, saying at the time that the acquisition would help address growing demand for soundstage space.
Quixote’s retreat comes amid a major slowdown in Hollywood production, as many productions leave California in pursuit of tax incentives around the world. The downturn has hit studio real estate hard. Radford Studio Center, which sold for $1.85 billion in 2021, was seized by lenders after its previous owner defaulted on its debt. Netflix agreed to buy the lot for between $330 million and $400 million. The Television City lot is also up for sale.
On Thursday, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders introduced a bill to create a federal film and television tax credit, the Motion Picture, Television and Entertainment Revitalization Act. It would establish a 20% tax credit on U.S. labor for eligible film and TV productions. Its path is uncertain, however. The House is in recess until after the midterm elections, and supporters hope to pass the bill at the end of the year.
“As we enter this next chapter, our Fleet team remains committed to providing the service, expertise and support our clients have come to expect from Quixote,” the company wrote in an email. “We look forward to continuing to work with you to make your visions a reality.”
Times staff writer Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser and Noah Goldberg, giving you the latest on city and county government.
It’s one of the most exacting tasks to face a left-leaning candidate running for office in L.A.: filling out the Democratic Socialists of America’s questionnaire.
During the candidate endorsement process, the DSA’s L.A. chapter issues a lengthy form that ends with a spate of yes or no questions, mainly around hot-button topics: Do you support Medicare for All? Do you favor the policies of the Green New Deal? Would you put a halt to police exchange programs with Israel?
When filling out the form, mayoral candidate Nithya Raman voiced support for all three. But unlike some DSA-endorsed candidates, the council member declined to give a yes or no answer on an assortment of other topics, opting for longer explanations.
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Raman, a DSA member, declined to check either box when asked if she would work as mayor to repeal a law prohibiting homeless encampments near schools. She did the same on whether to divert funds from law enforcement into other public services.
She also declined to say yes or no on removing police from K-12 schools, and on banning the use of facial recognition and other surveillance technologies.
The answers offer the latest sign that Raman has been proceeding with caution on some of the DSA’s litmus test issues. Raman, who tweeted “defund the police” six years ago, said in February that the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department should not get any smaller.
Appearing Wednesday in Pico-Union, she said she was proud to have the DSA as part of her coalition but also described herself as politically independent.
“I’ve made sure that the decisions that I’m making, the votes that I’m taking, are ones that are based on an understanding of how these policies are actually going to improve the lives of Angelenos,” said Raman, who received the DSA endorsement earlier this month.
Mayor Karen Bass, Raman’s opponent, did not seek the endorsement, saying she was not aligned with some of the group’s positions.
Raman’s questionnaire stands in contrast with those of some of her DSA colleagues.
HugoSoto-Martínez answered nearly every yes-no question posed by the DSA during his first run for City Council in 2022. Ysabel Jurado did the same during her successful council campaign two years later.
So what were Raman’s longer answers? On homeless encampments, she wrote that she has repeatedly voted against increasing the number of locations where tents are prohibited — and doesn’t want to saddle homeless people with criminal records that could stifle their ability to find permanent housing.
Regarding cuts to the LAPD, Raman said she would expand the city’s network of unarmed crisis response teams, ensuring that “trained professionals” — not police officers — respond to mental health and substance use calls.
On campus police, Raman said schools “should never default to armed officers for discipline or student well being.” And on facial recognition software, Raman said she would prohibit surveillance technologies that lack “clear evidence of need and completely enforceable safeguards for civil rights and privacy.”
“I will also require real oversight and consent before the city deploys any of it,” she wrote.
Raman even declined to say yes or no when asked if she wants noncitizens to vote in local elections. But she explained in writing that she voted earlier this year to put a proposal from Soto-Martínez on the ballot that would give the council the ability to enact noncitizen voting for city and school board elections.
Raman and Bass weighed in recently on the deal struck by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison on the studio’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Both mayoral candidates said Paramount should be held accountable for the promises contained in the settlement, which requires the company to distribute 30 films per year in theaters for the first two years after the merger, then 32 films per year for the next three years.
Of the two, Raman sounded more dismayed by the deal.
“There was a better outcome than this,” Raman told reporters at a recent news conference. “But this is the outcome that we have, and now it’s incumbent upon us to fight for the best results for workers here.”
For much of this year, Bass and Raman voiced concern that the merger would trigger mass layoffs within the film and television industries. But last month, Bass began calling for the two parties to engage with each other in good faith, saying too many productions had come to a standstill, putting people out of work.
“The prolonged uncertainty around this decision has already led to job losses and left workers wondering what it would mean for their futures,” Bass said in a statement this week.
The settlement alleviated the anxiety felt by some at City Hall that Paramount might follow through on its threat to leave California.
Bass’ stance aligned her more with IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, whose leaders voiced their own concerns about uncertainty while appearing with the mayor at City Hall last month.
Raman was more in sync with Writers Guild of America West, which denounced Bass for pressing Bonta to seek a resolution, saying “industry workers deserve a mayor who believes in upholding the law.”
Bass’ campaign is supported by IATSE Local 33 and the California IATSE Council, which said earlier this year that the mayor has “done more to bring our jobs back to Los Angeles than anyone in city government.”
On Thursday, the Writers Guild endorsed Raman, saying she is a “true pro-labor candidate who walks the walk.”
State of play
— POLLING PRESSURE: A new poll put Raman decisively in the lead in the mayor’s race, showing her with a double-digit advantage over Bass. The findings will ramp up the pressure on Bass and her allies to go sharply negative against Raman while courting the huge number of voters who say they are still undecided.
— MAKING THEIR CASE: Bass and Raman sat down with The Times for two separate, wide-ranging interviews, discussing issues like homelessness, the Palisades fire and the biggest mistakes they’ve made in office.
— PEOPLE MOVER POSTPONED: The opening date of the People Mover train being built at Los Angeles International Airport has been delayed yet again, with contractors now aiming for early January. The 2.25-mile automated train, which has been over budget for years, was originally supposed to open three years ago.
— EXECUTIVE ORDER: Bass ordered a review of the LAPD’s dealings with mentally ill people this week, saying the training that police officers are receiving is “woefully inadequate.” The mayor said she was particularly troubled by a July 29 incident in which police fatally shot a man who approached them with an aluminum bat.
— HURDLES TO HOUSING: Why has housing production been lagging in L.A.? Real estate developers pointed to a list of reasons, including high interest rates, pandemic-era policies like rent freezes and Measure ULA, the voter-approved tax on high-end property sales.
— TRUMP REBUFFED: An appeals court blocked the Trump administration from stopping the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from applying for millions of dollars in federal funding. The agency had applied on behalf of homeless service organizations from across the county.
QUICK HITS
Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to address homelessness went to the area around 11th and Irolo streets, a location represented by Councilmember Heather Hutt.
On the docket next week: Bass and Raman are slated to appear Tuesday at the Skirball Cultural Center for the 2026 Jewish Los Angeles Mayoral Forum. The event is hosted by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, the Skirball Cultural Center, ADL Los Angeles and other groups.
Stay in touch
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
Harvey Weinstein’s winding legal saga took a new turn this week, one that reaffirmed that the former Hollywood kingmaker — whose alleged history of sexual assault and abuse sparked the cross-industry #MeToo reckoning — will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Weinstein, 74, was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in prison for a felony sex crime tied to allegations from former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haley. After a retrial last year, a majority-female jury found the disgraced Hollywood mogul and co-founder of the defunct Weinstein Co. guilty of sexually assaulting Haley in 2006 at his New York apartment.
Haley described the lasting and “devastating” effects of Weinstein’s assault as she addressed the court during Wednesday’s sentencing.
“Making the decision to speak up will have me looking over my shoulder for years to come,” she said. “It’s a life sentence for me.”
Weinstein said he has “remorse for Miriam Haley’s pain,” but maintained that he’s innocent.
The New York sentencing this week was not the first time Weinstein received a lengthy prison sentence for sex crimes. Since the damning sexual assault and harassment allegations against Weinstein first entered the legal spotlight in 2017, the Oscar-winning producer has faced convictions for rape and sexual assault over the course of trials — and retrials — from 2020 to 2025.
Weinstein has already served more than six years in New York, leaving him with about nine years left on that sentence. A pending resentencing in California — he was sentenced to more than a decade for a 2013 rape — could keep the mogul behind bars for life, the Associated Press reported.
Here’s a look back on Weinstein’s previous convictions and the prison sentences that followed.
March 2020: 23-year prison sentence in New York
Weinstein was first sentenced for his sex crimes against women in New York almost three years after the #MeToo movement upended his career as a prolific movie producer.
The mogul’s 2020 sexual assault trial, the first in a handful that would follow in the coming years, ended in February 2020 with a jury delivering a mixed verdict. The jury convicted Weinstein of committing a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape based on accusations from Haley and former actor Jessica Mann, respectively. The jury acquitted him on the most serious charges, including two counts of predatory sexual assault.
Harvey Weinstein arrives at a Manhattan courthouse for jury deliberations in his rape trial, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in New York.
(Seth Wenig / Associated Press)
A month later, New York Supreme Court Judge James Burke announced that Weinstein would carry out a 23-year prison sentence for his crimes. He was ordered to serve 20 years for his 2006 attack against Haley in his Manhattan apartment. The judge added three years to Weinstein’s sentence for raping Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013. Weinstein was to serve those sentences consecutively.
At the time, the Miramax co-founder denied all wrongdoing and planned to appeal. Those efforts come into play in 2024.
February 2023: 16 years in California
Weinstein, a movie titan who once dominated Hollywood and produced some of the modern film industry’s most defining titles, including “Pulp Fiction” and the divisive Oscar best picture winner “Shakespeare in Love,” was tried in his stamping grounds in October 2022. He was prosecuted for allegations that he raped and attacked four women in Beverly Hills hotel rooms between 2004 and 2013. Before the trial, Weinstein was indicted on 11 counts of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual battery in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. He denied all wrongdoing.
The acrimonious trial, which stretched more than a month, ended in December 2022 with a jury convicting Weinstein of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object. The jury acquitted Weinstein of the sexual battery of a massage therapist and failed to reach verdicts on counts involving two other women. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench declared a mistrial on the charges that left the jury deadlocked.
Weinstein’s conviction hinged on an account from an Italian model and actor identified in court as Jane Doe 1. She said the producer barged into her hotel room in Beverly Hills, where she was staying while attending a film festival, to assault her. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in February 2023.
Harvey Weinstein appears in court at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on Oct. 4, 2022, in Los Angeles.
(Pool / Getty Images)
“There is no prison sentence long enough to erase the damage,” Doe said during the sentencing. “He deserves to experience the same shame, humiliation and fear as I did.”
Lench ruled at the time that Weinstein cannot serve his New York and Los Angeles sentences concurrently. His attorney said the producer would return to New York to carry out the remainder of that sentence before going to prison in California.
Earlier this year, a three-panel judge from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously agreed to deny Weinstein’s efforts to appeal the Los Angeles conviction. The Los Angeles trial judge was also ordered to resentence the mogul.
“This is not the end of the appellate process,” Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein’s publicist, said in June. “We intend to seek review in the California Supreme Court because we continue to believe significant legal errors affected the proceedings and warrant further review.”
Weinstein is awaiting resentencing for this case.
