Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson has been suspended for two games without pay for punching Buffalo Bills linebacker Bradley Chubb after Monday night’s game at SoFi Stadium, the NFL announced Tuesday.
The Bills defeated the Rams 37-34 in overtime. The incident occurred on the field as players from both teams were talking and exchanging jerseys.
Jackson violated Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1, which applies to “any act which is contrary to the generally understood principles of sportsmanship,” the NFL said in the release announcing the suspension.
Jackson can appeal the suspension.
The loss of Jackson leaves star quarterback Matthew Stafford potentially vulnerable when the Rams play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 25.
Veteran David Quessenberry could start in place of Jackson. Or coach Sean McVay could move right tackle Warren McClendon Jr. to the left side and play Quessenberry on the right.
Rookie Keagan Trost has been on injured reserve since before the start of the season.
This is the second time that Jackson has been suspended. In 2024, he sat out the first two games for an unspecified violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Jackson had been named the defendant in a lawsuit filed by a woman, who alleged he recorded her without her consent during sex, that he refused to delete the video and that he taunted her with it. The civil suit was dismissed.
Jackson also was under scrutiny before this season after he was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence involving an incident in West Hills. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office and the City Attorney declined to file formal criminal charges.
Manchester United beaten 2-0 at Atletico Madrid, but defender Lisandro Martinez slams club’s failure to invest in team.
Published On 13 Oct 202613 Oct 2026
Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez blasted the club’s board for a perceived lack of investment this summer, after the team were beaten by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.
United are winless in five games across all competitions after the 2-0 defeat in the Spanish capital and have made their worst start to a league season in 40 years.
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“Really poor,” Martinez told Amazon Prime when asked about the team’s performance against Atletico.
“I have to control myself a lot but sometimes is a reflection… [or] mirror of how our club is at the moment.”
Martinez said he “100 percent” expected more investment in the squad over the summer after United finished third in the Premier League last season and returned to Europe’s top competition.
“I expect more from our technical director [Jason Wilcox], I have to be honest, as players we have to do more, but it is also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for these kind of nights,” he continued.
Martinez said last season the club had “created the base to create an amazing team”, but they did not follow through.
Pressure is mounting on coach Michael Carrick after five games without a win, but Martinez suggested sacking the Englishman was not the way forward.
“You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager. What about other areas? I can’t say more,” said Martinez.
“Tonight it is easy to say the coach [is to blame], easy to say the players, but also we have to see other areas.”
Red Devils minority owner Jim Ratcliffe was at the stadium to watch the league-phase defeat by last season’s semi-finalists.
Man United spent around 140 million pounds ($185m) this summer on midfielders Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, but fans were upset the club did not reinforce other positions, including left-back and striker.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Carrick said he had not heard Martinez’s comments and so could not judge them.
“I think it’s a little bit on the emotions of the game as well, of coming here and being disappointed not to get something from the game,” said the coach.
Former Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney said Martinez’s criticism was excessive.
“I think he’s maybe gone a bit too far, and that should have stayed internal,” Rooney told Amazon Prime.
“You can clearly see that he cares and he wants the club to invest more money in more players, and to do that he’s probably one of the players who’ll be out the door if I’m being honest.”
A human defeated two of the three robots he faced in a cage fight recently held in San Francisco.
The humans behind that fight could face a battle of their own — the legal type — if they want to hold another event like “Human Vs. Robot,” the Sept. 18 competition that placed influencer Frankie LaPenna inside an octagon to battle three humanoid robots that were controlled remotely by a human operator in separate MMA-style fights.
REK (Robot Entertainment Kombat), the “humanoid robot fighting” company that staged the event, billed it as the “first human vs. robot fight in history.” Videos of the bouts have combined for more than 10 million views on YouTube.
Not everyone is a fan. On Sept. 23, the California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist order to REK, its CEO Cix Liv and “all persons holding, promoting, advertising or sponsoring unsanctioned human versus humanoid robot cage fight.”
The letter states that “any boxing or mixed martial arts contest, match, or exhibition, involving any human in the State of California” requires the prior approval of the commission and that it is a misdemeanor to hold such an event without obtaining a license or permit from the state.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the CSAC, said in a statement emailed to The Times that the commission is “committed to protecting the safety of the public and integrity of combat sports.”
“Unsanctioned activity puts the physical and financial well-being of all those involved at risk and such activity will not be tolerated,” the statement said.
An X post by Liv on Sept. 30 indicated he’s not overly concerned about the cease-and-desist order.
“We made it boys,” he wrote in the post, which also included a photo of the commission’s letter.
Liv said in an email to The Times on Tuesday that REK did not seek CSAC approval before the event “because the law clearly states it is not a real boxing match if it doesn’t include ‘two persons,’” rather than a human vs. a humanoid robot controlled by a human.
“So they can argue in court that actuators are somehow persons,” he said. “The case would give us nonstop media coverage, even if we incurred a fine.”
LaPenna also appeared to make light of the cease-and-desist order in a pair of X posts on Oct. 1.
“I fought a robot and within 12 days the state of California passes a new law saying no more robot vs. human fights,” wrote LaPenna, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this article.
He added in the second post: “Good work Cix, you disrupted the system.”
According to Liv, LaPenna pushed for the opportunity to face humanoid opponents in the cage.
“We felt the robots were ready to fight amateur fighters like Frankie, but not actual MMA fighters yet,” Liv said.
The 29-year-old content creator signed a full waiver of liability, but “we didn’t actually want to hurt him,” Liv added.
The written description accompanying a “Human vs. Robot” video posted on REK and LaPenna’s YouTube pages states that “there was no predetermined outcome, both Frankie and Nick, the robot operator were told to try their best.”
Wearing spiked gloves, a helmet and protective padding, the 5-foot-6, 205-pound LaPenna held his own against all three bots. He dominated his first opponent, referred to at the fight as “the child robot.” Next came an imposing “Terminator”-inspired humanoid, which was listed on the fight video as 6-feet and 200 pounds with a kick force of 850 pounds.
The robot landed several hard kicks, including one that knocked LaPenna across the mat and another with an impact that brought the humanoid to the ground and caused its head to come off — but the human seemed to gain strength as the match went on and eventually stood triumphantly with his foot on the machine’s crumpled body.
LaPenna was dominant early in his final match, in which he faced a robot that resembled a “Predator” from the movies of the same name. After landing several punches and kicks and taking his opponent to the ground multiple times, LaPenna eventually became fatigued and called for the match to be ended.
“He doesn’t get tired. He doesn’t stay down,” LaPenna said in a postmatch interview. “Just keeps getting up. I thought he’d be dead.”
According to Liv, LaPenna emerged from the bouts basically unscathed. “The only damage he experienced was hurting his hand a bit by punching metal,” Liv said.
Since then, REK has turned its attention back to all-robot fights, although Liv said the company eventually plans to stage more human vs. humanoid bouts.
“We are avoiding it for now,” Liv said. “CSAC has no legal case but it may not be worth the battle. We may just do it in Vegas or a state that is less lame.”
Who: Manchester City vs Paris Saint-Germain What: UEFA Champions League, matchday 2 Where: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, United Kingdom When: Wednesday, October 14, at 8pm (19:00 GMT) How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up and live updates from 16:00 GMT.
After being found guilty of an unprecedented breach of the Premier League’s financial rules, Manchester City turn their focus to the Champions League this week, as they host two-time holders PSG on matchday two.
Fans will have a golden opportunity to witness a mouthwatering battle between Erling Haaland, City’s lethal striker, and forward Ferran Torres, who is enjoying his new spell at PSG after helping Spain win the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Haaland has eight goals across all competitions; Torres has seven. On Wednesday, more could be added to those tallies in this round of the UCL.
After Tuesday’s league matches, PSG are ranked fifth while Man City are ninth.
Here’s everything to know about the clash:
Which financial rules have Man City breached?
An independent commission found City guilty of almost all of the 115 charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, as well as three of four charges relating to failures to cooperate with the investigation.
No sanctions have been decided yet, but if City’s appeal fails, potential punishments include a significant point deduction and expulsion from the Premier League.
