team

It’s baseball awards season, with the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America announcing award winners for four straight days.

Detroit Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle was named the American League rookie of the year and Cincinnati Reds first baseman Sal Stewart was honored as the National League rookie of the year on Monday.

Manager of the year awards will be revealed Tuesday, Cy Young and reliever of the year on Wednesday, and finally MVP on Thursday.

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is a finalist for National League MVP. But Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is the favorite to win it, which would end Ohtani’s three-year MVP streak. Ohtani has won four MVP awards in all, two in the AL and two in the NL.

On Wednesday, MLB will also hold its own awards show, announcing All-MLB teams, and awards such as the Hank Aaron Award, the comeback players of the year, the Mariano Rivera & Trevor Hoffman Relievers of the Year, the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter of the Year and the MLB executive of the year.

Xavier Becerra speaks to his supporters during the election night party in Sacramento, CA on November 3, 2026.

(Andri Tambunan / For The Times)

SACRAMENTO — Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra named the team that will oversee his transition and help build out his administration as he prepares to take office in early January. His transition team includes several of his former advisers, and others who worked for Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“This transition has one job: to ensure my administration is ready to deliver on day one,” Becerra said in a statement. “Together, we aim to make California a place people can afford, with results they can see and feel in their everyday lives. Our work starts now, to build a California we can afford and protect the California we can’t afford to lose.”

Longtime Becerra aide Liz Saldivar will lead the transition. Salvidar advised Becerra’s campaign and worked for him during his time in Congress and as state attorney general.

Serving as senior advisers to the transition will be Lindsey Cobia, a veteran of the Newsom administration who now runs his Campaign for Democracy PAC, and Kyle Layman, a Democratic operative who joined Becerra’s campaign early on.

Another former Becerra aide, Arsenio Mataka, will direct policy for the transition. Mataka advised Becerra on environmental policy at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and the California Department of Justice. Also an alumna of Jerry Brown’s administration, Mataka most recently was a deputy at the Bay Area Air District.

After advising his campaign on policy, Nicole Elliott will serve as agency review director. Elliott advised Newsom on cannabis policy before he appointed her to lead the state Department of Cannabis Control in 2021. She first began working for Newsom in 2009, when he was mayor of San Francisco. Her husband Jason Elliott is a close adviser to Newsom who worked for him both as mayor and governor.

Leading external affairs for the transition are Courtni Pugh, a Democratic strategist close to Newsom, and Kenneth Maxey II, president of the Urban League of San Francisco Bay Area.

Becerra defeated Republican opponent Steve Hilton in the Nov. 3 election and will be sworn in on Jan. 4, 2027.

Bob Boone, a four-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove winner who spent much of his career with the Angels, has died, his son Bret announced Tuesday via social media. He was 78. No cause of death was shared.

The sturdy catcher was the middle man in one of the most accomplished three-generation Major League Baseball families. He caught more games than all but two catchers in history.

Boone’s father, Ray, and his sons Aaron and Bret also enjoyed successful playing careers. But Bob’s stood out primarily because he was as durable as a cast-iron skillet, catching 2,225 games in 19 seasons.

He spent seven seasons in the 1980s with the Angels, whose manager Gene Mauch marveled after Boone led the American League by catching 147 games at age 37 in 1985, the fourth of five consecutive years he did so.

“Bob Boone is a freak,” Mauch said told The Times the following spring. “I never dreamed he’d catch that many games. A hundred and fifty games is not realistic for a 38-year-old catcher; it’s ridiculous. Except it’s not ridiculous to Bob Boone. I quit being surprised by Bob Boone a long time ago. I’ve never known anyone so mentally tough and impervious to pain.”

Catcher Bob Boone of the Angels argues with plate umpire Tim Tschida, who had just thrown him out of the game against the Mariners in Seattle on Aug. 7, 1987.

(Gary Stewart/AP)

Once Boone punched the clock, he punched out baserunners, throwing out a league-leading 41.6% of base stealers in 1985, one of three times he did so with the Angels. And he seemed to improve with age. All seven of Boone’s Gold Gloves came after he turned 30, including four in a row from ages 38 to 41.