April 2024 to now: New York retrial leads to an updated prison sentence
In a dramatic reversal of the landmark #MeToo case, a state appeals court found that the judge who presided over Weinstein’s 2020 trial prejudiced his case by allowing four women who said Weinstein had assaulted them to serve as witnesses, even though their allegations were not part of the case. The appeals court also ruled the judge made a mistake in ruling prosecutors could cross-examine Weinstein about uncharged and decades-old allegations if he decided to testify.
What ensued was a retrial in 2025 that exceeded a month and featured emotional testimony from former accusers Haley and Mann, and model Kaja Sokola, who did not testify against the mogul in the 2020 trial.
The fallen Hollywood boss was retried on the allegations that led to his original rape and criminal sex act convictions. He was also tried on a new sexual assault charge stemming from Sokola’s allegation that he forced oral sex on her in 2006 when she was 19. Weinstein pleaded not guilty and his defense maintained the alleged sexual encounters were consensual. He did not take the stand, similar to his first trial in New York and his rape trial in Los Angeles.
Before Weinstein was convicted in June 2025 of forcing oral sex on Haley, he declared “it’s just not fair.”
“My life is on the line, and you know what? It’s not fair,” he said at the time. “It’s time, it’s time, it’s time, it’s time to say this trial is over.”
Time, it appears, is of the utmost importance for Weinstein, considering his renewed prison sentences in New York and an incoming sentence in California. Weinstein spoke at length with the Hollywood Reporter in March about carrying out his sentence and the possibility of dying behind bars. The former executive was jailed at the notorious Riker’s Island jail complex in New York at the time of the interview.
“It scares the s— out of me. Cold and heartless,” he told THR. “It’s incredible to have the life that I had and the things that I did for society and not have the leniency to deal with me in a kinder way. Whatever they think I did bad in my life, I didn’t get the death penalty.
The Sparks fired head coach Lynne Roberts, ending her tenure Friday after two seasons as the franchise continues its search for a return to championship contention.
The move comes after the Sparks finished 16-28 in 2026, missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Roberts compiled a 36-49 record with Los Angeles after being hired ahead of the 2025 season after nearly a decade leading the women’s basketball program at Utah.
The team has not announced an interim head coach but will conduct a search this offseason.
“We are grateful to Lynne for the commitment and determination she brought to the role, which was evident all the way through our last game last night,” said Sparks special advisor Farhan Zaidi. “Lynne has cared deeply about our organization and for our players and their development. We sincerely thank her for everything she has invested in the Sparks and wish her and her family the best moving forward.”
Roberts arrived in Los Angeles with a reputation as one of college basketball’s top offensive minds after leading Utah to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and back-to-back Sweet 16 berths. The Sparks hoped she could oversee a rebuild around a young core led by Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson while making one of the league’s flagship franchises a contender again.
Instead, the turnaround never materialized.
Los Angeles struggled to find consistency on both ends of the court during Roberts’ tenure, dealing with injuries, roster turnover and uneven play while remaining outside the WNBA playoff picture. Despite flashes from its young talent, the Sparks were unable to build sustained momentum, even after acquiring All-Star guard Kelsey Plum, whom they eventually traded before the deadline in July.
The Sparks fired general manager Raegan Pebley midseason after her offseason trade of Jackson to Chicago for Ariel Atkins, a two-time All-Star who is now on a three-year deal.
Before Thursday’s loss to Golden State, Roberts said she believed she should stay the team’s head coach.
“I think what this org needs is some stability, and a vision and a direction, like a plan,” she said. “Not that we haven’t had one, but I think now that we’ve got people in place, just give us a goalpost, and we’ll march down the field in that way.”
Roberts became the latest coaching change for a franchise that has been searching for stability since its last championship in 2016 under coach Brian Agler. Since then, the Sparks have cycled through four head coaches while missing the postseason every year since 2021.
The decision raises questions about the direction of the franchise entering the offseason with several long-term deals for veterans such as Atkins and Dearica Hamby, but also one of the best young players in the league in Brink.
Coach DJ Gay started 120 games during his playing days at San Diego State, so when his star guard at Windward High, Davey Harris, announced he had committed to San Diego State, Gay couldn’t have been more pleased.
“That’s the least I could do for everything the school has done for me,” Gay said. “I think San Diego State is going to be a great place playing in the new Pac-12.”
Harris has grown to 6 feet 6 and is only scratching the surface of his ability because he missed his first two years of high school with an injury.
“I truly believe the sky is the limit,” Gay said.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
From Bill Plaschke: They mentioned “The Odyssey,” they talked about “Lord of the Rings,” they referenced “The Hobbit,” they cited the hero’s journey, they predicted a season filled with mythological tales of triumph.
What they didn’t promise was that their Lakers’ team would contend for a championship.
What they couldn’t mention was what will happen to them if they don’t.
In their annual pre-training camp news conference at their practice facility Thursday, Pelinka and Redick talked about fictional characters perhaps because the reality is too grim for words.
Their jobs are on the line with a rebuilding team that might not be good enough to save them, and no amount of cute Gandalf references can change that.
Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
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Dodgers lose to Padres
From Kevin Baxter: The Dodgers didn’t win Thursday. But they got something far more valuable before they even took the field for their 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.
With the Atlanta Braves’ loss to the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the day, the Dodgers clinched the second seed in the National League playoffs and the first-round bye that goes with it. That means the Dodgers will get five days off next week to prepare for their playoff opener, a godsend for a bruised and bloodied team that has stumbled to the finish of the regular season.
“I think we all know why it’s important,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said of the break. “There’s a lot of us kind of limping toward the end here, a lot of aches and pains this year.”
For the Padres (89-70), the victory was important because it clinched a wild-card berth and a franchise-record third consecutive trip to the postseason.
In addition to Freeman, who has been hobbled all month by a sore right knee, the Dodgers are rushing to get designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, starting pitcher Blake Snell and closer Edwin Díaz healthy.
Christian Moore hit a two-run double and had three RBIs, Bryce Teodosio drove in two runs, and the Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Thursday night.
Moore’s RBI single in the second gave the Angels a 1-0 lead, and Teodosio’s one-run groundout pulled the Angels within 3-2 in the fifth before Zach Neto drove in the tying run.
Moore plated two more runs in the sixth with a double to put the Angels back on top for good, 5-4. Teodosio capped the scoring with an RBI single in the eighth.
From Marisa Ingemi: The Sparks’ season was mere seconds away from ending on a high note. Then, the Golden State Valkyries scored 13 consecutive points late in the fourth quarter to dissolve a double-digits Sparks lead.
Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike concluded her WNBA career with 17 points and 15 rebounds in the 76-75 loss to the Valkyries. Her double-double was her 19th this season, which set a Sparks single-season record.
Immediately after the game, the Sparks announced that they would name their new practice facility in El Segundo after Ogwumike, who retires as the Sparks’ all-time leading scorer.
The loss itself mattered little. The Sparks were eliminated from postseason contention nearly a month ago after beginning with championship aspirations. In one of their most disappointing seasons to date because of the expectations attached, the Sparks go into the offseason trying to put the pieces together again
During defensive line drills, the Future Hall of Famer continues to go third — even when groups are split — rather than lead.
“Earning my keep right now,” Donald said after Rams practice Thursday. “I’m a guy that likes to work and earn everything I get.”
Donald, 35, has one game under his belt after returning from a two-year retirement to rejoin the team that selected the three-time NFL defensive player of the year in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft.
Donald played 33 snaps in the Rams’ 28-6 victory over the New York Giants on Monday. He made three tackles, including one for a loss.
1866 — Jerome Park, named for its founder Leonard Jerome, opens in the Bronx in New York. Jerome, seeking to emulate the British racing system, also establishes the American Jockey Club, precursor to the present Jockey Club, formed in 1894.
1920 — Molly Bjurstedt Mallory wins her fifth title in six years with a two-set victory over Marion Zinderstein in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. championships.
1926 — Walter Hagen wins his third straight and fourth overall PGA Championship. Hagen beats Leo Diegel 4 and 3 in the championship match at Salisbury Golf Links in Westbury, N.Y.
1949 — Louise Suggs wins the U.S. Women’s Open by 14 strokes over Babe Didrikson Zaharias.
1962 — Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson at 2:06 of the first round at Comiskey Park in Chicago to win the world heavyweight title.
1966 — Gloria Ehret wins the LPGA Championship by three strokes over four-time champion Micke Wright.
1982 — Ricky Edwards rushes for 177 yards and four touchdowns to help Northwestern end its 34-game losing streak in a 31-6 victory over Northern Illinois.
1988 — Americans sweep the medals in the long jump at the Seoul Olympics; Carl Lewis wins his second gold of the Games with leap of 8.72m ahead of teammates Mike Powell & Larry Myricks.
1988 — Super swimmer Matt Biondi wins his fifth gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious American 4 x 100m medley relay team.
1994 — Oliver McCall scores a major upset by stopping Lennox Lewis 31 seconds into the second round to capture the WBC heavyweight title in London.
1995 — Jerry Rice has 181 yards receiving in San Francisco’s 27-24 loss to Detroit. It’s his 51st 100-yard game, which breaks Don Maynard’s NFL record.
1997 — WNBA announces it will add Detroit & Washington, D.C. franchises.
2000 — American basketball player Vince Carter jumps over 7 foot 2 Frédéric Weis in 2000 Summer Olympics, known in France as “le dunk de la mort” (the dunk of death).
2004 — Bobby Seck of Hofstra throws eight touchdown passes to tie an Atlantic 10 mark and set a school record in the Pride’s 62-43 victory over Rhode Island.
2005 — Fernando Alonso becomes Formula One’s youngest champion by finishing third in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Alonso, 24, a six-time winner in his third full season in Formula One, ends Michael Schumacher’s five-year hold on the title.
2010 — Collingwood and St. Kilda plays to a 68-68 tie, the first in an Australian Rules football grand final since 1977, setting up a rematch to decide the league title.
2011 — The Detroit Lions snap a 13-game losing streak with a 26-23 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions, who won in the Metrodome for the first time since 1997, are 3-0 for the first time since 1980.
2013 — Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA win the America’s Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States. Spithill steers Oracle’s space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay. All but defeated a week ago, the 34-year-old Australian and his international crew twice rallies from seven-point deficits to win 9-8.
2016 — Rory McIlroy rallies to enter a three-man playoff and win the FedEx Cup. After trailing by three shots with three holes to play in the Tour Championship, McIlroy holes a 15-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to win the playoff and claim the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.
2022 — Laver Cup Men’s Tennis, London: Team World sweeps final day for 13-8 victory over Team Europe; tournament marks retirement of Roger Federer.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1941 — Pete Reiser’s homer and Whitlow Wyatt’s five-hitter helped Brooklyn beat the Boston Braves 6-0 and clinch the Dodgers’ first pennant in 21 years.
1955 — Detroit’s Al Kaline, at the age of 20, became the youngest player to win a batting title, finishing his second season with a .340 average. Ty Cobb was one day older when he won the crown, batting .350 in 1907, also playing for Detroit.
1956 — Sal Maglie of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies.
1960 — The New York Yankees clinched manager Casey Stengel’s 10th and last American League pennant with a 4-3 victory over Boston.
1965 — Satchel Paige, at 60, became the oldest player in the majors, taking the mound for Kansas City and pitching three scoreless innings over the Boston Red Sox. He gave up one hit, to Carl Yastrzemski.