There is even the prospect of three Premier League titles being stripped from City, who won them from 2009 to 2018, the period to which the charges relate.
How have Man City played this season?
Man City have maintained a perfect record in the Premier League, winning all six matches.
Their only defeat across all competitions this season came in mid-August, when they lost to Arsenal in the Community Shield, the traditional curtain-raiser to the English football season.
How have PSG played this season?
PSG, who usually dominate Ligue 1 having won a record 14 titles, are fifth in the table, three points adrift of leaders Barcelona.
What happened in the first round of Champions League matches?
Reigning champions PSG thrashed Slovan Bratislava 6-1 at home in their first UCL match of the season, while Man City won 2-0 away to Porto in their campaign opener.
That keeps PSG fifth and Man City ninth in the league phase of this year’s Champions League.
The top eight teams at the end of the league phase qualify directly to the knockout rounds, which begin with the round of 16.
Man City vs PSG: Predictions
The Opta supercomputer has made City the favourites, with a win probability of 44.1 percent. PSG were given a 32 percent chance of winning, while a draw was estimated at a 23.9 percent likelihood.
Man City vs PSG: Head-to-head
(In the Champions League)
Matches: 7
Man City wins: 4
PSG wins: 2
Draws: 1
Man City vs PSG: Form guide
(Last five matches across all competitions, latest match first)
Man City: W-W-W-W-W
PSG: W-W-W-W-L
Who are the top players to watch?
Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki (Man City): Haaland’s six goals make him the Premier League’s leading scorer this season. His excellent form follows an equally impressive World Cup debut with Norway in North America. Haaland’s teammate Cherki is another vital City attacker with five goals and two assists in all competitions.
Ferran Torres and Marquinhos (PSG): Torres, whose extra-time goal guided Spain to the 2026 World Cup triumph, has made a quick start to life at his new club PSG, scoring seven goals in all competitions. That includes a hat-trick in PSG’s first UCL fixture. Meanwhile, captain Marquinhos has been an important presence in defence and has also scored three times.
Ferran Torres celebrates scoring the goal that won Spain the 2026 World Cup [AFP]
Did you know?
City are unbeaten at home against PSG (W3 D1), winning each of the last three games – most recently 2-1 on matchday 5 in 2021-22.
City also defeated PSG in the 2015-16 quarterfinals (2-2 away, 1-0 home) and the 2020-21 semifinals (2-1 away, 2-0 home).
City have lost only two of their last eight matches against French opponents (W5 D1), although they have won only one of their last four (D1 L2), drawing 2-2 at Monaco on Matchday 2 last season.
PSG are unbeaten in their last 11 matches against English teams (W8 D3), beating Aston Villa 2-1 in August’s UEFA Super Cup. Last season’s Champions League final against Arsenal is the only fixture in the last six they did not win in normal time.
A 2-0 victory at Liverpool in last season’s quarterfinal second leg was PSG’s third in succession in England.
Team news and predicted lineups
Man City team news
City have a fully fit squad for the match.
Predicted starting XI:
Gianluigi Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Marc Guehi, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol; Ayyoub Bouaddi, Enzo Fernandez; Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo; Erling Haaland
PSG team news
Senny Mayulu is out until late October with a thigh injury.
Jurrien Timber, Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka score as Arsenal overcome Lille in UEFA Champions League.
Published On 13 Oct 202613 Oct 2026
Arsenal blew away Lille with a three-goal blitz in seven second-half minutes for a 3-0 win to extend their perfect start to the Champions League on Tuesday.
Jurrien Timber’s deft finish opened the floodgates just after the hour mark at the Emirates Stadium before Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka rounded off the scoring.
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Victory takes Arsenal into a share of the lead at the top of the Champions League table alongside Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon.
Mikel Arteta was able to use the wealth of resources at his disposal as he made five changes to the side that beat Leeds 2-1 on Saturday.
But it was Lille boss Davide Ancelotti, son of Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti, who was the happier after a goalless first half.
The visitors even had the ball in the net but Ayase Ueda was flagged offside.
Bruno Guimaraes came closest to breaking the deadlock for Arsenal before the break when he fired wide from close range and then saw a powerful shot from range parried by Berke Ozer.
The Gunners quickly went through the gears in the second period once Timber dinked the ball over Ozer from Noni Madueke’s pass.
Arteta had left arguably his three most potent attacking weapons on the bench and the introduction of Saka, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard made an immediate impact.
Saka’s low cross picked out Eze whose deflected shot flew into the top corner to end any doubt over the destiny of the three points.
The England winger then finished off an exquisite team move from Havertz’s cut-back for Arsenal’s third.
There were further cheers from the home fans when Olivier Giroud came on as a late substitute for Lille on his return to the club, where he scored 105 goals in a six-year spell.
But Giroud could not conjure up another Emirates goal as Lille remain without a Champions League point after their defeat to Real Betis on matchday one.
The surge in soccer fans this summer was bad for some businesses in Los Angeles.
World Cup host cities had lofty economic expectations for the summer tournament. But the city’s hotels only got a 1% bump in occupancy, according to a report published this week by Hospitality Education and Research Organization, a project of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles.
Seventy-two percent of surveyed hotels said the tournament hurt their 2026 finances, and 48% called the impact “extremely negative.” Just 2% said it met projections.
Downtown occupancy reached 66% in June, down from 71% a year earlier, the report says. Room nights fell between 10% and 12%.
Hotel guests at the Metropole restaurant just opposite the main lobby at the Hotel Indigo in downtown Los Angeles in May.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Ahead of World Cup tournaments, FIFA holds large blocks of rooms. But FIFA canceled or released up to 70% of the hotel room blocks it had reserved in host cities, including Los Angeles.
“We understood that we were maybe going to be disappointed with attendance going into the World Cup simply by the volume of cancellations that came out of the room block agreement,” said Jackie Filla, president and CEO of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles.
The disappointing turnout led to staff reductions. Of the hotels surveyed 82% reduced seasonal staff and more than six in 10 reported reducing employee shifts, scheduled hours, or permanent staff.
Hotels did raise prices, with the average daily rate hitting $228, the highest of any comparable L.A. event in three years. But occupancy was 71%, well below the 83% recorded during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
A visitor walks in the lobby of the Hotel Indigo in downtown Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The survey drew 58 responses from 210 hotels, and the analysis was done by travel-data firm Rove using CoStar and AirDNA data. International visitors were also scarce, with Los Angeles welcoming 700,000 international arrivals in June and July — roughly 80,000 visitors below 2024 levels for the same period, the report says.
“We particularly didn’t see a lot of foreign visitors and that’s something that was disappointing,” Filla said. “Foreign visitors do spend three times the amount of money as the average domestic traveler.”
Short-term rentals, meanwhile, gained. Their demand rose 23% and revenue 21% versus July 2024, while hotel revenue fell 3.3%. Airbnb, the tournament’s official fan accommodation, offered new hosts $750 incentives.
The city is currently weighing a temporary proposal to ease its short-term rental rules through the end of 2028 to accommodate tourists. “That will really, truly undercut the business of hotels,” Filla added. “We saw some of that with the World Cup.”
The worry is carrying over to the Olympic Games, set to be hosted in Los Angeles in 2028. Six in 10 surveyed hoteliers expect an Olympic rental surge to hurt their bookings and rates, the report says.
The World Cup “gave us false hope to recover from a negative year,” one Los Angeles hotelier said, according to the report. “I also feel [the] same thing will probably happen for [the] Super Bowl and Olympics.”
Less than 24 hours after kicking-game issues led to the Buffalo Bills defeating the Rams in overtime, the team released kicker Harrison Mevis, a team official said Tuesday.
Mevis missed a 50-yard field-goal attempt in the first half, and a had potential 48-yard game-winning field-goal attempt blocked in overtime. The Bills went on to win 37-34 in overtime, dropping the Rams’ record to 2-3.
“Not even close to good enough,” coach Sean McVay said of the field-goal and extra-point units after the defeat. “It cost us the game tonight.”