“Boone’s leadership, exceptional defense and knowledge of the game made him an invaluable presence behind the plate and helped the Angels win two division titles,” the team said Tuesday in a statement. “His impact on our pitchers and the example he set for his teammates are lasting parts of his legacy with our franchise.”

When Boone retired at age 42 in 1990, he had caught more games than anyone in major league history: 2,225. Three years later, Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk edged him by one. Another Hall of Famer, Ivan Rodriguez, blew past both of them, retiring in 2011 with 2,427 games caught.

No active catcher is anywhere close to passing those three. Salvador Perez (1,427), J.T. Realmuto (1,401) and Christian Vasquez (1,005) are the only ones with more than 1,000 games caught, and all three will begin next season at age 36.

“The roster lists me as the catcher,” Boone told The Times in 1986. “If you’re the catcher, you catch. Every day. I don’t think catching is much more demanding than any other position. It’s not any more difficult than, say, right fielder or third baseman. If they’re in the lineup every day, why shouldn’t I?”

Robert Raymond Boone was born Nov. 19, 1947, in San Diego, where he raised his family. He was the fifth great-grandson of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone.

Boone grew up on a baseball field. His father was an infielder who broke into the big leagues in 1948 after three years of military service during World War II and three years in the minors. Bob was born a year before his dad made his debut with Cleveland. Ray played 13 seasons for six teams, batting .275 with 151 home runs.

Coach Bob Boone of the Cincinnati Reds watches batting practice with his son Bret, a Reds second baseman, before a 1994 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

(George Gojkovich / Getty Images)

A special family moment came at the 2003 All-Star Game when Ray and Bob attended because Aaron and Bret were playing. Already the first family to have three generations play in the majors, they became the first and only family to have all each generation participate in the All-Star Game.

“Anybody that’s not proud in this situation,” Ray Boone said at the time, “there’s something wrong with them.”

Bob Boone was a sixth-round pick of Philadelphia in 1969 out of Stanford, where he graduated with a degree in psychology. He transitioned from third base to catcher, made his MLB debut in 1972 and became the Phillies’ starting catcher the next season, a position he held until they traded him to the Angels 10 years later. Boone helped Philadelphia win the 1980 World Series.

“Bob was an incredible player, teammate and family man,” the Phillies said in a statement. “He embodied everything we believe exemplary athletes should represent, both on and off the field. We were proud to have him as part of the Phillies family during one of the most historic runs in team history. His impact on our organization, his teammates, and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him will never be forgotten.”

Boone played in seven postseasons with the Phillies and Angels, hitting .311 with two home runs. He finished his career with a .254 batting average, 105 home runs and 826 runs batted in. He also made a mark as the MLB players union’s National League player representative during a midseason strike in 1981.

After retiring, Boone seemed a natural to become a manager. When Orlando attempted to join the National League as an expansion team, Bob was set to lead the team. Miami and Denver got the franchises, however, and Boone didn’t get a chance to manage until 1995 when he led Kansas City.

He was fired midway through his third season and lasted another 2½ seasons managing Cincinnati from 2001-03, a stint in which he managed his son Aaron, who in turn has been manager of the New York Yankees the last nine seasons.

Boone spent several years as an assistant general manager and vice president for player development with Washington. He was part of the front office in 2019 when the Nationals won their only World Series championship.

Boone’s son Bret said on Facebook, “With a heavy heart I’m here to confirm the passing of my dad today. He was a man of great integrity. He was a great dad, husband, and patriarch. It was a privilege to call him my father. Baseball lost a great one today.”

LAS VEGAS — The Dodgers have hired former Marlins hitting coach Pedro Guerrero, filling the one opening on their major-league coaching staff.

The team announced the move Tuesday, during the first day of MLB’s general managers meetings. Guerrero will work alongside Robert Van Scoyoc to round out the team’s hitting-coach duo.

Guerrero spent two seasons as the Marlins hitting coach before the team decided not to retain him for the 2027 season, opting for a “new voice,” as president of baseball operations Peter Bendix put it, while praising Guerrero as a person and a coach.