1965 — Willie Mays, who hit 51 home runs in 1955, joined Ralph Kiner as only the National Leaguers to have more than one 50-home run season.
1974 — Dr. Frank Jobe transplanted a tendon from Tommy John’s right wrist to the Dodger pitcher’s left elbow. The revolutionary ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction allowed John to win an additional 164 games, more than half of his career total of 288 victories.
1980 — Oakland’s Brian Kingman lost his 20th game when the A’s were defeated by the Chicago White Sox 6-4. Kingman was the first pitcher to lose 20 games with a winning team since Dolf Luque went 13-23 for the 1922 Cincinnati Reds.
1984 — Rusty Staub of the Mets became the second player to hit homers as a teenager and past his 40th birthday. Staub’s game-winning home run off Larry Anderson to give the Mets a 6-4 victory over Philadelphia at Shea Stadium. Ty Cobb was the other major leaguer to accomplish the feat.
1987 — San Diego’s Benito Santiago set a modern major league record for rookies by hitting safely in his 27th consecutive game in a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers.
1998 — The New York Yankees set the AL record for wins with their 112th, beating Tampa Bay 6-1 to break the victory mark held by the 1954 Cleveland Indians.
2001 — Richie Sexson and Jeromy Burnitz became the first teammates to hit three home runs apiece in a game as Milwaukee defeated Arizona 9-4.
2003 — Toronto’s Carlos Delgado became the sixth player to homer in four straight at-bats in one game as the Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10-8 at SkyDome. Delgado tied the game at 8-8 in the eighth with his fourth homer, a solo shot off Lance Carter.
2007 — Prince Fielder, at 23 years, 139 days old, became the youngest major league player to hit 50 home runs in a season, connecting twice in Milwaukee’s 9-1 rout of St. Louis.
2013 — The New York Yankees failed to make the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years, getting mathematically eliminated during their 8-3 loss to Tampa Bay.
2016 — Jose Fernandez, 24, ace right-hander for the Miami Marlins, was killed in a boating accident.
2017 — Aaron Judge broke Mark McGwire’s major league record for home runs by a rookie, hitting a pair for the second straight day to raise his total to 50 and lead the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 11-3.
2018 — Max Scherzer became the 17th pitcher since 1900 to strike out 300 batters in a season, reaching that milestone by fanning 10 in seven innings during Washington’s 9-4 win over Miami.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Naked Eyes lead singer Peter Byrne died in Los Angeles on Sept. 14, according to the group’s website.
Byrne, who co-founded the synth-pop band with Rob Fisher in 1982, died “peacefully … after a brief illness,” the statement reads.
Naked Eyes’ Pete Byrne performs onstage in Los Angeles in 2019.
(Scott Dudelson / Getty Images)
Naked Eyes, a high note for the MTV generation, scored ’80s hits with their synth-pop version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Always Something There to Remind Me” and their original song “Promises, Promises,” with the former hitting No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983 and the latter reaching No. 11 that same year. “When the Lights Go Out” and “(What) in the Name of Love” also reached the Hot 100’s Top 40, hitting No. 37 in 1983 and No. 39 in 1984, respectively.
Byrne was born in Islington, North London, and began his music career in the mid-’70s. From 1979 to 1982, he was a member of the band Neon, which included Fisher and future Tears for Fears founders Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal. Byrne and Fisher released their debut album as Naked Eyes in 1983, according to the group’s website.
After Fisher died in 1999, Byrne released his 2001 solo album “The Real Illusion” and Naked Eyes albums “Fumbling With the Covers” in 2007 and “Disguise the Limit” in 2021. A remastered version of their self-titled debut album was released in 2025.
Byrne is survived by his siblings Eileen, Sandy, Carol and Steve; his three children, Merlin, Dylan and Chloe; and his ex-wife, Elena.
Next year, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra — an intimate, 42-player group compared with the more than 100-member Los Angeles Philharmonic — will warm its new home, the highly anticipated, Frank Gehry-designed Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall. And it will do so with the help of a little light music: fanfares commissioned from half a dozen preeminent film composers — John Williams, Ludwig Göransson, Joel McNeely, Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard and John Powell — curated by none other than Seth MacFarlane (best known as the creator and star of “Family Guy”).
The buzzwords are lighting up, but this is far from a game of performing arts Mad Libs; it’s actually quite intentional. “We really thought about … ‘What statement can we make to Los Angeles and to the performing arts world that really shows who we are?’” said LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader. “Who is the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, specifically? And it really was this tie to Hollywood, to Los Angeles, to our musicians themselves.”
MacFarlane was a natural fit.
“I loved movies and I loved movie music,” MacFarlane said of his childhood in a recent interview. “I would go to the record store and buy the latest John Williams soundtrack, which was usually out before the movie was released. I remember buying the ‘Jurassic Park’ soundtrack not having seen the movie, and it didn’t matter. It was just great music. It was just great, symphonic music.”
LACO was founded by an assemblage of musicians and civic leaders in 1968, including the cellist James Arkatov. After emigrating from Russia as a child, Arkatov became the principal cellist at the Pittsburgh and San Francisco symphonies before landing in L.A. He arrived as a Hollywood studio musician, played on movie soundtracks and did backing for Ella Fitzgerald.
From the beginning, LACO served as “the artistic outlet of studio players … these incredibly gifted musicians who bring our movies and TV shows to life,” said Cadwallader, a situation that remains true to this day. LACO’s musicians know it’s “a place where they can play … Bach and Mozart, and make music at a really high level in a performance environment, not a studio environment.”
This is why the christening of LACO’s new home is also a homage to its roots: film composers. These giants of their fields will each write a spry, five- to seven-minute-long fanfare as openers for select LACO concerts throughout the season. (The works will also be performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, with John Williams’ piece arriving first, in fall 2027.)
MacFarlane knew just what to do, thanks to his long history with music. The actor, animator, filmmaker and comedian has released 10 studio albums, received five Grammy Award nominations and performed as a vocalist at the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. (He also just released a 14-track album called “Seth MacFarlane Sings the Muppets.”) Plus, his parents raised him steeped in music.
Nothing has changed here — throughout his career, MacFarlane has been relentlessly committed to including live music in his projects. The musical numbers on “Family Guy” simply couldn’t (and wouldn’t) exist without an orchestra.
“It would somehow feel thin and hollow, and people may not know why their attention is drifting, but it would drift,” MacFarlane said. “I really think you need the muscular sound of 60 musicians in a room, and in the case of ‘The Orville,’ sometimes 90. … Hollywood has been doing it since pictures went to sound, and I hope they continue to do it for as long as we make film and television.”
MacFarlane noted that the only time many people actually hear a live orchestra is in film or television.
“I don’t know how many people go to the symphony,” MacFarlane said. “So that’s certainly a component. When I was a kid, even the syndicated afternoon cartoon shows used a live orchestra, and when you go back and you listen to them, oftentimes it’s pretty legit composing. And I think that was important to have heard. I think it’s just good for the brain to hear complex symphonic music.”
Composer, conductor and longtime MacFarlane collaborator Joel McNeely (whose wife, Margaret Batjer, is LACO’s concertmaster) got MacFarlane involved in this commissioning initiative. Then MacFarlane selected the participating composers (and supported the initiative financially). One final Mad Lib to solve: What exactly, you may be wondering, is a fanfare?
“The perfect example … is the beginning of ‘Star Wars,’” Cadwallader said, then hummed the intro. “There’s big, loud brass. You cannot help but pay attention. … It puts a smile on your face. It maybe gets your heart racing a little bit. It’s usually very rhythmic, very bright. It’s like a big warm smile, or like a popping of a Champagne cork, to start a concert. … A bursting, effervescent moment of music to get things started. An amuse-bouche, if you like.”
Los Angeles County officials aim to break ground on the new Eaton Canyon Nature Center before 2028, with plans to construct a facility that can withstand the region’s changing climate and future disasters.
The previous nature center, which replaced the original Robert M. McCurdy Nature Center that burned down in 1993, was destroyed in the Eaton fire last January. The fire not only destroyed the structure but also a large library and several decades’ worth of archives, and it also killed the reptiles that lived inside the center.
It took about five years to rebuild and open the last nature center. L.A. County Parks Director Norma Edith García-Gonzalez said after the design phase is completed, which could be soon, the county and the architect firm hired for the project will plan out the construction phase.
“We modeled 100-year patterns of wind, fire and flood so that when we build back, we are building back with resistance, and that is able to guide how we plant [and] what type of plants, and how we build, [including] how we build back trails,” García-Gonzalez said.
Norma Edith García-Gonzalez, director of L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation, speaks during an Eaton Canyon design meeting in mid-September.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
The biggest impediment to rebuilding, though, is funding. The county has about $16.2 million in state money, about half of what county officials think is needed to build a new nature center, she said. García-Gonzalez said she hopes the philanthropic community will step up to fill the gaps, but county leaders have noticed that “philanthropy goes from one hot issue to another,” and interest to donate to fire recovery is cooling.
In this week’s edition of The Wild, our weekly outdoors newsletter, I will provide an update on the design plans for the new nature center and when we can expect to hike again in Eaton Canyon — and how you can help with the canyon’s restoration too.
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First, let’s discuss a little bit of the history of the area.
The Eaton Canyon Natural Area, managed by L.A. County Parks and Recreation, is a 190(ish)-acre swath of land at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains near Altadena.
“Originally called ‘El Precipicio’ by the Spanish settlers because of its steep gorges, it is now named after Judge Benjamin Eaton, who built the first Fair Oaks Ranch House in 1865 not far from Eaton Creek,” according to the Eaton Canyon Nature Center Associates, a volunteer-run education and stewardship group. “Judge Eaton was the first to use irrigation from the creek to grow grapes on the slopes.”
The canyon has long been a fascination of adventuresome L.A. residents.
The hike to Eaton Canyon Falls in the San Gabriel Mountains before the Eaton fire last January.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
In 1921, writer Frances Mathilda Purdy wrote for The Times that few people knew of the “hidden, but very easily accessible waterfall” in Eaton Canyon. Purdy outlined a few ways to access the canyon and reach the falls, including a shorter route where visitors “after alighting from motor, or stage,” could take a small flight of stone steps near the Mt. Wilson Toll Road bridge.
I chuckled when I read Purdy’s suggestion that this particular route was “perfectly comfortable for those who have arrived on the scene in city garb.” Apparently, underprepared hikers have been coming to Eaton Canyon for more than 100 years. What do you think was the 1920s version of hiking in flip-flops?
For the more rugged adventurer, Purdy laid out a “serpentine trail” that leads to “such lovely possibilities for the pleasure-seeking jaded worker, who, from only one afternoon spent in this quietly entrancing corner of the great outdoors, will return, refreshed and invigorated to meet the daily grind with a mind stored full of the charm of Lower Eaton Canyon.”
Architect Anne Mooney of Sparano + Mooney Architecture speaks about a site plan for the next Eaton Canyon Nature Center.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
It wasn’t until 1930 that Pasadena set aside property that the city owned for a bird and game sanctuary in Eaton Canyon and Eaton Wash, preserving the land from development, according to a historical record compiled by the nature center associates.
There was interest in doing more.