The Rams are signing kicker Blake Grupe from the New York Jets practice squad, according to ESPN.
Mevis’ release is the latest move in a Rams’ special teams saga that dates to last season.
In 2025, the Rams lost to the Philadelphia Eagles after two kicks by Joshua Karty were blocked, including one on the final play of the game that resulted in an Eagles touchdown. After Karty continued to struggle, the Rams released him and signed Mevis, who made 18 of 19 field-goal attempts in nine regular-season games and the playoffs.
McVay fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn with a few games left in the season, and hired Bubba Ventrone during the offseason.
But this season, Mevis made only five of nine attempts.
In 2025, Grupe made 18 of 26 field-goal attempts for the New Orleans Saints and all 11 of his attempts for the Indianapolis Colts.
Finucane will now be putting together the final touches before this week’s World Championships, which are in Shanghai, China, from Wednesday to Sunday and are live on the BBC.
She is part of a 19-strong British team for the first event to count towards qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Although there has been disruption in the build-up after Finucane’s partner Matt Richardson was withdrawn amid reports he is under investigation for misconduct.
At her fifth World Championships, Finucane will ride in the team sprint, individual sprint and keirin.
The 23-year-old, speaking before Richardson’s departure, says she is desperate to regain the world champion’s rainbow stripes after two disappointing silvers last year.
It says a lot about the high bar she has set that two world silvers can even be seen as “disappointing”, but Finucane has a new outlook on that now.
“It’s something I learned last year actually,” she said. “I came fifth or sixth in the sprint competition and I felt I failed.
“It’s how you pick yourself up from that. I went into the keirin and I got second, which is the best keirin result I’ve ever had, so I was able to turn that around.
“Essentially, Worlds is a stepping stone to get to LA. I spoke to Scott (Pollock, her coach) and he said we either go there to win or we learn. I like that approach.
“I don’t fail. I win or learn something about myself.”
The preparation for the next Olympics has already long begun. Earlier this year Finucane and her teammate Sophie Capewell travelled to Los Angeles to get their first taste of the velodrome.
The World Championships might only be a stepping stone to there, but it is a vital one.
And Finucane wants to end them with the rainbow stripes back on her jersey.
The Atlanta Dream will host Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals against the Golden State Valkyries in the building they will call home starting next season, not the one where they played most of their home games this year.
That’s good because State Farm Arena — home of the NBA’s Hawks and soon-to-be the fulltime home of the Dream — can seat around 17,000 people, while Gateway Center Arena — the WNBA franchise’s home facility since 2021 — can only hold 3,500 fans.
“This is what the players and the fans deserve,” Dream majority owner Larry Gottesdiener said in a statement. “We are grateful to all of the stakeholders who worked together to resolve the conflicts and make this happen.”
Game 3 will be played Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. PDT. The game was originally supposed to be played the following day, but a Sombr concert is taking place at the arena on that date.
Game 4 will take place Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. PDT. While that date wasn’t changed, the game was originally slated to start 2 1/2 hours later. The Hawks also pushed back the time of their home opener that evening by a half-hour to 5:30 p.m. PDT to help accommodate the WNBA game.
“The change of venue dramatically expands the seating capacity and ensures that the Dream will be able to provide an extraordinary atmosphere for the first WNBA Finals game to be played in the Atlanta market since 2013,” league commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. “We are pleased that thousands more fans across the Southeast region will have the opportunity to experience the ultimate WNBA action — the WNBA Finals — in person.”
The Dream played six regular-season games and all three home playoff games this season at State Farm Arena. Efforts to hold the Dream’s home Finals games at such area venues as Gas South Arena (around 13,000 seats) and Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion (8,600 seats), didn’t work out, according to USA Today.
There has been no word on the venue for a possible Game 6 of the best-of-seven series, which the Dream are currently scheduled to host on Oct. 29, the same date as another Hawks home game.
Paris St-Germain boss Luis Enrique says he was surprised to learn Manchester City had been found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules and he hopes the club can avoid sanctions.
“There is a lot of noise around Manchester City and there is often noise around big clubs,” said Enrique when asked about City’s guilty verdict at a news conference at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
“We have just have to to wait and see what the final decision will be. I hope everything works out well for Manchester City because I think what they have done on the pitch has been incredible over the last few years and they certainly deserved to win on the pitch all the trophies they have won.
“Now we have to wait to see what the authorities decide or the judge is going to say.”
An independent commission found City had broken rules over a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018 by creating “sham” contracts with commercial partners to secretly funnel more than £830m into their football operations.
City insist they are innocent and have appealed.
Luis Enrique added: “The first thing that you hear, it is a surprise, but we need to respect the process and wait for the final decision.
“The authorities are responsible for making these decisions. But speaking only about football, they deserved those trophies. I love their football. Beyond that, we have to wait for the decision.
“The trophies you win on the pitch remain on the pitch. They deserved to win that and I hope they can avoid the sanction. But we have to wait.”
Jimmy Crowley, the son of former Southern Section commissioner Dean Crowley, had a Friday night off from officiating Big Sky Conference football games, so he went to St. John Bosco last week to evaluate the high school officials for a game against Orange Lutheran.
Southern California high school football games have been used as a proving ground for years and a first stop for officials wanting to move to college and the NFL.
It used to be that the commissioners in the City Section and Southern Section were high school or college officials. Jim Cheffers, a former City Section commissioner, used to officiate in the Pac-8. Now his son, Carl, is one of the top NFL referees and has worked three Super Bowls.
Tony Corrente, a former baseball coach at La Mirada who won a CIF title in 1988, made it to the NFL for 26 years as an official and was referee for Super Bowl XI. Former Hollywood High principal Jim Tunney was a long-time NFL referee.
While fans sometimes don’t appreciate officials, in Southern California high school football, you might be watching a future college or NFL referee.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Alaric Jackson has a history of violent outbursts. Still, it was surprising to see the Rams star offensive tackle punch Buffalo Bills linebacker Bradley Chubb on the SoFi Stadium field moments after the Bills defeated the Rams 37-34 in overtime on Monday.
Players were milling around midfield, exchanging jerseys and making small talk when Chubb appeared to say something to Jackson, who was chatting with another Bills player. Jackson immediately marched over to Chubb and slugged him once in the face, knocking a cap from his head.
Players from both teams intervened, and the episode was documented on video by the NFL. Based on precedent, Jackson, 28, likely faces a suspension.
One year ago, Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch was suspended for one game after he smacked Kansas City Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in the helmet after a game.
At the time, Branch spoke to reporters in the locker room and admitted his actions were “childish.”
Jackson did not make himself available for an interview after Monday’s incident, although Chubb did.
“It’s just emotions, you know what I mean? Emotional game. It was a close game,” Chubb said. “And, you know, they always catch the second guy. So, I let him swing. And then my teammates held me back, and I just chilled.”
Jackson averted a suspension ahead of this season when authorities declined to file formal criminal charges after he was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence. Police responded to a call at a home in West Hills on June 8 at 11 p.m. and said in a report that the 6-foot-7, 338-pound Jackson was arrested for “willfully inflicting physical or corporal injury resulting in a ‘traumatic condition’ [such as a bruise, scratch, swelling, or internal injury] on an intimate partner.”
Jackson, who is in his sixth season with the Rams and fourth as quarterback Matthew Stafford’s blindside protector, entered a diversion program that required him to complete probation and anger management classes. Four months earlier, he had signed a three-year contract that included $35 million in guarantees. He is scheduled to earn $18.4 million this season.
In 2024, Jackson was suspended for two games by the NFL for violating its personal conduct policy following a lawsuit filed by a woman alleging he recorded her without her consent during sex. The woman, who also reported it to the league, alleged that Jackson refused to delete the video and taunted her with it. The civil suit was dismissed.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Win or lose, Tuesday is an off day. So forget about the Dodgers for a day and enjoy life.
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Game 2 thoughts
First inning
—Nervy ABS challenge by Mookie Betts. First batter of the game challenges?
—Takes second on a groundout. Third on a wild pitch. Scores on a sacrifice fly. Is this the mid-60s Dodgers? Dodgers 1, Brewers 0.