Guerrero has ties to the Dodgers organization, as a minor league player in 2006-2013. He also served as the bench coach for Rookie-Advanced Ogden in 2016-17.

Guerrero went on to work as an assistant hitting coach for the Phillies (2018-21) and Giants (2022-24) before joining the Marlins.

Guerrero replaces Aaron Bates, who parted ways with the Dodgers last week after contract negotiations reached a stalemate.

Welcome back to the Lakers newsletter, where vibes are high.

The Lakers (10-2) are atop the Western Conference and on a six-game winning streak. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are trolling road fans in equal measure. Doncic even had some time to dance to “YMCA” during a win in Atlanta.

The Lakers could have had plenty of excuses for a bad performance Monday. They were without Reaves and Quentin Grimes. They were groggy after flying in from Detroit that morning. Instead of falling back on those reasons to lose, they discovered ways to win, uncovering new layers to a team still in its early stages.

“Every game is going to present different challenges, and that’s why every game you learn something new,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And you hopefully grow from whatever you learn. That’s the beauty of this. And after 82 games, hopefully you’re a pretty darn good team.”

But only 12 games in, what kind of team are the Lakers?

Dozen-game progress check

On offense, the Lakers are who we thought they were. They’re as efficient as expected for a team that got its wish-list center to pair with Doncic and Reaves. They’re first in NBA offensive rating (121.5), points per game (121.9) and field-goal percentage (50.5).

The defense is also as most expected. That is, it’s the team’s weak spot. The Lakers entered Monday 21st in defensive rating. The only other team with a winning record outside of the top 13 was Denver (5-4).

“I think we can be way better than 21st,” Doncic said. “I think we have the potential for that.”

Doncic said the Lakers, who inched up to 19th in defensive rating (113.9) after Monday, relax after building big leads, allowing opponents to claw back. They survived comeback attempts from Detroit and Atlanta, but Stephen Curry and the Warriors burned them.

The Lakers’ biggest defensive flaw is rebounding. Despite making a massive sign-and-trade to add center Walker Kessler, the Lakers are 29th in the NBA in rebounding (40.3 per game). Giving up 13.5 offensive rebounds a game, the Lakers allow 18.2 second-chance points a game, the third-worst in the league.

Redick said before the Lakers played the Clippers on Oct. 28 that the team needed Kessler to pick up his rebounding rate, especially defensively. The 7-foot-2 center has responded with six double-doubles in the last seven games.

“A lot of it is about timing, a lot of it is about hitting the guy first, not getting pushed under the rim,” Kessler said of finding his rebounding rhythm. “And I got to do a better job of those balls that I get my hands on, securing the ball.”

Walker Kessler, here tangling with Portland’s Donovan Clingan, has been a standout on defense for the Lakers.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Kessler, who still wears a wrap on his left pinky after missing part of the preseason with a jammed finger, had four turnovers against the Pistons. Even when he got both hands on the ball, it would get stripped.

The Lakers try to mask the rebounding woes by forcing turnovers. They’re second with 18.6 turnovers forced per game and third in steals with 10.8 per game. Matisse Thybulle leads the team with 2.1 steals per game. Doncic cares more about people knowing he’s averaging two steals per game than the fact he was the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to average more than 40 points per game through nine games.

Kessler’s rim presence has allowed the Lakers to dial up their defensive pressure.

“Sometimes he may not block them, but just the shots that he alters allows us to get out and run and get stops,” guard Collin Sexton said. “He’s a big part of our defense and he’s the anchor on the back line. You go down there, you got to deal with Walk.”

Kessler has won many of those battles. Entering Monday, opponents were shooting 45.1% within six feet of the rim against Kessler, the lowest mark in the NBA among players defending at least 50 attempts from that distance, according to the Lakers.

The fourth starter

Ziaire Williams reacts after sinking a three-pointer against Portland last month.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The starting power forward spot was one of the biggest question marks heading into the season. The Lakers have found two strong solutions.