Pasadena Park Superintendent Gilbert Skutt, who served from 1923 to 1936, wanted to see a large scenic public park in Eaton Canyon similar to what the city had built along the Arroyo Seco, according to city records. “He sought to correct the imbalance in the distribution of park space in Pasadena, which favored the west side of town,” according to a historical document. “During the Depression, however, the city could not afford to purchase the land.”
Over time, the city started working with county officials on Eaton Canyon Regional Park, eventually giving the entire project to the county.
In 1931, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors considered financing a 1,000-acre “gigantic regional park system” for the area, according to The Times’ archives, but that idea apparently never fully came to fruition.
Thankfully, in 1950, landowner Mary Beatrice Fox sold the canyon portion of her property to L.A. County to use for a park, “with a provision that mammals are not to be kept in cages,” according to a park history compiled by the Eaton Canyon Nature Center Associates.
A hiker slips in a creek in Eaton Canyon after a 2023 storm.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Then, in 1958, naturalist Louise A. Luckan moved her “nature appreciation operation from the Eaton Canyon Golf Course to Eaton Canyon Park,” according to the organization’s history.
Soon, L.A. County officials set aside $154,797 — about $1.7 million in today’s dollars — for the Robert M. McCurdy Nature Center. They had big plans for the facility, which was to include two classrooms, an office, museum, library, display area, gift shop, laboratory and an auditorium that could seat 200.
“This park will be an outstanding facility — the only one of its kind in magnitude this side of Chicago,” Supervisor Warren Dorn said in a 1962 Times story.
The nature center opened in 1963, and became popular among scouting and school groups, to whom naturalists taught about the local flora and fauna. By the early 1970s, more than 2,000 school children were regularly attending lectures at the nature center, according to Times archives. The students wrote thank-you notes to the park staff, including one that read, “I think it was nice of you to buy this park instead of someone buying it for houses and factories. Because if they did, it would ruin this beautiful land.”
L.A. County sustainability policy director Rebecca Ferdman talks with community stewards about how to educate and engage the public about the goldspotted oak borer, a pernicious invasive beetle that destroys oak trees, during a meeting at Eaton Canyon Nature Center in 2024.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
But, in 1993, the canyon’s first nature center was destroyed by the Kinneloa fire. The next nature center didn’t reopen until 1998.
Karen Mateer, vice president of the Eaton Canyon Nature Center Associates, said for more than 25 years, that nature center served as a meeting place and an educational hub for the millions who visited the canyon over the years.
Mateer, who started volunteering in 1998, said many local schoolchildren first experienced the concept of “nature” at Eaton Canyon on field trips. Volunteers would regularly hear from adults, who pursued recreation- or nature-focused careers, that the first place they ever hiked or learned about their natural habitat was at Eaton Canyon.
“Eaton Canyon also, for the community, for those of us up here who lost so much, it is familiar and is a place you often go for recreation, for solace,” Mateer said. “It means a lot.”
At a presentation last week, architect Anne Mooney said her firm analyzed where to best place the new nature center, and not wanting to destroy any existing habitat or take down any of the area’s oaks or other trees, recommended the new building be placed east of the previous site.
It was easy for visitors to miss the previous nature center, because it was situated in a thick stand of oaks, and the new location will allow the nature center to serve as a gateway to the park, as it will be near the canyon’s trailhead.
“The nature center has always been more than just a building,” Mooney said. “It’s really been a gateway to an experience of learning about nature, experiencing a connection to the wildlands and developing stewardship of the canyon. We want to continue that tradition.”
A diagram of the wind analysis conducted by architects as they assessed where to place Eaton Canyon’s new nature center.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
The new nature center, as shown in the current design plan, is horseshoe-shaped with a covered entryway. It will be constructed using durable, fire-resistant materials, including stone and steel. Builders would also construct curved walls to serve as windbreaks, which would not only slow gusts but also divert airborne embers during a fire.
The proposed designs also include roof and eave sprinklers that could pre-wet the building and nearby surrounding area with a specialized firefighting foam during a wildfire.
“We recognize that the fire is a recurring part of the ecology, and we will have another fire,” Mooney said. “We’re working to design something that allows us to be more prepared in the future.”
The Eaton Canyon Nature Center, a 7,600-square-foot building, was destroyed in the Eaton fire. It housed live animals, exhibits, classrooms, a gift shop and more.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)
The design also includes a research lab, a learning lab or classroom, a large multipurpose space that can fit an estimated 150 people when seated (or 300 people when standing), an exhibit space, a gift shop and a large courtyard in the center with shade, seating and live animal enclosures.
Officials stressed that the design is preliminary and dependent on funding. Anyone who wants to see the design for themselves and provide their feedback can attend the next public meeting, From Ashes to Action: Reimagining Eaton Canyon, from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at the L.A. County Arboretum.
Kevin Singleton, center, points to the Eaton Canyon Nature Center design during a recent county event where officials discussed the future of Eaton Canyon.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
In terms of when hikers will return to the canyon’s trails, García-Gonzalez said the county needs an estimated $8 million to reestablish the trail system. The county has fundraised and received only $900,000 of that.
“We already put that money to work,” García-Gonzalez said, partnering with L.A. Conservation Corps to start rebuilding trails. “But there are some [trails] that really need significant and heavy engineering.”
The county also has to plan its work around the strong winter storms forecasted as a result of El Niño, she said. “We are bracing ourselves for even more damage,” García-Gonzalez said.
A map of the proposed courtyard of the new Eaton Canyon Nature Center.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Since the fire, volunteers have donated hundreds of hours to work on restoring the canyon’s habitat.
You can join them. Volunteers meet from 8 to 11:30 a.m. every Friday and the second and fourth Saturday of every month. Participants remove invasive plants that zap up resources for native plants trying to reestablish themselves. Training and tools are provided. You can sign up by visiting signupgenius.com.
“The love, the care, the stewardship, the commitment, the hope, the inspiration of the volunteers is unparalleled,” García-Gonzalez said. “They’re driving us to build back because they’re so committed. They’re all in.”
3 things to do
“MASH,” a military dramedy that aired on CBS from 1972 to 1983, is one of several Hollywood productions filmed at Malibu Creek State Park.
(Courtesy of California State Parks, 2026.)
1. Celebrate 50 years of public land in Calabasas Malibu Creek State Park will celebrate its past 50 years from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday at 1925 Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas. Attendees can touch fossils, explore the park‘s trees and make art, all while listening to music and eating from local food trucks. At Stories Under the Stars at 6:30 p.m., a diverse cast of storytellers will teach visitors about the park’s history, culture and science. The L.A. Astronomical Society will host a star party at 8 p.m. Guests are encouraged to carpool or use the free shuttle from Juan Bautista de Anza Park to the park. The event is free, but parking is not. Register at eventbrite.com.
2. Repair the river near Azusa Volunteers are needed from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, which is National Public Lands Day, at the Oaks Picnic Area near the San Gabriel River for a cleanup effort. Organized by five community conservation corps groups, including San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps, volunteers will pick up trash and help clean the river. Register at docs.google.com.
3. Cast a line under a full moon in Castaic Friends of Castaic Lake will host the organization’s final Moonlight Madness event of the year from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Saturday at Castaic Lake. Guests can fish from the shore, from a boat or not fish at all as they enjoy an evening in the outdoors. Tickets start at $23. Glow sticks required for each participant. Register at givebutter.com.
The must-read
Jim Crouch stands in a field with Englemann oaks at the Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve.
(Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)
Jim Crouch, a retired science teacher near San Diego, noticed how the oak trees around him were disappearing, succumbing to disease, drought and development. Times contributor Jessie Schiewe wrote that Crouch, moved to action, collected acorns and gave away the resulting potted seedlings to others. Now, after planting 10,000 acorns, he dreams of the day he completes his 20,000th seedling. “I’ve never been so ambitious,” he says, “and I’ve never done a project with as much love in it and as little ego.”
Happy adventuring,
P.S.
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve will be closed until March as construction workers upgrade gas, water, wastewater and communication lines. They also will install new accessible parking stalls and an accessible pedestrian path from the upper parking lot to the restroom and park’s lodge. Times staff writer Christopher Reynolds wrote that the park’s 1,750-acre Torrey Pines reserve attracts about 4 million visitors each year (about the same number as visit Yosemite National Park). Torrey Pines State Beach will remain open through the closure. If you’d hoped to visit this particular park in the fall, consider instead one of 13 places in California that Reynolds recently wrote are ideal to check out in autumn. Warning: As I read the piece, I felt the immediate urge to book campsites at several spots around our state! I am so ready for cozy season.
For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.
From Maddie Lee: Shohei Ohtani’s swing was a little out in front of a slider delivered by Padres left-hander Robbie Ray. But Ohtani held back his hands long enough to extend them to the pitch and shoot it through the right side of the infield.
It wasn’t flashy. But considering it was his first at-bat in more than two weeks, in a tough matchup no less, it was a promising sign.
“It’s been a while since he’s played in a game, but it just felt like he wasn’t sped up at all,” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 5-1 loss to the Padres. “And I think he came out of it pretty well.”
The good news quickly dried up for the Dodgers after that, as they missed a chance to clinch a first-round bye with a win. But Ohtani’s return was still significant, and the success of his end-of-season tune-up will have playoff implications.
Ohtani did not address reporters Wednesday and has only done so once in the last five weeks, despite multiple requests.
The Dodgers activated Ohtani, who went one-for-four Wednesday, from the 15-day IL before the game and optioned rookie Josue De Paula to Triple A. De Paula is still under consideration for the National League Division Series roster as a bat off the bench.
Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
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Remembered for his smooth, baritone voice, Tanter served as the voice of the Lakers for more than four decades. Tanter narrated chapters of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and now Luka Doncic. After a stroke suffered in March forced him to retire from his game day role, he transitioned to an advisory role in June.
“For 43 years, LT’s voice served as the soundtrack to Lakers games at the arena,” the team said in a statement Wednesday. “He will be remembered as a cherished member of the Lakers family.”
Tanter started with the team in 1982 when the Lakers played in the Forum. His signature calls — “toooo many steps,” “Kobeee Bryant,” “Lllaker Girlsss” — were not boastful or over the top. For a franchise that came to embody old Hollywood glamour, Tanter’s voice became the ideal soundtrack.
Donovan Walton hit a three-run homer and rookie Henry Bolte had his first four-hit game to help the Athletics beat the Angels 7-3 on Wednesday night.
The Angels (60-98) are trying to avoid the first 100-loss season in franchise history.
Lawrence Butler had an RBI single and Walton hit his ninth home run, a two-out shot off rookie Walbert Ureña (9-11) for a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
Bolte went four for five, scored two runs and had an RBI double in the second that put the Athletics (63-95) up 5-0.
From Ryan Kartje: When USC and Oregon meet Saturday at the Coliseum, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Trojans coach Lincoln Riley. A win could catapult USC into serious contention for the College Football Playoff. A loss could send its season into a sudden spiral. And looming over it all are questions about the coach’s future — questions that could be answered, at least in part, by the Trojans’ performance this week.
“It’s definitely an important game,” Riley said Tuesday. “There’s no question about it.”
But ask his star quarterback if there’s any extra motivation this week to beat Oregon, and you won’t exactly get the same sentiment.
“Eh, not really,” Jayden Maiava said. “We’re just kind of attacking it the same every single week.”
Or what about the Trojans starting left tackle?
“It’s the exact same [this week],” senior Elijah Paige said. “We treat every opponent the exact same.”