—And Shohei Ohtani still looks lost.
—I’ll bet on Yoshinobu Yamamoto every time.
—Where’s this Brice Turang guy come from?
—And then the score is tied. Dodgers 1, Brewers 1.
Second inning
—Nice to see Andy Pages draw a walk, but the Dodgers go down relatively quietly.
—There’s something about the name Garrett Mitchell that I like. I can’t figure out why, though.
—Can you tell I had to step away for a few minutes during this inning? Sorry.
Third inning
—Tommy Edman pays immediate dividends.
—Wow. Betts hit that ball hard.
—Sal Frelick made a great catch in right field.
—The Brewers taketh away and giveth. Don’t see that many errors on pickoff throws nowadays. Dodgers 2, Brewers 1.
—I think after the season we will see the headline “Ohtani spotted in full body cast.”
—Wow! Brewers manager Pat Murphy basically buried his rookies for making mistakes in the previous half-inning.
—A nice play by Kyle Tucker. He’s gotten better at everything!
—Sometimes John Smoltz will fall in love with a topic and won’t let it go. Like drawing throws to first base.
—First and second, one out. Can the Brewers cash in?
—Brewers are making Yamamoto work.
—Another PitchCom problem for the Dodgers! The battery probably ran out because of this long at-bat by Jake Bauers.
—Is it me, or could Teoscar have caught that ball if he hustled?
—Nice 12-pitch at-bat by Bauers.
—And the Brewers cash in. Brewers 3, Dodgers 2.
Fourth inning
—The Dodgers knocked out the Brewers’ ace early in Game 1 and still lost. Can they reverse that this game?
—I prefer the Limu Emu (and Doug) commercials to the Liberty Bibberty commercials.
—Only in this newsletter are those types of important things debated.
—The Dodgers seemed to be in a hurry to end that half-inning. Must be some great food in the clubhouse.
—For those of you emailing to ask, the woman who sits in the front row behind home plate and writes down every play is Front Row Amy, Amy Williams. She’s had season tickets for about 15 years and logs every play. She’s very famous in Milwaukee.
—Roki Sasaki quiets things in the bottom half. How many innings will he pitch?
Fifth inning
—Leadoff double for Tucker. Can the Dodgers cash in?
—The Dodgers bunted! And Logan Henderson threw the ball away! He should never be allowed to throw to first again. Dodgers 3, Brewers 3.
—Murphy must be extra furious at his rookies now!
—Could I use any more exclamation marks?!?
—Henderson pitched well, but two throws cost him. Baseball!
—Hey, the Dodgers used to have a pitcher named Dustin May too. What are the odds?
—Betts advanced the runner to third, Small ball.
—Can the Dodgers cash in?
—Freeman gets a sacrifice fly. Or does he? The Brewers challenge the call.
—And the call stands. Everything is happening in this game. Dodgers 4, Brewers 3.
—Tommy Edman always seems to be in the middle of the action.
—That HPE self-driving network commercial doesn’t work at all.
—Only one inning for Sasaki. Surprising.
—Kris Bubic, who made the team over Jack Dreyer, which made some fans mad, gets to earn his keep.
—And he doesn’t earn his keep. Dodgers 4, Brewers 4.
—This has been a great series.
—Christian Yellich singled, Mitchell walked. Where’s Jack Dreyer?
—That infield hit seemed to anger Brock Stewart. He fired three fastballs right past Sal Frelick.
Sixth inning
—The Dodgers go down quietly. Ohtani again looked terrible.
—Can no pitcher throw the ball to first anymore?
—If you are going to intentionally walk a guy to get to William Contreras, make sure your first pitch to him is not right down the middle. Brewers 5, Dodgers 4.
—The Brewers fans can get really loud.
—Tanner Scott comes in and quiets things down.
Seventh inning
—That was an at-bat from the last season version of Pages, flailing at a pitch way out of the zone.
—The Dodgers again go quietly. All their power has drained away.
—This is what drives me crazy about modern baseball. Scott strikes out all three batters he faces, but they take him out of the game.
—And Edgardo Henriquez gives up a hit to the first batter he faces.
—I seem to be extra cranky today. Must be how Pat Murphy feels all the time.
—And the inning ends quietly.
Eighth inning
—Another quiet inning for the Dodgers. Those are piling up.
—The Dodgers have scored four runs. Two on errors, two on sacrifice flies. Not they typical way they score runs.
—David Hamilton hit .245 this season, but you’d never guess that watching him in this game.
—He steals second, takes third on a groundout, scores on a single. Small ball. Brewers 6, Dodgers 4.
—And the Dodgers turn to their seventh reliever of the game, Justin Wrobleski.
—Another run comes in. Brewers 7, Dodgers 4.
Ninth inning
—The Dodgers need to have a tough discussion about Ohtani. Yes, he’s great. Yes, he’s won two MVP awards in two seasons with the Dodgers. And if he was just in a slump, I’d be OK with leaving him in the lineup. But he is obviously hurting. You are doing him and the team a disservice.
—Ohtani flies to left.
—Will Smith, also not hitting well, flied to right.
—Miguel Rojas, batting for Max Muncy, strikes out.
—Dodgers now trail 2-0. Desirable? No. Happy about it? No. But teams have come back from 2-0 deficits before. It could happen again. We could be sitting here Thursday wondering what happened. Or thinking the Dodgers are right back in it. We’ll just have to wait and see.
—Meanwhile, like I said at the start, take Tuesday and enjoy life. It’s just a baseball game.
Up next
Wednesday at Dodgers, 5 p.m., FS1/Fox Deportes/Fox One
Thursday at Dodgers, 6 p.m., FS1/Fox Deportes/Fox One
*Friday at Dodgers, 6 p.m., FS1/Fox Deportes/Fox One
*Sunday at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., FS1/Fox Deportes/Fox One
*Monday, Oct. 19 at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., Fox/FS1/Fox Deportes/Fox One
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Formula One has signed a 10-year agreement with Rwanda to bring the sport back to Africa for the first time since 1993. The African Grand Prix will be held on a circuit in Bugesera, near the capital Kigali, from the early 2030s.
Much was made of South Africa’s run to the 2025 World Test Championship final at Lord’s.
They played only 12 Tests – no team played fewer – and qualified after drawing at home against India and losing in New Zealand, before beating West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Mitigation for this latest Test also comes from the fact this is their first in almost a year and the majority of their batters played one domestic red-ball match to prepare.
Australia recently came off an eight-month break of their own and lost to Bangladesh in home conditions, as Conrad was keen to point out.
And last summer’s famous win over Australia and a 2-0 success in India proves they can beat the world’s top teams.
However, this Test only reinforced a worrying trend among South Africa’s batters.
Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton are fine white-ball players, but Stubbs’ two Test centuries have come against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and Rickelton’s against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
This was an obvious step up.
In the first innings, Stubbs, two overs after Wiaan Mulder had been bounced out, top-edged a pull to fine leg, and in the second he played a loose drive on one.
Opener Rickelton drove and edged at a wide ball late on day two and nicked through a pull in the fourth over on day four.
Similarly, Mulder scored 367 not out against Zimbabwe last year, but Bangladesh are the only other side he averages more than 30 against. His 110-ball stay for 29 on the final day before being strangled down the leg side was at least encouraging.
Wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, in contrast, lasted only three balls before nudging Matt Renshaw’s part-time spin to slip. His Test average of 30.14 drops to 28 against Australia and 15 against both England and India.
Conrad said that “a few of the guys need to step up”.
“The real disappointment was the batting in the first dig on a really good wicket,” Conrad said.
“Yes, a world-class attack, but quite a few guys getting starts and not kicking on.”
For the ODIs, Jofra Archer is back in the pace attack after being rested for the tri-series in Pakistan in October.
Archer’s return means the 50-over squad is close to full strength, bar the absence of wicketkeeper Jos Buttler who is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines following hamstring surgery.
After the ODIs, all of seamers Archer, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and Sonny Baker, along with batter Ben Duckett, miss out on the T20s in order to prepare for South Africa.