Lineups with Doncic, Reaves, Kessler, Thybulle and Ziaire Williams have a 132.5 offensive rating, the best in the league for any five-man group that’s played more than 50 minutes. The second-best offensive group is the starting lineup with Jake LaRavia in Williams’ place.

But adding LaRavia into the starting group has profound defensive impact: Doncic, Reaves, Kessler, Thybulle and LaRavia have a defensive rating of 93.6 points allowed per 100 possessions, the third-best five-man lineup that has played more than 50 minutes. As a result, the LaRavia group has the best net rating in the league (30.9 compared to 16.8 with Williams).

“He’s a winning player,” Redick said of LaRavia’s sometimes unnoticed contributions. “I mean, it’s simple as that. Puts the team first always, whether he’s starting, coming off the bench — 12 minutes, 20 minutes — you know you’re going to get A-plus effort. Now, having been with us for two years, you know he’s at the point where you’re typically going to get A-plus execution of our schemes and our communication and our rules.”

For a weak rebounding team, LaRavia adds a much-needed jolt on the boards. Averaging 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 offensive boards per game, the Lakers have a 53.2% rebounding rate when he’s with Doncic, Reaves, Kessler and Thybulle compared to 42.1% when Williams is in the group.

Williams, who missed three games with a foot injury and hasn’t returned to the starting lineup since, is trusted to guard on the ball and gives the second unit a scoring punch with his hot-shooting start. The Lancaster native is shooting 45.2% from three while taking the fourth-most three-point attempts on the team.

He was four for eight from three-point range Sunday, but frustrated Pistons fans swore he didn’t miss a shot. He knocked down two early threes to contribute to the Lakers’ 26-point lead in the second quarter then staved off the comeback with another clutch three-pointer after the Pistons cut the lead to one during the fourth quarter. He added an emphatic exclamation mark with a cutting dunk off a Kessler assist with 93 seconds left.

Williams just knows how to pick his spots.

On tap

Wednesday at Bucks (1-9), 5 p.m. PST

Former Miami Heat mainstays Tyler Herro (22.3 points per game) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (16.4) lead the rebuilding Bucks after the Giannis Antetokounmpo era. While a mismatch on paper, this could still be a difficult game at the end of a tiring three-games-in-four-days trip.

Sunday at Suns (3-6), 1 p.m. PST

The Lakers will enter the game on multiple days of rest for the first time since their season opener. They played their first three weeks without a two-day break. The Suns are without center Mark Williams (shoulder), which could open the floodgates for a big game from Kessler.

Favorite thing I ate this week

The pink room pizza from Unc’s in Detroit.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

In the great pizza debate of thick or thin crust, I go Detroit almost every time. The airy, chewy crust is like biting into a pizza pillow. Since last year’s trip to Detroit, a new pizza place opened downtown, so there was some great pizza right around the corner. Unc’s Pink Room pizza has pepperoni, whipped ricotta, hot honey and banana peppers. Returning readers know I love a sweet and spicy pizza combo.

Asking for a friend: Do you eat Detroit pizza with a fork and knife or with your hands? The gooey cheese pulls create kind of a mess with your hands, but cutting with a fork and knife feels too formal for pizza. (OK, the friend is me.)

In case you missed it

No Austin Reaves, no problem. First-place Lakers beat Hawks for sixth consecutive win

Austin Reaves steps up in Luka Doncic’s absence to lead Lakers over Pistons

Luka Doncic’s historic run jump-starts early MVP conversation

Swanson: Luka Doncic can lead Lakers to a title, but only if his teammates pull their weight

Luka Doncic scores 53 as Lakers avenge loss to Trail Blazers

Lakers assign Bronny James, Cameron Carr to G League team

Lakers win uneven game over Kings behind 40 points from Luka Doncic

Fun, flowing, not yet flawless: Lakers’ league-best offense still has room to improve

Until next time…

As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com, and please consider subscribing if you like our work!

Luka Doncic leads Lakers to victory

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Austin Reaves took the baton from Luka Doncic when Doncic sat out Sunday, and when the roles were reversed Monday, Doncic passed it to his teammates.