Why has it been so hard for USC football to compete for a national title after setting the standard in college football during Pete Carroll’s tenure?
Times USC beat reporter Ryan Kartje spent the past four years conducting more than 100 interviews, gaining new insight into the football program’s dramatic rise, fall and difficult push to return to national relevance.
Today, we begin sharing that story with you in “House of Troy,” a new narrative podcast from L.A. Times Studios available now on Spotify and Apple.
Check out Episode 1: “Win Now.”
In the late 1990s, USC football was in desperate need of a revival. The school turned to an unpopular choice: Pete Carroll, a former NFL coach. What happened next would transform USC into a college football powerhouse and Carroll into the face of a modern dynasty. In the first episode of “House of Troy,” Kartje takes us back to the beginning of the Carroll era and the drama that unfolded on and off the field.
Listen to “House of Troy” now on Spotify and Apple.
Puka Nacua still questionable for Sunday
From Gary Klein: Rams star receiver Puka Nacua remains sidelined because of groin soreness and his status for Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos is unclear, coach Sean McVay said Wednesday.
Nacua was not scheduled to participate in a light team jog-through. Asked if he expected Nacua to play against the Broncos, McVay said, “I’m not sure.”
Will Nacua practice this week?
“I would say it’s more likely than not, but we’ll see,” McVay said.
1930 — The Portsmouth Spartans beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 12-0 in the first NFL game played under floodlights. More than 6,000 fans turn out on an unseasonably warm evening to watch the game at the new University Stadium.
1950 — Philadelphia’s Russ Craft has four interceptions to lead the Eagles in a 45-7 rout of the Chicago Cardinals. Chicago quarterback Jim Hardy sets an NFL record by throwing eight interceptions.
1953 — Rocky Marciano knocks out Rolando La Starza in the 11th round at the Polo Grounds in New York to retain his world heavyweight title.
1967 — Jim Bakken of St. Louis Cardinals kicks an NFL-record seven field goals to give the Cardinals a 28-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. His longest field goal is 33 yards.
1971 — The World Hockey Assn. announces its formation with 12 teams to start play in October 1972.
1988 — American heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee sets new world record 7,291 points to win the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; East Germans Sabine John & Anke Behmer take the minor medals.
1988 — American swimmer Matt Biondi sets world record 22.14 to win the 50m freestyle gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; his fourth of five gold medals for the Games.
1988 — Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson breaks his own 100m world record with a time of 9.79 at the Seoul Olympics; disqualified three days later for use of drug stanozolol; Carl Lewis awarded gold and world record 9.92.
1993 — Juniata’s women’s volleyball team beats Washington of St. Louis to end Washington’s NCAA-record winning streak at 59 matches.
1994 — Washington ends Miami’s NCAA-record home winning streak at 58 with a 38-20 victory against the Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl.
1995 — On the final day of competition, Europe rallies past the U.S. to win the Ryder Cup 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y. Europe takes seven singles matches to win its first Ryder Cup since 1989.
2001 — Green Bay’s 37-0 shutout of Washington ends the Redskins’ NFL record of scoring in 231 consecutive road games.
2006 — The Europeans turn the Ryder Cup into another rout, winning 18 1/2-9 1/2 and becoming the first European team to win three straight times.
2006 — Washington’s Mark Brunell breaks the NFL record for most consecutive passes completed in a game when he connects on his first 22 throws in a 31-15 win over the Houston Texans.
2011 — Dwayne De Rosario scores the quickest hat trick in MLS history, leading D.C. United to a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake.
2012 — Russell Wilson throws a disputed 24-yard touchdown to Golden Tate on the final play of the game, and the Seattle Seahawks rally to beat the Green Bay Packers 14-12.
2013 — Skipper Jimmy Spithill and defending champion Oracle Team USA extend their winning streak to seven to force a winner-take-all America’s Cup finale against Emirates Team New Zealand.
2016 — Daniel Carlson kicks six field goals and Auburn beats No. 18 LSU 18-13 after a ruling that Danny Etling’s apparent last-gasp scoring pass comes after time expired.
2017 — Peter Sagan of Slovakia becomes the first man to win three straight road race titles after holding off Norway’s Alexander Kristoff at the World Cycling Championships.
2017 — Diego Valeri scores twice to extend his MLS-record scoring streak to nine straight games and Portland beats Orlando City 3-0. Valeri moves in front of NYCFC’s David Villa for most goals this season with 20.
2017 — Jake Elliott kicks a 61-yard field goal as time expires to give the Philadelphia Eagles a 27-24 victory over the New York Giants. It is the longest by a rookie in NFL history.
2017 — Laver Cup Men’s Tennis, Prague: Roger Federer is unbeaten as Team Europe dominates Team World, 15-9 in the inaugural teams event.
2018 — Real Madrid midfielder & Croatian World Cup captain Luka Modrić is named world’s best male player at the FIFA Awards in London; Brazil & Orlando Pride forward Marta best female player; France’s Didier Deschamps best men’s coach.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1940 — Jimmie Foxx of the Red Sox hit his 500th career home run off Philadelphia’s George Caster in the first game of a doubleheader at Shibe Park. Foxx’s homer came in the sixth inning after Ted Williams homered. Joe Cronin followed with a homer and, later in the inning, Jim Tabor also homered. The four homers in the inning were a first in the AL.
1969 — The New York Mets clinched the NL East title, with Gary Gentry pitching a four-hitter in a 6-0 victory over St. Louis.
1974 — Detroit’s Al Kaline doubled down the right-field line off Dave McNally of Baltimore for his 3,000th career hit. The Orioles beat the Tigers 5-4 at Memorial Stadium.
1977 — Jack Brohamer of the Chicago White Sox had four extra base hits and hit for the cycle in an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome.
1984 — Rick Sutcliffe threw a two-hitter and led the Chicago Cubs to the NL East title with a 4-1 victory over Pittsburgh.
1988 — Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays, one strike from a no-hitter, gave up a bad-hop single to Julio Franco. Stieb settled for a 1-0, one-hit victory over Cleveland.
1998 — Boston’s Tom Gordon set a major league record for most consecutive saves with his 42nd to preserve the Red Sox’ 9-6 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
2004 — The Atlanta Braves clinched their 13th consecutive division title, winning the NL East with an 8-7 victory over the Florida Marlins. The Braves’ record streak of division championships began with the 1991 NL West title and excludes the 1994 strike-shortened season.
2006 — Trevor Hoffman became baseball’s career saves leader, earning No. 479 to pass Lee Smith and help NL West-leading San Diego beat Pittsburgh 2-1. It was his NL-leading 43rd save in 48 chances.
2008 — Francisco Rodriguez worked the ninth inning of the Angels’ 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners to end the season with a major league record 62 saves.
2014 — The New York Yankees were eliminated from postseason contention after losing to the AL East champion Orioles 9-5. The Yankees missed the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1992 and ’93.
2016 — Jose Bautista hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees 3-0 to send New York to its third consecutive shutout defeat — the first time that has happened to New York since 1975.
2022 — The Braves’ Kyle Wright, who had only won two regular season games in four seasons, becomes the first 20-game winner in the majors this year with a 6-3 win over Philadelphia. The win moves Atlanta within one and a half games of the Mets, holders of first place in the NL East.
2025 — Seattle clinches its first AL West division title since 2001 with a 9-2 win over Colorado. Cal Raleigh has a two-homer game for the 12th time this season to become only the seventh player in history to reach the 60 mark.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
You could easily spend all day on South Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, with its many restaurants and shops, but this northern stretch feels more laid-back, if that’s possible in San Diego, where flip-flops are de rigueur.
Conceived by owner Heidi Ledger as a showcase for small independent makers, including women in particular, Thread Spun is a sunny, inviting retail space offering fair trade apparel, home goods, accessories and gifts from around the world.
Inside, you’ll find plenty of great gifts for others — or yourself — including Los Angeles women-owned brands such as Amente clothing, Flowerhead Tea, hand-poured candles from Roen Candle Co. and Jessica Gonzalez’s playful asparagus-shaped candles for Happy Organics.
Grab a cold drink while you shop — visiting on a hot day, I appreciated that they offered refrigerated drinks for sale — while perusing a wide assortment of cards, books, apothecary gifts and jewelry.
The boutique also offers creative workshops for the local community on the back patio, including sewing, upcycling, journaling and, fittingly, the art of making sun catchers to brighten your home.
Around Encinitas: The boutique opened here in 2020, right next to 101 Piercing, Child of Wild jewelry and Leucadia Floral and Plant, known for its great selection of houseplants and fresh flowers. If you head farther down North Coast Highway 101, you’ll find plenty of restaurants, surf shops and coffee houses, including the longtime favorite, Pannikin Coffee and Tea.
Manager Dave Roberts confirmed Tuesday that Shohei Ohtani (right biceps, left knee) was set to be reinstated from the 15-day injured list on Wednesday. Ohtani is feeling “considerably” better than he was before the IL stint, according to Roberts.
“I would say if he was a five, he’s probably an eight or a nine right now,” Roberts said before eight pitchers led the Dodgers’ 7-0 win against the San Diego Padres in the series opener.
On Tuesday, the Dodgers trimmed their magic number to clinch a first-round bye to one. And before the game, they returned two other important postseason pieces, reinstating center fielder Andy Pages (fractured left hand) and right-hander Roki Sasaki (right middle finger blister) from the injured list.
In corresponding moves, the Dodgers optioned right-hander Emmet Sheehan and catcher Eliézer Alfonzo to triple-A Oklahoma City.
Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
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Angels lose to Athletics
Carlos Cortes and Zack Gelof each hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Athletics rallied past the Angels9-7 on Tuesday night.
Cortes launched a drive to right-center off Sam Bachman (1-3) to give the A’s a 7-6 lead, and Gelof cemented the comeback from a 6-0 deficit they faced just two innings before.
Cortes came off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and finished two for two with a triple and three RBIs. He also scored twice.
Why has it been so hard for USC football to compete for a national title after setting the standard in college football during Pete Carroll’s tenure?
Times USC beat reporter Ryan Kartje spent the past four years conducting more than 100 interviews, gaining new insight into the football program’s dramatic rise, fall and difficult push to return to national relevance.
Today, we begin sharing that story with you in “House of Troy,” a new narrative podcast from L.A. Times Studios available now on Spotify and Apple.
Check out Episode 1: “Win Now.”
In the late 1990s, USC football was in desperate need of a revival. The school turned to an unpopular choice: Pete Carroll, a former NFL coach. What happened next would transform USC into a college football powerhouse and Carroll into the face of a modern dynasty. In the first episode of “House of Troy,” Kartje takes us back to the beginning of the Carroll era and the drama that unfolded on and off the field.
Listen to “House of Troy” now on Spotify and Apple.
Why now? Why leave the WNBA when she still leads the Sparks in scoring and rebounding, has played a central role in helping the league negotiate a transformative new collective bargaining agreement and returned to the city where her pro career began?
Ogwumike is at peace with her decision. And when she steps onto the court in a Sparks jersey for the last time Thursday, she will do it without regrets.
“I’m mostly grateful,” Ogwumike said. “I haven’t really been thinking much else besides just being grateful for the opportunity to have had a 15-year career in the WNBA and also to finish in a Sparks jersey.”
Four-time MVP A’ja Wilson scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Aces to an 89-79 victory over the Sparks on Tuesday night and clinch at least a No. 3 playoff seed for Las Vegas.