The re-shuffle means eye-catching call-ups for Rew and Jack, while opener Aneurin Donald keeps his place after making his debut in the series against Sri Lanka last month.
The addition of Rew and Jack, who were awarded development central contracts on Monday, offers the tantalising prospect of a first international cap against England’s fiercest rivals in one of the most iconic venues in cricket. The first T20 is at the colossal Melbourne Cricket Ground on 21 November.
Rew does not turn 19 until 29 November. If he plays on the tour, he would become the third-youngest man to make his England debut in any format after Rehan Ahmed and Brian Close, and the youngest man to play for England against Australia.
Rew is the younger brother of James, who made his Test debut for England against New Zealand at The Oval in June.
Thomas captained England Under-19s to the final of the World Cup earlier this year and made two centuries for Somerset in the County Championship during the summer.
Jack, who has the middle name Vaughan after former England captain Michael, has been on England’s radar since last year.
He looks likely to earn a debut in Australia because he is one of only three specialist fast bowlers in the squad. Uncapped Henry Crocombe is down under for both series after earning a two-year central contract on Monday, while Luke Wood is part of the T20 squad despite losing his central deal.
Bethell’s return to both squads is an indication of the selection decision England will face for the Test series in South Africa.
In the left-hander’s absence for the home Test series against Pakistan this summer, Emilio Gay, Jordan Cox and Dan Lawrence came into the England XI. Bethell’s comeback could displace any one of that trio.
Harry Brook captains England on both legs of the tour and is once again set to play across formats in every game of the winter. He has not missed an international since a raft of players were rested for the T20 series in Ireland last September.
The trip will be Brook’s first return to Australia since a nightclub incident in Wellington, New Zealand, last October was revealed on the final day of the Ashes series in January.
During the Ashes, England’s players came under intense scrutiny from the local media, not helped by a series of off-field misdemeanours. Though a white-ball tour will not have the same profile as the Ashes, the tourists can still expect a degree of hostility from the home fans.
There will also be the spectre of former Test captain Ben Stokes, whose stint with Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League begins shortly after England’s tour ends.
From Maddie Lee: Mookie Betts slapped his bat with his free hand after tipping a slider from Brewers right-hander Abner Uribe back into catcher William Contreras’ mitt.
Betts had been setting the tone for the Dodgers from the leadoff spot all postseason, taking good at-bats against some of MLB’s best starting pitchers. But there wasn’t much he could do against a sinker-slider mix like Uribe’s.
Uribe shuffled off the mound, and the crowd at American Family Field roared.
Then, with left-handed-hitting Freddie Freeman coming to the plate, Milwaukee had an answer for him too. Manager Pat Murphy signaled to the bullpen, left-hander Aaron Ashby emerged and struck out Freeman on four pitches, only one of which touched the strike zone.
“They all throw 100 [mph] from different angles,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
The Dodgers’ performance against the Brewers bullpen on Monday magnified how much the star-powered lineup hasn’t been clicking with Shohei Ohtani struggling at the plate. He went 0-for-4 in the cleanup spot in Game 2, bringing his postseason total to three hits, all singles, in 20 at-bats.
Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic after the game that he would “have a conversation” with Ohtani Tuesday to determine “what’s best for him, what’s best for [the team].”
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Three-peat chance is looking weak
From Bill Plaschke: Once brimming with life, the Dodgers’ historic quest has curled up into a withered heap.
The three-peat is slowly, agonizingly having the life squeezed out of it by a collection of hardscrabble Midwesterners with no regard for stardom or status.
Two games into the National League Championship Series, the three-peat was formally placed on life support Monday after the mighty Dodgers lost a second consecutive game to those little giants known as Milwaukee Brewers.
This time the score was 7-4 after another devastating night at American Family Field, and now the Dodgers trail two games to none in a best-of-seven series that appears beyond their control.
For a second consecutive game, their ace was knocked out. For a second consecutive game, their powerful offense petered out.
For a second consecutive game, they looked like a weary, aging band of fallen stars that had stumbled into a surprisingly deep pothole and had no idea how to climb out.
No. 1 Milwaukee vs. No. 2 Dodgers at Milwaukee 2, Dodgers 1 (box score) at Milwaukee 7, Dodgers 4 (box score) Wednesday at Dodgers, 5 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One Thursday at Dodgers, 6 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One *Friday at Dodgers, 6 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One *Sunday at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One *Monday at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., FOX/FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One
ALCS
No. 1 Tampa Bay vs. No. 2 Cleveland Cleveland 7, at Tampa Bay 3 (box score) Tuesday at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max Thursday at Cleveland, 3 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max Friday at Cleveland, 3 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max *Saturday at Cleveland, 5 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max *Monday at Tampa Bay, 2 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max *Tuesday at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m., TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max
Iamaleava is expected to miss the rest of this season with a knee injury, according to a person with knowledge of the injury not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Chesney said he is waiting for UCLA doctors to “make the final call on things.”
“He has a meeting later today, and he’ll have a whole lot more clarity on exactly where things are at,” Chesney said of Iamaleava during a news conference Monday. “Everything being reported is what’s being reported. There is a serious concern at this moment, but at the same point in time, there is nothing that has been fully ruled at this moment.”
The injury is a blow for the No. 12 Bruins, who are 5-0 during Chesney’s first season and have a favorable path to the College Football Playoff.
Chesney said that while Ty Dieffenbach and Madden Iamaleava, Nico’s younger brother, both earned the right to start, Chesney will start Dieffenbach going forward and see how it plays out.
1893 — The U.S. yacht Vigilant wins the America’s Cup with a three-race sweep over the British challenger Valkyrie II.
1947 — The NHL holds its first All-Star game with the All-Stars beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Toronto’s Harry Watson scores the game’s first goal and assists on the other two goals. Trailing 3-2 after two periods, Montreal’s Maurice Richard and Chicago’s Doug Bentley each score to give the All-Stars the win.
1961 — Jacky Lee of the Houston Oilers passes for 457 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-31 tie with the Boston Patriots. Charley Hennigan of the Oilers catches 13 passes for 272 yards.
1963 — Mickey Wright wins her fourth LPGA championship in six years by beating Mary Lena Faulk, Mary Mills and Louise Suggs by two strokes.
1982 — IOC Executive Committee approves the reinstatement of Jim Thorpe’s gold medals from the 1912 Olympics.
1985 — Phil Simms of the New York Giants passes for 513 yards with an NFL-record 62 pass attempts in a 35-30 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Simms completes 40 passes with 29 for first downs, also an NFL record.
1998 — For the first time in NBA history, the league cancels regular season games after labor talks break off.
2001 — DeShaun Foster of UCLA runs for a school-record 301 yards and four touchdowns as the Bruins beat Washington 35-13.
2001 — Georgia Southern fullback Adrian Peterson is held to 71 yards rushing, snapping his NCAA-record streak of 36 straight regular-season games with at least 100 yards.
2011 — American Jordyn Wieber wins another gold medal, beating Russia’s Viktoria Komova for the all-around title at the world gymnastics championships in Tokyo. Wieber, who led the Americans to the team title two days earlier, finishes with 59.382 points, just 0.033 ahead of the Russian.
2013 — Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, six weeks removed from a bout of malaria, breaks the course mark in capturing the Chicago Marathon. Kimetto finishes in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, leading a 1-2-3 finish for Kenyan men. He beats the mark of 2:04:38 set by Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede last year.
2017 — Gustav Nyquist scores twice and Detroit has four goals in the third period to beat Vegas 6-3, handing the NHL’s newest franchise its first loss. Vegas is the first NHL expansion team to win its first three games.
2019 — Simone Biles becomes the most decorated gymnast in history when she wins record 25th medal at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1903 — The Boston Pilgrims win the first World Series, 5 games to 3, with a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1960 — Bill Mazeroski opens the bottom of the ninth with a home run off Ralph Terry of the New York Yankees to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 10-9 victory and the World Series championship.
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.
Meanwhile, it emerged over the weekend that Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam did not select three of his key players because of the state of the StoneX Stadium pitch.