Doncic had 32 points and 10 assists in a 124-114 win over the Atlanta Hawks as the Lakers relied on their depth to secure their sixth consecutive win and stay atop the Western Conference despite a short, tired bench.

One night after sitting out with low back tightness, Doncic struggled with his shot, but he reached double-digit assists for the third time this season. He also had eight rebounds and five steals. Lakers center Walker Kessler had 21 points with 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double in the past seven games, and forward Sandro Mamukelashvili had what Lakers coach JJ Redick called “his best game as a Laker” with 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench to help overcome the absences of Reaves and Quentin Grimes.

Reaves, who scored 43 points in a thrilling win over Detroit on Sunday, didn’t play because of illness. Grimes suffered a sprained finger on his right hand against Detroit, although Redick doesn’t anticipate the injury keeping the guard sidelined for long. X-rays were negative, Redick said, and Grimes could return as soon as Wednesday in Milwaukee.

The Lakers (10-2) didn’t look like a team playing on consecutive nights. They blitzed the Hawks (7-5) with 13 unanswered points at the end of the first quarter and ran up the lead to 20 midway in the second quarter. Kessler and guard Collin Sexton connected on back-to-back alley-oops during the second quarter to inject life into a shorthanded second unit.

Continue reading here

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Puka Nacua headed to IR

From Gary Klein: The Rams’ receiver corps — and the team’s aspirations for another Super Bowl title — continue to sustain major hits.

Star Puka Nacua likely will be placed on injured reserve because of a right knee sprain he suffered during the Rams’ victory over the Washington Commanders, coach Sean McVay said Monday.

Nacua caught 14 passes for a season-best 150 yards and a touchdown in the 20-13 victory on Sunday in Landover, Md., but he was injured after running a jet sweep on the Rams’ final offensive play.

An MRI scan revealed that Nacua sprained his medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments. He also has a turf toe injury, McVay said.

Continue reading here

Olympian turned chef

From Kevin Baxter: A debate has broken out above the empty plates and bowls covering Danny Everett’s dinner table. Is Everett, a former world and Olympic gold medalist, a better chef than he was a runner?

“Chef,” votes Everett’s niece, Anya.

Tiarzha Taylor, Everett’s wife, offers a more diplomatic answer.

“I can’t pick one. They’re both equal,” she says. “And it says something about his cooking that I wouldn’t put Olympian over chef.”

Everett, seated at the head of the table, isn’t sure if he’s being complimented or criticized. Five times he ran a race faster than any man in history before trading his spikes for a spatula 30 years ago. Still, those who have seen him do both say it would take a photo finish to separate his performances in the kitchen from the ones on the track.

Ask Everett and he’ll tell you he was better at running. Cooking, however, is just an extension of that.

Continue reading here

UCLA men’s basketball moves into top 10

UCLA climbed into the top 10 in the first regular-season Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the season on Monday while Florida remained No. 1 and the top four were unchanged.

The Gators, who began the season with wins over then-No. 14 Miami and Jacksonville, earned six more first place-votes and had 53 of the 60 from a national media panel. Duke earned the other seven first-place votes, Illinois held down No. 3 in the poll, and UConn was fourth after winning an NCAA championship game rematch with then-No. 16 Michigan on Friday night.

Michigan State rounded out the top five Monday, taking the place of Arizona, which lost its opener to the Bruins a week ago.

USC is ranked No. 21.

Continue reading here

AP top 25

USC women’s basketball still No. 3 in AP rankings

USC remained No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll released Monday, garnering one first-place vote ahead of its showdown on Sunday with top-ranked South Carolina.

Defending national champion UCLA tied for 10th in the rankings with Iowa after collecting two home wins over Lehigh and UC Irvine last week. The Bruins host Arizona on Thursday.

South Carolina remained the No. 1 team in the top 25 in the first regular-season poll after wins over Maryland and North Carolina, two ranked teams, to start the season. The Gamecocks received all other first-place ballots from the national 33-member media panel.