The Aces (30-13), on a six-game winning streak, will get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, which begin Sunday. If the standings hold, they would face No. 6 seed Washington (27-16) in the best-of-three series.
Chelsea Gray scored 17 points of for the Aces, Stephanie Talbot had 14 points and Jackie Young totaled 14 points and 11 assists.
From Gary Klein: The Rams aim to ride the momentum gained from Monday night’s victory over the New York Giants into Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos in Denver.
But it remains to be seen whether star receiver Puka Nacua will be available.
Nacua sat out against the Giants because of groin soreness.
“I’m not sure what his status is as far as this next coming week,” coach Sean McVay said Tuesday during a video conference with reporters. “I’m hopeful that he’ll play. … If he’s ready to go, great. If not, then we’ll continue to roll.”
From Kevin Baxter: The U.S. bowed out of this summer’s World Cup with an uninspired loss to Belgium in the round of 16, the same place it has exited the three previous World Cups in which it has played. For U.S. Soccer’s much ballyhooed “golden generation,” it was a performance that hardly shone and a sign that whatever progress the federation has made over the past two decades hasn’t gone as far as hoped.
That leaves Mauricio Pochettino, coach of the national team, in a bit of a quandary heading into the new four-year World Cup cycle. Should he continue building on a foundation that has proven to be structurally weak? Or should he raze that foundation and start anew?
Turns out the answer to both those questions is yes. Because the 28-man roster Pochettino called up for the first training camp of the new cycle is a little bit of both, featuring 13 players from the World Cup squad and 12 others making their first appearance with the senior national team.
1926 — Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey with a 10-round decision to retain the world heavyweight title.
1952 — Rocky Marciano knocks out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round to retain the world heavyweight title.
1979 — The Houston Oilers overcome a 24-0 deficit to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 30-27 in overtime.
1983 — Gerry Coetzee knocks out Michael Dokes in the 10th round to win the WBA heavyweight title in Richfield, Ohio.
1992 — Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play in one of the four major pro sports leagues when she takes the ice in the first period for the NHL expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in an exhibition game. The 20-year-old goalie faces nine shots and allows two goals in St. Louis’ 6-4 victory.
2000 — Ben Matthews ties an NCAA record with five interceptions as Bethel beat Gustavus 14-13. Matthews ties the all-division record shared by eight players.
2007 — For the first time in NFL history, two players have 200-plus yards receiving in the same game — whether they were opponents or teammates — in Philadelphia’s 56-21 rout of Detroit. Philadelphia’s Kevin Curtis has 11 receptions for 221 yards and Detroit’s Roy Williams catches 9 passes for 204. Detroit’s Jon Kitna sets a franchise record with 446 yards passing.
2012 — The Tennessee Titans become the first team in NFL history to score five touchdowns of at least 60 yards in a game in their 44-41 overtime win over Detroit. The scorers are Tommie Campbell with a 65-yard punt-return; Jared Cook’s 61-yard reception from Jake Locker; Darius Reynaud’s 105-yard kick-return; Nate Washington’s 71-yard reception from Locker; and Alterraun Verner’s 72-yard fumble-return. The Lions also become the first team in NFL history to score two touchdowns in the final 18 seconds of regulation to either take the lead or force overtime.
2012 — Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles rushes for 233 yards, including a 91-yard TD run in the Chiefs’ 27-24 overtime win over New Orleans. Ryan Succop kicks six field goals, one to force overtime in the final seconds and a 31-yarder in overtime for the Chiefs.
2017 — The St. John’s-St. Thomas rivalry game obliterates the NCAA Division III attendance record with a crowd of 37,355. The Tommies use a stingy defense to hang on for a 20-17 win over the Johnnies at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. The previous mark was set on Oct. 8, 2016, with 17,535 fans watching Wisconsin-Oshkosh play at Wisconsin-Whitewater.
2017 — Juwan Johnson catches a seven-yard TD pass as time expires and fourth-ranked Penn State rallies to stun Iowa 21-19 in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Saquon Barkley has 211 yards rushing and 94 yards receiving for the Nittany Lions, who outgain Iowa 579-273 but nearly blew the game. With the Hawkeyes leading 19-15, Penn State goes 80 yards on 12 plays to close out the game, and Trace McSorley finds Johnson in a crowded end zone on fourth down.
2018 — Tiger Woods caps off one of the most remarkable comebacks in golf history. Woods ends his comeback season with a dominant victory at the Tour Championship. He taps in for par and a 1-over 71 for a two-shot victory over Billy Horschel. It’s the 80th victory of his PGA Tour career and his first in more than five years.
2018 — Drew Brees sets the NFL record for career completions while passing for 396 yards and three touchdowns and running for two scores to lift New Orleans past Atlanta 43-37 in overtime. Brees breaks the record of 6,300 career completions set by Brett Favre.
2022 — Tennis great Roger Federer plays his final pro match during Laver Cup in London; teams with friend and rival Rafael Nadal but loses to Americans Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1908 — In a crucial game with the Chicago Cubs, Fred Merkle of the New York Giants failed to touch second base as the apparent winning run crossed home plate. This resulted in a great dispute and the game was eventually declared a tie and played over on Oct. 8 when the Cubs and Giants ended the season in a tie.
1939 — Brooklyn’s Cookie Lavagetto went 6-for-6 to lead the Dodgers’ 27-hit attack in a 22-4 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies. Lovagetto had four singles, a double and a triple and scored four runs. He was the only Dodger without an RBI. Dixie Walker, Gene Moore and Johnny Hudson each drive in three runs.
1952 — The Brooklyn Dodgers clinched the NL title, the first time since 1948 that the pennant wasn’t decided in the season’s final game.
1957 — Hank Aaron’s 11th-inning homer gave the Milwaukee Braves a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and the NL pennant. It was the first time since 1950 that a New York team hadn’t finished first.
1979 — Lou Brock stole base No. 938, breaking Billy Hamilton’s record, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Mets 7-4 in 10 innings.
1983 — Steve Carlton of Philadelphia recorded his 300th victory with a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
1984 — The Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 4-1, making Sparky Anderson the first manager to win more than 100 games in each league.
1986 — Rookie left-hander Jim Deshaies set a major league record by striking out eight batters to start the game and finished with a two-hitter and 10 strikeouts to lead the Houston Astros past of the Dodgers 4-0.
1987 — Albert Hall of the Atlanta Braves hit for the cycle in 5-4 win over the Houston Astros.
1988 — Jose Canseco became the first major leaguer to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in one season as the Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-8 in 14 innings.
1992 — Bip Roberts tied the NL record with his 10th consecutive hit, then grounded out against Pedro Astacio to end his streak in the Cincinnati Reds’ game against the Dodgers.
1998 — Houston’s Craig Biggio became the second player this century to have 50 steals and 50 doubles in a season, joining Hall of Famer Tris Speaker.
2001 — Sammy Sosa became the first player to hit three home runs in a game three times in a season, but Moises Alou’s two-run shot rallied Houston to a 7-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
2008 — The New York Yankees’ streak of postseason appearances ended. Boston beat Cleveland 5-4, minutes before the Yankees’ win. The Red Sox victory clinched at least the AL wild card and eliminated New York, which had made 13 straight postseason appearances.
2013 — Alex Rios of Texas hit for the cycle in a 12-0 rout of Houston. Rios finished off the cycle with a triple to right-center field in the sixth inning.
2016 — David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the first inning to set the RBIs record for a player in his final season, and the AL East-leading Boston beat Tampa Bay 2-1 for its ninth straight victory. Ortiz’s 37th homer came off Chris Archer and raised his RBIs total to 124, one more than Shoeless Joe Jackson in 1920. The 40-year-old’s 540th homer, his 300th on the road, struck an overhanging catwalk above the right-field seats.
2022 — Albert Pujols, who has announced his retirement at the end of the season no matter what happened, becomes the fourth player to reach the 700-home run mark — after Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds. He does so by going deep twice, first off Andrew Heaney in the third inning and then off Phil Bickford in the fourth for No. 700. The Cardinals win handily, 11-0, over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman has taken a wide lead over incumbent Karen Bass in the L.A. mayor’s race, according to a new poll released Wednesday, although a high percentage of voters remain undecided less than two weeks before mail-in ballots are sent out for the Nov. 3 election.
Raman is favored by 39% of likely L.A. voters, compared with 28% for Bass, according to the poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, which was co-sponsored by The Times. The poll found that 33% of voters were undecided.
“Raman clearly has the advantage. Her task is a little less onerous than Bass’,” said Mark DiCamillo, the director of the Berkeley IGS Poll.
Adding to Bass’ low poll numbers are high unfavorability ratings.
The mayor had 63% unfavorable ratings, the poll found, with 28% favorable and 9% having no opinion. By comparison, 40% had a favorable view of Raman, according to the poll, while 39% said they had an unfavorable view of her and 21% had no opinion.
The survey released Wednesday was conducted online with a sample of 2,150 likely city voters between Sept. 15 and Sept. 20. It has a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
The poll represented the strongest showing yet for Raman, who trailed Bass in almost every poll during the primary campaign and who came in second to Bass in the primary election, with 29% of the vote compared with Bass’ 34%.
Mayoral candidate and Councilmember Nithya Raman, center, enjoys a light moment with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action members at La Cita Bar in downtown Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Even so, DiCamillo said the large number of undecided voters means the race is far from over.
“It’s extraordinarily unusual to see this many undecided voters at this point in the race,” he said. Mail-in ballots will be sent out beginning Oct. 1, local elections officials say.
The large number of undecided voters can be linked to the elimination of mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt in the June 2 primary, according to DiCamillo. The former reality TV star received 26% of the vote in the primary, and most of the voters who cast ballots for him — 63% — say they haven’t decided whom to vote for in the runoff, the poll found.
Among those Pratt voters who have decided, 22% favored Bass compared with 16% for Raman.
One of the most significant findings in the poll was a massive “generational divide” among L.A. voters, DiCamillo said.
Raman, 45, dominated the 72-year-old Bass among younger voters, with 66% of likely voters ages 18 to 29 choosing the council member while just 4% chose Bass, according to the poll.
Raman also had 64% of likely voters ages 30 to 39 compared with Bass’ 12%, and the council member had 50% of likely voters ages 40 to 49 compared with Bass’ 18%. Raman also was leading among voters 50 to 64 years old by a slim margin of 35% to 33%.
Bass, meanwhile, led among the oldest set of voters — those 65 and up — but not by the same margins. Bass had 41% of likely voters in that group compared with Raman’s 21%.
According to the poll, 56% of likely voters thought Bass did a poor or very poor job responding to the disaster, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 4,000 homes, including Pratt’s.
Fourteen percent of the likely voters thought Bass had done either an excellent or a good job and 17% thought she had done a fair job.
Mayor Karen Bass campaigns at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park on Sunday.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
The most important issues to likely voters were fixing city infrastructure, moving homeless people indoors, crime and public safety, and building more affordable housing, the poll found.
The poll shows Raman leading in nearly every geographic area of the city. Bass was leading in South Los Angeles and the Harbor region, 37% to 34%, but central Los Angeles as well as northeast and the east side of Los Angeles broke strongly for Raman.
The San Fernando Valley went 34% to Raman and 26% to Bass with 40% still undecided. The Westside favored Raman by a single percentage point, at 35% to 34%.