Pedro Rubiolo, AJ MacGinty and Steven Luatua were rested for the trip to north London.
“They came off big injuries last season so it wasn’t worth putting them on that pitch,” Lam explained.
“If we were playing the game at home or if it was a semi-final, they would have played.”
Saracens have been contacted for comment.
Lam has previously voiced his opposition to artificial pitches being used in the Prem.
Following the Bears’ league win at Newcastle in April, Lam blamed the pitch for causing a number of injuries to his team.
“These pitches are hard – I’m not a big fan of them,” Lam said at the time.
“We always take injuries on them and we’ve taken a few more.”
Newcastle installed a new pitch at Kingston Park this summer before the 2026-27 season and have kept it fully artificial.
It marked the first time UCLA defeated Oregon since 2017. The win was the Bruins’ first at Autzen Stadium since 2004. And Bob Chesney became the first UCLA head coach to start his tenure 5-0.
Sunday came with one more breakthrough: The Bruins cracked the top 15 in the Associated Press’ Top 25 for the first time since 2022.
UCLA’s 17-15 victory over Oregon proved that the Bruins deserved a spot in the upper echelons of the Big Ten. Not only did UCLA leave Oregon with an undefeated record — one win away from being bowl eligible — but the Bruins also will returned to Los Angeles with three consecutive home games on the schedule, a stretch that could push them farther up the totem pole.
“It doesn’t matter. Now we have to get better,” Chesney told reporters after the win. “How do we get better? We go back and look at the things we need to fix. We evaluate our personnel and see where we stand once we figure out whether some of these guys are coming back next week. There’s a lot of football left to be played, so it doesn’t matter. Getting better is always the message when we turn the corner.”
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Here are three takeaways from UCLA’s fifth win, which kept the Bruins among nine remaining undefeated Football Bowl Subdivision schools and avenged one of Chesney’s two losses last season when his magical run at James Madison ended against Oregon.
Colin Hitschler can bounce back with the best
The week leading up to defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler’s rematch against Oregon featured reminders about how the Ducks steamrolled his Dukes’ defense last season in the College Football Playoff, finishing with 51 points and 514 yards.
And Hitschler acknowledged that Ducks coach Dan Lanning’s offense got the best of him, leaving him with a chip on his shoulder.
His “Bruin Bullies” made their presence felt from the first whistle to the last, forcing seven turnovers — five fumble recoveries and two interceptions, categories in which UCLA now ranks first and second, respectively, in the nation.
And while Oregon quarterback Dante Moore remained sidelined because of a head injury, backup Dylan Raiola — who spent the previous two seasons as Nebraska’s starter — was a highly regarded talent and expected to challenge the UCLA defense, particularly after throwing for 289 yards and two scores against USC last month.
UCLA defensive lineman Darold DeNgohe tackles Oregon quarterback Brock Thomas on Saturday in Eugene.
(Lydia Ely / Associated Press)
The Bruins gave Raiola more headaches than anything else as he finished with 43 passing yards and three turnovers before he was benched for third-stringer Brock Thomas in the fourth quarter.
And even when Thomas entered for Raiola, the Ducks’ offensive weapons largely flatlined despite their perceived superior status.
Running back duo Dierre Hill Jr. and Jordon Davison — who combined for 238 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns against the Trojans — and tight end Jamari Johnson, who torched the USC defense for seven catches and 119 yards, were limited to a combined 111 all-purpose yards and just one score.
The Bruins’ defense was everywhere in Eugene, limiting the run game to 2.7 yards per carry, largely blanketing pass catchers in coverage downfield and forcing turnovers at every level.
“We don’t focus on outside chatter,” senior linebacker Sammy Omosigho said after the win. “That has no meaning to us, no focus to us, no value to us. We focus on ourselves.”
Bruins’ QB concerns aren’t going anywhere
Many observers who watched Saturday’s showdown will tell you the Bruins should have won more handily.
The Bruins almost doubled the Ducks in time of possession, yet there was a chance for Oregon to win on the last drive of the game.
UCLA had to overcome its own problems, with quarterback Nico Iamaleava battling Raiola for most turnovers and questionable decisions under pressure.
UCLA coach Bob Chesney calls to his players.
(Lydia Ely / Associated Press)
Iamaleava got off to a slow start this season as UCLA relied on its potent rushing attack. He rebounded against Purdue and Maryland, combining for 485 yards and four touchdowns with zero turnovers.
While Iamaleava went 10 for 17 for 162 yards in the first half, his mistakes came at especially costly times for the Bruins.
During UCLA’s second drive, the Bruins were pinned on their 10-yard line. With Oregon outside linebacker Nasir Wyatt blitzing, Iamaleava attempted to throw the ball away to the flat and instead fumbled, giving the Ducks the ball on the Bruins’ one-yard-line. Oregon scored one of its two touchdowns immediately after the turnover.
Later in the half, Iamaleava threw two interceptions, the first at midfield and the second coming at Oregon’s 22-yard line, wiping out a field-goal opportunity.
Iamaleava struggled with accuracy and timing, underthrowing a deep ball to wide receiver Aidan Mizell on the first play of the game — a pass that arguably could have been a touchdown if Mizell was hit in stride — and mistiming a pass to running back Jaivian Thomas, who was wide open in the end zone, on third and goal during the same drive.
Iamaleava was facing a formidable Ducks defense, the best unit the Bruins have played to date, and was injured during the second interception. He did not return to the field after sustaining a leg injury near the end of the first half, and it is unclear how long he will be sidelined.
Backup Ty Dieffenbach steered UCLA to a win, but the Bruins need better quarterback depth.
UCLA is a playoff contender
The Bruins celebrate their win over the Oregon Ducks.
(Tom Hauck / Getty Images)
Saturday was more than just a win. It was a bold announcement to the rest of the Big Ten and the nation that UCLA is a playoff contender.
Chesney told fans during a UCLA men’s basketball game shortly after he was hired that the football team is playing for banners. And Saturday’s win proved that his plan to pursue championships — something that seemed absurd amid a lost 2025 season — has a real possibility of paying off with one.
The Bruins have one of the easier schedules in the Big Ten with seven games remaining. UCLA will play five home games, including with 2-4 Michigan State, 2-3 Nevada of the Mountain West and 3-3 Illinois.
While UCLA still has road games at Michigan and Minnesota and competitive home games against Wisconsin and USC, the Bruins proved Saturday that they can hang in any environment, frustrating the Ducks at hostile Autzen Stadium.
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Big Ten confirms a big mistake
The Big Ten released a statement Sunday announcing its officials placed the ball at the wrong spot during Oregon’s final failed two-point conversion attempt after a UCLA penalty. The ball should have been placed at the half-yard line instead of the 1½-yard line. The lead officially announced the correct placement, but the crew never moved the ball.
UCLA’s defense stuffed the two-point conversion attempt, and the Bruins went on to secure a 17-15 win.
The mistake has drawn limited outrage, with fans more concerned about the number of errors by Big Ten officials this season than about them potentially thwarting Oregon’s chance to tie the score. That probably has a lot to do with the number of mistakes the Ducks made and the perception the Bruins outplayed them.
Dieffenbach has long embraced change
Before Ty Dieffenbach was asked to lead UCLA’s offense in the second half at Oregon, he began his high school career in Southern California as a wide receiver.
The Times’ Eric Sondheimer spoke with Dieffenbach ahead of his senior season about his switch to playing quarterback for Agoura, a team that needed a signal-caller and quickly developed a prolific one.
Agoura coach Dustin Croick told Sondheimer he wouldn’t have asked Dieffenbach to play the position just because of the 6-foot-5 athlete’s arm strength. Croick detected something else.
“We can teach kids how to throw, how to read defenses, but the leadership has to be a natural thing,” Croick said.
The two have stayed in touch as Dieffenbach spent two seasons at Pittsburgh without playing before transferring to Cal Poly and starting for one season. Dieffenbach then joined UCLA during the offseason and prepared as though he could be asked to play at any time.
Dieffenbach celebrated with the high school coach who first believed in his quarterback skills via Facetime after UCLA’s win.
Agoura football coach Dustin Croick was busy with relatives in town. He turned off his phone. Then he saw 173 text messages. Then he faced timed with his former QB Ty Dieffenbach after UCLA beat Oregon. Emotional day. pic.twitter.com/eyn5YD6Uva
The Valkyries became the first WNBA expansion team to reach the playoffs in its first season and the Finals in its second.
“I told them that I was proud of our whole team, the whole 14, because I saw another level of fight tonight,” Nakase said after the clinching win. “And that’s what I was really proud of. We talked about leveling up one more as a team and I think that overtime proved strength in numbers. We really left it all out there on the floor. We really emptied the tank.”
Golden State hosts the Atlanta Dream at 12:30 p.m. Saturday to open the Finals. The Dream notably are led by UCLA alum Jordin Canada, the the starting point guard and ignition to their offense.
Bruins on deck
Wednesday, Oct. 14 Women’s basketball at California (exhibition)
Thursday, Oct. 15 Women’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day Men’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day
Friday, Oct. 16 Women’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day Men’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day Women’s golf at Stanford Intercollegiate, all day Men’s golf at Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate Invitational, all day Men’s soccer at Wisconsin, 5 p.m. Women’s volleyball vs. Penn State, 7 p.m. Women’s soccer vs. Washington, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 17 Women’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day Men’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day Cross country at UC Riverside, 8 a.m. Men’s water polo at USC, 1 p.m. Football vs. Wisconsin, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 18 Women’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day Men’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, all day Women’s volleyball vs. Ohio State, 3 p.m.
Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Sports editor Iliana Limón Romero contributed to this report.
MILWAUKEE — Mookie Betts slapped his bat with his free hand after tipping a slider from Brewers right-hander Abner Uribe back into catcher William Contreras’ mitt.
Betts had been setting the tone for the Dodgers from the leadoff spot all postseason, taking good at-bats against some of MLB’s best starting pitchers. But there wasn’t much he could do against a sinker-slider mix like Uribe’s.
Uribe shuffled off the mound, and the crowd at American Family Field roared.
Then, with left-handed-hitting Freddie Freeman coming to the plate, Milwaukee had an answer for him too. Manager Pat Murphy signaled to the bullpen, left-hander Aaron Ashby emerged and struck out Freeman on four pitches, only one of which touched the strike zone.
“They all throw 100 [mph] from different angles,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
Those back-to-back strikeouts in the eighth inning were part of five perfect innings thrown by the Brewers’ bullpen — a postseason record. And the Dodgers’ inability to rally against the Brewers’ relievers, paired with the shortest start in Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s postseason career, sunk their chances of evening the series.
The NLCS heads to Los Angeles with the Brewers leading 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
The Dodgers’ performance against the Brewers’ bullpen on Monday magnified how much the star-powered lineup hasn’t been clicking with Shohei Ohtani struggling at the plate. He went 0 for 4 in the cleanup spot in Game 2, bringing his postseason total to three hits, all singles, in 20 at-bats.
Manager Dave Roberts told the Athletic after the game that he would “have a conversation” with Ohtani on Tuesday to determine “what’s best for him, what’s best for [the team].”
Factoring into the decision of whether to bench Ohtani is an understanding that he likely is not completely healthy, according to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly.
Ohtani has dealt with left knee and right biceps issues for much of the season. But it’s been difficult since he returned from the injured list to determine whether health, bad swing habits caused by earlier injuries, or some combination of the two has been to blame for his poor performance.
Ohtani hasn’t addressed the media since the day before Game 1 of the division series.
“It’s tough,” Teoscar Hernández said. “We obviously need his help. He’s a big, big part of this team, and it’s really important. And I feel bad for him. I know what he’s capable of. He’s been dealing with some stuff in the past. We don’t know if it’s still there. But it’s Shohei. Any moment he can come through.”
The game wasn’t doomed, per se, when Yamamoto exited after 2⅔ innings, but it was clear it would be an uphill battle for the Dodgers.
Yamamoto stood on the same mound where a year ago he’d thrown a complete game and was pummeled by Brewers fans’ chants:
“Yel-li! Yel-li!”
As the fans celebrated Brewers captain Christian Yelich’s two-run single for an early lead, Roberts emerged from the visiting dugout, ready to take the ball from the starter who’d made himself a household name with his postseason heroics.
“He just didn’t have it tonight, which is very rare,” Roberts said.
The two walks Yamamoto issued in the inning set up Yelich for a big at-bat. The first walk, to Brice Turang, included a borderline ball-four call. Yamamoto’s hand flew up to the back of his hat like he was contemplating an ABS challenge, but neither he nor catcher Will Smith pulled the trigger. And the second, to Jake Bauers, lasted 12 pitches.
The other run Yamamoto gave up, in the first inning, also included a missed opportunity for a challenge.
Yamamoto struck out Jackson Chourio — whose leadoff home run last year was the lone run in Yamamoto’s NLCS complete game — to open the frame.
Then Turang worked a full count — although the first ball caught most of the low and outside corner — before he hit an opposite-field double.
“It was kind of early in the game, we kind of had him on the ropes where we could just get him out there,” Smith said. “The walk one was a bummer but I guess it happens. It’s baseball.”
The next batter, William Contreras, fought off a low slider, poking it into shallow left field to tie the score.
Against Brewers starter Logan Henderson, the Dodgers capitalized on a couple of errant throws by the pitcher, on a pickoff attempt and a sacrifice bunt, to contribute to two unearned runs, on a day when he gave up four runs in all.
Hernández and Freeman hit sacrifice flies in the first and fifth innings, respectively. Freeman’s came off former Dodger Dustin May, driving in a runner inherited from Henderson. And that was the most the Dodgers accomplished against the same relief corps that held them off the day before. They finished with three hits, their fewest in a playoff game since 2020.
“If there is a positive, you can say that a lot of our guys are starting to get looks at their back-end guys,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “But when they’re as good as they are, I don’t know how much that helps. Unfortunately, that’s the issue with that.”
If the Dodgers are going to bounce back, they’ll either have to figure out how to score against the Brewers’ suffocating bullpen, or build early leads and maintain them.
The Dodgers were forced to throw seven relievers behind Yamamoto. In the fifth inning, with the Dodgers up 4-3, Roberts brought in left-hander Kris Bubic — replacing right-hander Roki Sasaki after a hitless inning — to face the left-handed-heavy heart of the order. But Bubic missed down the middle to the right-handed-hitting Contreras, who gave the fastball a ride over the center field wall, tying the score.
In the sixth, against Dodgers right-hander Brock Stewart, Contreras drove in the go-ahead run in a traffic-filled inning that included a Freeman error on a muffed pickoff attempt. Left-hander Tanner Scott came to the rescue and struck out Bauers and Yelich to end the inning and Garrett Mitchell to kick off the seventh.
The Brewers added insurance runs in the eighth inning with RBI singles by Turang off hard-throwing right-hander Edgardo Henriquez and Bauers against left-hander Justin Wrobleski.
“The guys in here are really good at staying together,” Betts said. “I don’t think there’s much doubt going on. I think we just need to regroup and figure out what we need to do individually. But there’s no doubt.”
The three-peat is slowly, agonizingly having the life squeezed out of it by a collection of hardscrabble Midwesterners with no regard for stardom or status.
Two games into the National League Championship Series, the three-peat was formally placed on life support Monday after the mighty Dodgers lost a second consecutive game to those little giants known as Milwaukee Brewers.
Shohei Ohtani strikes out during the sixth inning
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
This time the score was 7-4 after another devastating night at American Family Field, and now the Dodgers trail two games to none in a best-of-seven series that appears beyond their control.
For a second consecutive game, their ace was knocked out. For a second consecutive game, their powerful offense petered out.
For a second consecutive game, they looked like a weary, aging band of fallen stars that had stumbled into a surprisingly deep pothole and had no idea how to climb out.
For the Dodgers to win this series and continue their journey toward a third consecutive championship, they must beat the Brewers in four of the next five games, the last two of which would be played in Milwaukee.