Raman has led in other polls recently, though none by as wide a margin as in the Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll. Shortly before the primary, a separate Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll showed Raman leading Bass in a potential head-to-head matchup by just four percentage points, with 32% support compared with the mayor’s 28%.
On the negative side, Raman was booted from her position in the council as chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, a move she said was politically motivated.
SACRAMENTO — Carlos Cortes and Zack Gelof each hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Athletics rallied past the Angels9-7 on Tuesday night.
Cortes launched a drive to right-center off Sam Bachman (1-3) to give the A’s a 7-6 lead, and Gelof cemented the comeback from a 6-0 deficit they faced just two innings before.
Cortes came off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and finished two for two with a triple and three RBIs. He also scored twice.
Hogan Harris gave up a run in the ninth but earned his 16th save by striking out pinch-hitter Oswald Peraza with two runners aboard.
Luis Medina (6-3) pitched a scoreless inning for the win as the Athletics clinched the season series with one game remaining between the bottom two teams in the AL West.
Southern Section Agoura 18, Thousand Oaks 6 Banning 18, Rancho Mirage 6 Beaumont 55, Redlands 21 Brentwood 40, SEED LA 7 Cajon 19, Yucaipa 0 California Military 6, Peninsula 0 Camarillo 35, Oak Park 14 Castaic 25, West Ranch 13 Chaparral 41, Norco 0 Colton 6, Bloomington 0 El Segundo 21, Vistamar 6 Etiwanda 24, Chino Hills 7 Grand Terrace 34, Carter 6 Great Oak 27, Valley View 6 Harvard-Westlake 39, Louisville 0 Hemet 27, Canyon Springs 24 Highland 12, Antelope Valley 6 Indian Springs 33, Arroyo Valley 26 JSerra 38, Orange Lutheran 0 Jurupa Valley 27, Rubidoux 0 Kaiser 19, Jurupa Hills 12 Lancaster 19, Knight 0 Moreno Valley 18, Vista del Lago 0 Oaks Christian 37, Calabasas 6 Oxnard 18, Ventura 13 Pacific 19, San Bernardino 6 Paloma Valley 47, Citrus Hill 6 Pasadena Poly 33, Rio Hondo Prep 12 Quartz Hill 32, Eastside 13 Ramona 20, Norte Vista 0 Rancho Cucamonga 24, Los Osos 0 Rancho Verde 41, Perris 6 Redlands Adventist 25, Loma Linda Academy 0 Redlands East Valley 31, Citrus Valley 0 Rialto 12, San Gorgonio 6 Rim of the World 19, Eisenhower 18 Riverside Poly 55, Riverside North 6 Santa Monica 24, Sunny Hills 0 Santa Paula 24, Fillmore 7 Saugus 18, Canyon Country Canyon 6 Segerstrom 32, San Dimas 6 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 38, Immaculate Heart 6 Simi Valley 14, Moorpark 12 South Hills 21, Colony 13 St. Bonaventure 14, Cate 0 Temescal Canyon 27, Elsinore 0 Tesoro 28, San Clemente 20 Torrance 22, North Torrance 0 Valencia 19, Hart 7 Westlake 55, Newbury Park 12 Westminster 14, Laguna Hills 7
MONDAY’S RESULTS
City Section Camino Nuevo 6, Smidt Tech 0 Collins Family 19, Rise Kohyang 8 New Designs University Park 12, Stella 6 Stern 26, De La Hoya 0 View Park 7, Locke 0
Southern Section Adelanto 21, Victor Valley 0 Alhambra 25, El Monte 19 Alta Loma 12, Colony 6 Anaheim Canyon 34, Corona 18 Arroyo Valley 39, Fontana 0 Azusa 21, Garey 0 Baldwin Park 25, Nogales 0 Bell Gardens d. South El Monte, forfeit Bellflower 12, California 6 Bishop Amat 12, Serra 7 Bolsa Grande 32, Magnolia 0 Bonita 40, Claremont 0 California Military 46, Nuview Bridge 0 Cantwell-Sacred Heart 20, Mary Star of the Sea 6 Canyon Springs 26, Tahquitz 6 Canyon Springs 12, Arlington 12 Carter 18, Bloomington 13 Cathedral City 33, Jurupa Valley 0 Century 24, Western 6 Cerritos Valley Christian 52, Fairmont Prep 17 Chaparral 40, Temecula Valley 0 Chino 26, Chaffey 0 Chino Hills 19, Los Osos 0 Corona del Mar 18, Fountain Valley 8 Corona Santiago 26, Norco 13 Costa Mesa 30, Ocean View 0 Covina 33, Charter Oak 12 Crean Lutheran 21, Esperanza 7 Desert Hot Springs 20, Palm Springs 6 Dominguez 48, Compton Centennial 6 Don Lugo 13, Montclair 2 Downey 60, Mayfair 0 Edgewood 19, Bassett 0 Edison 32, Marina 0 Eisenhower 14, Colton 8 El Monte Arroyo 7, Rosemead 6 El Rancho 25, Keppel 0 Etiwanda 29, St. Lucy’s 6 Flintridge Sacred Heart 20, Immaculate Heart 8 Fullerton 44, Laguna Hills 13 Gabrielino 26, Temple City 0 Garden Grove Pacifica 21, Troy 12 Garden Grove Santiago 19, Los Amigos 2 Glenn 27, Oxford Academy 0 Godinez 20, Katella 14 Hemet 20, Riverside North 6 Huntington Beach 46, Los Alamitos 21 Indian Springs 44, Jurupa Hills 13 Irvine 12, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 6 Kaiser 6, Rialto 0 La Habra 28, Brea Olinda 0 Lakewood St. Joseph 48, St. Mary’s Academy 0 La Mirada 13, Artesia 7 La Quinta 24, Xavier Prep 0 Liberty 27, Citrus Hill 0 Loma Linda Academy 47, Public Safety Academy 0 Long Beach Cabrillo 6, Compton Early College 0 Long Beach Poly 41, Lakewood 0 Long Beach Wilson 42, Long Beach Jordan 12 Mater Dei 39, Santa Margarita 13 Miller 6. Norte Vista 0 Millikan 20, Quartz Hill 13 Monrovia 26, Burbank Burroughs 9 Montebello 6, Mountain View 2 Moreno Valley 32, Lakeside 6 Murrieta Mesa 19, Great Oak 7 Murrieta Valley 6, Vista Murrieta 0 Northview 25, Hacienda Heights Wilson 24 Norwalk 26, Whitney 0 Ontario Christian 33, Woodcrest Christian 14 Orange 37, Estancia 0 Orange Vista 38, Perris 14 Paloma Valley 39, Heritage 6 Patriot 20, Ramona 7 Placentia Valencia 24, Garden Grove 0 Portola 12, Northwood 6 Ramona Convent 59, Sacred Heart of Jesus 0 Rancho Cucamonga 20, Upland 6 Rancho Verde 41, Rancho Christian 0 Redlands 12, Palm Desert 7 Rim of the World 12, Grand Terrace 7 Riverside King 33, Corona Centennial 12 Riverside Poly 40, Hillcrest 0 Rosamond 27, Littlerock 12 Saddleback 32, Savanna 0 Sage Hill 25, Irvine University 14 San Gorgonio 13, Summit 7 San Marino 13, La Canada 8 Santa Fe 6, Paramount 0 Saugus 6, Village Christian 0 Schurr 33, San Gabriel 12 Sierra Vista 32, Duarte 0 St. Margaret’s 32, Laguna Beach 6 St. Paul 40, St. Bernard 0 Trabuco Hills 27, Beckman 13 Tustin 18, Buena Park 0 Valley View 19, Vista del Lago 0 Villa Park 14, Sunny Hills 7 West Covina 19, Rowland 0 Westminster 37, La Palma Kennedy 20 Whittier 26, Pioneer 7 Woodbridge 38, Tesoro 33 Workman 20, La Puente 14 Yorba Linda 28, Cypress 6
Nneka Ogwumike answered the same question she’s been facing for almost two months.
Why now? Why leave the WNBA when she still leads the Sparks in scoring and rebounding, has played a central role in helping the league negotiate a transformative new collective bargaining agreement and returned to the city where her pro career began?
Ogwumike is at peace with her decision. And when she steps onto the court in a Sparks jersey for the last time Thursday, she will do it without regrets.
“I’m mostly grateful,” Ogwumike said. “I haven’t really been thinking much else besides just being grateful for the opportunity to have had a 15-year career in the WNBA and also to finish in a Sparks jersey.”
There is a lot for which to be grateful.
Ogwumike entered the WNBA as the No. 1 overall pick of the Sparks in 2012. Now, 15 seasons later, she is leaving the league as one of its most accomplished players — and as the most prolific scorer in Sparks history.
Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, left, tries to drive past Lynx forward Napheesa Collier during a game in Minneapolis.
(Matt Krohn / Getty Images)
“It feels freeing,” Ogwumike said of her decision to retire. “It feels like there’s a level of autonomy that I’m able to have, and I’m very happy about that.”
The numbers only begin to tell the story.
Ogwumike was rookie of the year after averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Four years later, she produced the best season of her career, averaging 19.7 points per game, winning MVP and leading the Sparks to their third WNBA championship.
She spent 12 seasons with the Sparks before leaving for Seattle, then returned to Los Angeles this season to finish her career.
Along the way, she established herself among the most productive players in league history. Ogwumike will finish her career fourth all-time in scoring with 8,013 points, behind Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles and DeWanna Bonner. She is third all-time in rebounds with 3,571 and third in steals with 716.
And on July 17, she added one more piece of history to the résumé, passing Lisa Leslie to become the Sparks’ all-time leading scorer.
Sisters Chiney, left, and Nneka Ogwumike pose for a photo at the Bird’s Eye View After Party during WNBA All-Star weekend.
(Daniel Boczarski / Getty Images for Vox Media)
“This is where it all started [for me],” Ogwumike said. “So very happy to be able to share this time, both the beginning and the end of my career in L.A., and I had a majority of my career playing for this organization, so it really does mean a lot to be able to finish in it as well.”
The return, however, did not unfold quite the way Ogwumike or the Sparks had envisioned.
Los Angeles entered the season with playoff expectations after bringing Ogwumike back, signing Erica Wheeler and trading for Ariel Atkins. The Sparks had not made the postseason since 2020, and the hope was that Ogwumike’s return could help change that.
Instead, the season became a struggle. The Sparks will finish 10 games out of a playoff spot, leaving Ogwumike’s final games less about a postseason push and more about what she could leave behind.
“The season is not at all what I expected, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t come out here to do my job and try and be great, and be great as a result,” Ogwumike said. “And as always, playing with my teammates as well.”
That has meant spending time with the young players who will carry the Sparks forward after she is gone.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts and Nneka Ogwumike talk on the sideline during a win over the Indiana Fever in July.
(Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)
Ogwumike has particularly focused on Cameron Brink, the young forward who represents a significant part of the organization’s future.
“I think right now I’m really spending a lot of my time trying to pour into Cam as well,” Ogwumike told reporters this week. “I really do think that she’s the future of the league. … I’m happy to be able to leave whatever I can before I throw my feet up.”
It is a fitting final role for a player whose career has stretched across generations of the WNBA.
“She’s poured into me since I got into the league,” Dream forward Angel Reese said in August. “Kind of like one of my first vets, always being there for me, always texting me, and also really like educating me on the things that were going on, knowing that it was a big CBA coming up.”