It doesn’t seem likely. It doesn’t even seem possible.
Not once in in their previous two title seasons did they trail anybody two games to none, and they certainly don’t seem equipped to survive it now.
Look at how they lost Monday. On second thought, don’t look, because what you’ll see bears scant resemblance to the swaggering, self-assured Dodgers of postseasons past.
They pitched their October ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and he’s always saved them, right? Not this time. He couldn’t make it out of the third inning, battered by scattered wildness and scathing swings.
They were handed runs on two errors by the Brewers’ shaky rookie starter, Logan Henderson, and they’ve always capitalized, right? Not this time. They couldn’t make the Brewers pay for their clumsiness, managing just three hits, the slumps of their superstars ever deepening, Will Smith and Shohei Ohtani becoming absolute offensive liabilities.
Even with all this, they sent Henderson packing after four innings and took aim at a heavily used Brewers bullpen and surely they could summon the firepower to send at least one of those relievers running, right? Not this time, as four Brewers relievers set a postseason record by pitching five perfect innings.
The last two innings being a sad microcosm of the previous seven.
Entering the eighth inning, the Dodgers trailed only 4-3 and had the top of their order coming up in what still could have been a trademark Dodgers October comeback.
Mookie Betts strikes out in the eighth inning.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Not so fast.
Facing Abner Uribe, Mookie Betts struck out. Facing Aaron Ashby, Freddie Freeman struck out and Teoscar Hernández grounded out. Yeah, with perhaps their season on the line, they couldn’t even get the ball out of the infield.
The Brewers, of course, sealed the deal with two runs on three singles in the bottom of the eighth, and the Dodgers went meekly 1-2-3 in the ninth.
It was surely, truly painful for Dodgers fans to witness the final out, a strikeout by … yep, last season’s World Series hero Miguel Rojas.
The three-peat is dying, and it’s almost unbearable to watch.
Having both of their aces beaten in Milwaukee, the Dodgers will come home with Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow starting in Games 3 and 4, respectively.
In any other scenario, both pitchers are aces as well, and the Dodgers would have a huge advantage. But neither pitcher has looked great in the postseason, and both will be pitching while bearing the weight of a stressed-out Dodgers Nation.
“Yeah, it’s certainly a challenge,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think that if you look at Game 3, I like where we’re at as far as in a vacuum, who’s pitching, where our bullpen is at, being at home. Then you’ve got to go from there.”
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Game 2 is that the Dodgers led … then blew the lead … then led … then blew the lead … then led …then blew the lead.
The Brewers’ final tying blow came on William Contreras’ fifth-inning homer against Kris Bubic, who has struggled in this postseason and perhaps shouldn’t have been in the game. The Brewers’ final go-ahead run came in the sixth on Contreras’ bases-loaded single after Brice Turang surprisingly was intentionally walked in front of him.
But neither of those plate appearances was the game’s most important. The key moment that actually didn’t score any runs was Jake Bauers’ 12-pitch walk in the third inning.
That loaded the bases, and Christian Yelich then greeted an exhausted Yamamoto with a two-run single.
“Yeah, it just got to a certain point where it was straight compete mode, a little bit of like blackout, just kind of in the flow a little bit competing,” Bauers said. “It was fun. It was a fun at-bat. I knew that was a moment where the guys needed something, the team needed something.”
Funny, but those are the kind of things Dodgers hitters used to say, back when they were confident and full of life.
But Smith is one for 23, and Ohtani is three for 19, and the Dodgers have just one extra-base hit against the Brewers, and nobody is saying anything about the fun of competing.
In fact, things are so lousy, Roberts appeared to call out Smith for not using the ABS challenge in the early innings against Turang. Both times strikes were called balls, and Turang took advantage of the missed calls to double and walk and score twice.
Yamamoto also seemed annoyed that his catcher could be letting his batting woes affect his work behind the plate.
“Obviously in that spot, Will didn’t feel like it was a strike, but obviously if you look back, that’s a called third strike, he doesn’t double, and that changes the outing,” Roberts said of Turang’s first-inning at-bat.
Roberts still has hope. But he’s not looking past Game 3.
“As far as can we do it, absolutely, but it’s just you want to get that first one,” he said.
Dodger Stadium will be filled with fans in what could be a celebration. Or a wake.
Nathaniel Lowe ended an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single after Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey homered off Drew Rasmussen, and the Cleveland Guardians rallied past the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night.
Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca had RBI singles in the first and Cedric Mullins hit a solo homer for the Rays, who never trailed in a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees in their AL Division Series.
“It’s been a while since we lost, so I think that’s a good thing, and I know the guys will come back and respond tomorrow,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.
Game 2 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. Rookie left-hander Parker Messick starts for Cleveland, and right-hander Freddy Peralta takes the mound for the Rays.
Five relievers combined for five innings of one-run, two-hit ball for the Guardians, who became only the 11th team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series with a victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.
Cade Smith, who pitched in all five games against Chicago, tossed a perfect ninth.
“Obviously we came off an emotional series, had a quick turnaround. But these guys come ready to play every day. Couldn’t be more proud of them,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We got punched early. And our pitching staff, credit to them, for stopping it and keeping us in the game as long as they did. And the offense came alive.”
Rasmussen took a 2-0 lead into the sixth before DeLauter led off with an opposite-field homer to left-center. Bailey started the seventh with a towering shot to center that went a projected 436 feet, ending Rasmussen’s night.
Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees.
José Ramírez opened the eighth with an infield single off Tyler Wells, and DeLauter ripped a double to right. After Wells retired Jo Adell on a grounder to second, Ian Seymour entered. Lowe lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle to drive in two, giving Cleveland a 4-2 lead.
Mullins connected off Erik Sabrowski for a solo shot in the bottom half.
Ramírez, whose two-run homer lifted Cleveland to a 2-0 win in Game 5 vs. Chicago, provided an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth off Cole Sulser. Ramírez helped the Guardians get two more by breaking for third with two outs and two strikes on Adell. Caminero ran to cover the bag and was out of position when Adell hit a sharp grounder toward third. The ball rolled into left field for a two-run double.
A crowd of 35,361 fans waved yellow rally towels and rang cowbells at Tropicana Field in the Rays’ third appearance in the ALCS in the franchise’s 29 season-history.
They were fired up when the 98-win Rays jumped ahead 2-0 in the first and Rasmussen battled to keep it there until the sixth.
Coming off that dominant performance against the Yankees, Rasmussen went six-plus tough innings. The two-time All-Star right-hander, who was four outs from a no-hitter in a 1-0 victory against New York, allowed a hit to the second batter he faced and eight total, striking out seven.
Guardians starter Foster Griffin allowed two runs and five hits in four innings.
The Rays allowed just 12 hits in three games against the Yankees but the Guardians got 14 in the series opener, including three apiece from Ramírez and DeLauter.
Glove work
The Rays helped Rasmussen with outstanding defense.
Nick Fortes threw out Ramirez trying to steal second in the first. Caminero made an excellent play to retire Adell on a hard bouncer to third. Caminero short-hopped the ball with his backhand and fired a strong throw to first.
The Guardians had a runner on first with one out in the third when second baseman Ben Williamson robbed DeLauter of a hit that prevented a first-and-third jam. Williamson, who wasn’t on the ALDS roster, made a diving grab on DeLauter’s sharp grounder, got up and threw him out.
Stranded runners
Rays slick-fielding shortstop Taylor Walls was 0 for 3 and left six runners on base. He struck out with the bases loaded to end the first, lined out with a runner on in the fourth and grounded out with runners on first and second to end the sixth.
Up next
Messick took the loss in Game 1 of the AL Division Series, giving up two runs in 4 1/3 innings. He threw 2 1/3 innings in relief in a Game 4 victory, giving up two runs. Messick had 11 strikeouts in the two appearances. He was 12-9 with a 2.56 ERA in the regular season.
Peralta gave up one run and three hits over 4 2/3 innings in Game 2 of the AL Division Series vs. the Yankees. He was 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts after joining Tampa Bay at the trade deadline. Peralta was 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA for the Mets this season.
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