Her final contribution might not be something that appears in a box score. It might be what she passes on.
“She’ll be missed,” said Valkyries forward Gabby Williams, who played with Ogwumike in Seattle the previous two seasons. “As a friend, but also as a fan. I’ll miss watching her in the W.”
Williams knows what Ogwumike’s career has meant to the league, but she also understands what comes next.
“I’m really happy for her,” Williams said. “Happy she gets to take that next step. I know what it means to her. I’m glad her last year was pivotal for the CBA and she’ll always have her name written on that.”
Ogwumike, though, isn’t spending much time looking backward.
She hasn’t thought about what her final moments in the WNBA will feel like, only the gratefulness she feels to have had her 15-year career.
“I haven’t,” Ogwumike said when asked if she has thought about her last moments in the league. “Still just focused on playing.”
From Sam Farmer: Aaron Donald made his triumphant return to NFL relevance on Monday night, and notably so did the Rams.
The team that looked lost in its Down Under debut returned to form against the New York Giants, even with star receiver Puka Nacua watching in street clothes because of hip pain.
Matthew Stafford was surgical with his passing, throwing four touchdown passes in a 28-6 victory. Receiver Davante Adams made several acrobatic catches befitting of the retina-burning yellow “Classic Sol” jerseys that turned the Rams into human highlighter pens.
“Played with a bunch of passion, energy, excited to be back home,” Stafford said, speaking about the team as a whole and especially the defense.
“We did enough offensively, but we still left some plays out there. I wasn’t as efficient as I would have liked in certain areas. Some plays that we can make that we didn’t make. We’ll keep working on that. But it was nice to get a win as we’re finding a way to get better.”
Adams had eight catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns.
“To be here with Matthew, just to be able to bond a little bit, be a part of his deal…,” Adams said. “It’s just a blessing.”
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Chargers’ offense is a disaster
From Mirjam Swanson: Be careful what you wish for when you’re wishing for a new offensive coordinator.
Chargers fans were so over Greg Roman. Anything would be better than his run-heavy scheme stunting quarterback Justin Herbert’s anticipated ascension. Anyone would be preferable to the man holding the reins while the Chargers scored just three points in last season’s wild-card loss to the New England Patriots, after which Roman was fired.
Somehow, after just two games, the Chargers’ offense under McDaniel has Bolts fans wishing anyone else was running the show. Roman included.
Because Roman wouldn’t have overcomplicated a third-and-inches play-call. He wouldn’t have had the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Herbert line up in shotgun and call for motion.
And the subsequent snap wouldn’t have hit receiver Tre’ Harris before it got to Herbert. And instead of losing five yards and having Herbert, in a rare show of emotion, slapping the turf in frustration, the Chargers probably would have gotten a fresh set of downs.
So far, McDaniel’s brief Chargers’ tenure hasn’t just been a disappointment. It has, through two games, been a disaster. Because the Chargers really needed these first two wins against opponents who both won only three games last season.
Instead, the Chargers’ offense looked as disjointed and discombobulated in Sunday’s 26-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders as it did the previous week in their 26-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Times sports reporter Kevin Baxter wants to talk to a few Dodgers fans for an upcoming story. If you are interested in speaking with him, please email him at kevin.baxter@latimes.com
Clippers hire interim CEO
The Clippers hired John S. Gibson as interim chief executive and governor on Monday, taking over the roles previously held by team owner Steve Ballmer, who is serving a one-year ban by the NBA.
Ballmer recently said he won’t fight the league’s salary-cap circumvention punishment in a reversal of the team’s initial defiance and vow to fight against what it called “a heavily biased investigation.”
The league suspended Ballmer for one year, fined the team $30 million and forced it to forfeit five first-round draft picks. Ballmer said the team has paid the fine.
1905 — Willie Anderson wins the U.S. Open for the fourth time in five years, beating Alex Smith with a 314-total at the Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton, Mass.
1927 — Gene Tunney wins a unanimous 10-round decision over Jack Dempsey at Soldier Field in Chicago to retain his world heavyweight title. The fight is marred by a long 10-count in the seventh round. Dempsey knocks Tunney to the mat, but Dempsey doesn’t go to a neutral corner. The referee doesn’t start counting until four or five seconds after Tunney is down. Tunney regains his feet and goes on to win.
1974 — The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos are the first teams to play to a tie, 35-35, with the new overtime rule in effect.
1984 — Mississippi Valley State’s Willie Totten passes for 526 yards in a 49-32 victory over Jackson State. Wide receiver Jerry Rice has 285 yards receiving.
1987 — The 1,585-member NFL Players Assn. goes on strike after the New England-New York Jets Monday night game. The strike lasts 24 days.
1990 — Illinois’ Howard Griffith sets an NCAA record when he scores eight rushing touchdowns in a 56-21 rout of Southern Illinois. Griffith gets touchdowns in three consecutive carries in the second quarter and ties an NCAA record with four touchdowns in the third quarter. Griffith doesn’t play in the fourth quarter. It’s the most points scored in an NCAA game by a player other than a kicker.
1991 — Miami coach Don Shula gets his 300th career victory in the Dolphins’ 16-13 win over Green Bay.
2002 — New England’s Tom Brady completes 39 of 54 passes for 410 yards and throws touchdown passes to four different receivers, leading the Patriots to a 41-38 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
2007 — Graham Harrell of Texas Tech completes 46 of 67 passes for 646 yards, the fourth-best total in major college history, in a 49-45 loss to Oklahoma State.
2007 — Kentucky’s Andre Woodson sets a major college record for consecutive passes without an interception, breaking the mark of 271 held by Fresno State’s Trent Dilfer.
2012 — Cobi Hamilton of Arkansas has 10 catches for a Southeastern Conference record 303 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-26 to Rutgers.
2012 — Old Dominion’s Taylor Heinicke smashes NCAA Division I records by throwing for 730 yards. He completes 55 of 79 attempts without being intercepted and leads the Monarchs back from a 23-point, third-quarter deficit to a 64-61 victory against New Hampshire.
2018 — Anthony Joshua retains his IBF, WBO and WBA heavyweight titles by stopping Alexander Povetkin in the seventh round at Wembley Stadium.
2018 — Jess McDonald scores two goals and the North Carolina Courage win the National Women’s Soccer League championship with a 3-0 victory over the Portland Thorns.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1911 — Cy Young, 44, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 for his 511th and final major league victory.
1936 — The Detroit Tigers swept the St. Louis Browns 12-0 and 14-0 to record the biggest double shutout in major league history.
1954 — Karl Spooner of Brooklyn became the first pitcher in the majors to strike out 15 in his first game as the Dodgers beat the New York Giants 3-0.
1966 — The Baltimore Orioles clinched their first AL pennant in 22 years with a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City A’s. Their last pennant came in 1944 when they were the St. Louis Browns.
1968 — Cesar Tovar played one inning at each position for the Minnesota Twins, becoming the second major leaguer in history to do it. Bert Campaneris of the Oakland A’s was the other.
1969 — Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants became the second player to hit 600 home runs, joining Babe Ruth. The two-run shot off San Diego’s Mike Corkins in the seventh inning, gave the Giants a 4-2 win.
1973 — Baltimore’s Al Bumbry tied the major-league record with three triples as the Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 and clinched the American League East title.
1977 — Bert Blyleven tossed a 6-0 no-hitter for Texas against the Angels at Anaheim Stadium.
1986 — Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers became the first Mexican to win 20 games, beating the Houston Astros 9-2 while giving up two hits.
1990 — Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs stole his 300th base in an 11-5 loss to the New York Mets, to become the second player with 300 homers, 300 steals and 2,000 hits. Willie Mays was the other.
1993 — Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers faced three Seattle batters before hurting his right elbow. He never pitched again. Ryan finished his career with 324 wins, 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters.
2000 — Houston’s Jose Lima set an NL single-season record by giving up his 47th homer in the Astros’ 12-5 loss to Cincinnati. The major league record for home runs allowed in a season is 50, set by Minnesota’s Bert Blyleven in 1986.
2003 — Detroit set an AL record with its 118th loss, falling 12-6 to Kansas City. The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (36-117) set the record.
2003 — Second baseman Alfonso Soriano broke a major league record by hitting his 13th leadoff homer of the year in the New York Yankees’ 10-inning loss to the Chicago White Sox.
2006 — Alfonso Soriano became baseball’s first 40-40-40 player in Washington’s 3-2 win over the New York Mets. Soriano hit his 40th double and stole his 41st base. With 45 homers, he already was only the fourth major league player with 40 homers and 40 steals in a season.
2018 — The Atlanta Braves capped a most surprising season by clinching their first NL East crown since 2013, with Mike Foltynewicz taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning in a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. A year after going 70-92, manager Brian Snitker and his Baby Braves surged back into the playoffs.
2023 — By hitting his 40th homer of the season, Ronald Acuña Jr. becomes just the fifth member of the exclusive 40-40 club consisting pf players who have hit 40 homers and stolen 40 bases in the same season. He already has over 60 steals, the first player to ever combine the two totals, and has a chance to reach 70. The Braves defeat the Nationals, 9-6. For the second time in a month, Aaron Judge hits three homers in a game to lead the Yankees to a 7-1 lead over the Diamondbacks. Judge had never had such a game before this year, and becomes the first player in Yankees history to have two in one season.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Versatile forward Nicolas Batum is retiring following an 18-year NBA career and a long stint with the French national team.
The 37-year-old Batum announced his retirement in a social media video with his son on Monday.
“I decided to retire from basketball for several reasons,” Batum told 10-year-old son, Ayden, in the video. “I want to come home and be with you. I’m going to take care of you and make room for others. I think I’ve done my time. My time with France ended two years ago. And the NBA is over too. You know, when you’ve played as much basketball as I have, at some point, you have to know when to stop. … I’ve done everything I needed to do.”
Batum played two seasons in the French league before being selected in the first round of the NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. The 6-foot-7 forward spent seven seasons in Portland before playing the next six with Charlotte.
Batum spent most of his final six seasons with the Clippers, with a short stint in Philadelphia in 2023-24. He also was a stalwart on French national teams that won silver medals in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
Batum averaged 9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 37% from three-point range during his NBA career.
The Clippers hired John S. Gibson as interim CEO and governor on Monday, taking over the roles previously held by team owner Steve Ballmer, who is serving a one-year ban by the NBA.
Ballmer recently said he won’t fight the league’s salary-cap circumvention punishment in a reversal of the team’s initial defiance and vow to fight against what it called “a heavily biased investigation.”
The league suspended Ballmer for one year, fined the team $30 million and forced it to forfeit five first-round draft picks. Ballmer said the team has paid the fine.
Gibson will immediately oversee the team’s basketball and business operations and represent the Clippers in league voting matters. He’s a long-time Clippers season ticketholder.
“I am honored to take on this responsibility and grateful for the opportunity to serve an organization I have supported for many years,” Gibson said in a statement. “My focus will be on supporting our people, providing steady leadership, and helping the organization continue moving forward.”
Gibson spent the last six years as a trial lawyer and litigation partner at DLA Piper in Los Angeles, where he co-chaired the firm’s U.S. Business & Commercial Litigation practice. He previously advised and represented major corporations, technology and health care companies, pro sports organizations and business leaders.