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1940 — The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Philadelphia Eagles 7-3 in a penalty free game at Forbes Field. Philadelphia’s George Somers hits a 36-yard field goal in the first quarter. Coley McDonough of the Steelers scores on a one-yard rush in the third quarter.

1945 — Top-ranked Army shuts out No. 2 Notre Dame 48-0 at Yankee Stadium. Glenn Davis scores three touchdowns and Doc Blanchard scores two, while the Cadets roll up 441 yards to the Irish’s 184.

1963 — Don Meredith of the Dallas Cowboys passes for 460 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

1963 — Detroit’s Gordie Howe becomes the leading career goal scorer in the NHL with his 545th in a 3-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

1974 — Hernri Richard and Gut Lafleur score two goals apiece to lead the Montreal Canadiens to an 11-1 over the Washington Capitals. Jack Egers gets the Capitals only goal.

1978 — Larry Holmes knocks out Alfredo Evangelista in the seventh round to retain the WBC heavyweight title in Las Vegas.

1984 — Wyoming’s Kevin Lowe rushes for 302 yards, and Rick Wegher of South Dakota State rushes for 231 to set an NCAA record for most yards gained by two opposing players. Wyoming wins 45-29.

1984 — Wild Again holds off Slew O’ Gold and Gate Dancer to capture the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park.

1984 — Maryland completes the biggest comeback in NCAA history, overcoming a 31-0 halftime deficit to beating Miami 42-40 in the Orange Bowl. Led by back-up quarterback Frank Reich, the Terrapins score on six consecutive drives in the second half and stop Hurricane running back Melvin Bratton’s two-point conversion attempt on the goal line late in the fourth quarter.

1990 — The Phoenix Suns shatter the NBA record with 107 points in the first half of a 173-143 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

1991 — Martina Navratilova beats Monica Seles for the California Virginia Slims tournament, her 157th title, equaling Chris Evert’s record for career victories.

1996 — Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino surpasses 50,000 career yards passing in a 37-13 win over Indianapolis. Marino also reaches 4,000 completions, another NFL first, with his 10th completion of the game.

2001 — San Jose State beats Nevada 64-45, setting an NCAA single-game record for total offense with 1,640 yards. San Jose State has 849 yards to Nevada’s 791, eclipsing the previous record of 1,563 yards set by Houston and TCU on Nov. 3, 1990.

2007 — San Jose center Jeremy Roenick scores his 500th NHL goal at the expense of his former team in a 4-1 win over Phoenix.

2007 — Navy and North Texas set a major-college record by combining for 136 points in the Midshipmen’s 74-62 win. The previous record for college football’s top tier of competition was 133 points in San Jose State’s 70-63 win over Rice on Oct. 2, 2004.

2007 — Notre Dame loses for the ninth time this season, a school-record, falling 41-24 to Air Force. The last time the Irish lost to two military academies in the same season was 1944.

2012 — Ka’Deem Carey of Arizona rushes for a Pac-12 record 366 yards and ties the conference record with five TDs in the Wildcats’ 56-31 rout of Colorado.

2013 — Marc Marquez becomes the first rookie in 35 years to win the MotoGP championship after protecting his points lead in the Valencia Grand Prix. Needing a top-four finish to secure the title, the 20-year-old Marquez finishes third on his Honda behind race winner and defending champion Jorge Lorenzo. The last rookie to win the title was American Kenny Roberts in 1978.

2017 — John Carlson and T.J. Oshie score rare home power-play goals, and Braden Holtby becomes the second-fastest goalie in NHL history to 200 victories in Washington’s 4-1 win over Pittsburgh. Holtby stops 27 of the 28 shots he faces to pick up victory No. 200 in his 319th game, second only to Hall of Famer and six-time Stanley Cup winner Ken Dryden, who did it in 311.

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.

Nov. 9, 2026 11:13 AM PT

NEW YORK — UCLA climbed into the top 10 in the first regular-season Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the season on Monday while Florida remained No. 1 and the top four were unchanged.

The Gators, who began the season with wins over then-No. 14 Miami and Jacksonville, earned six more first place-votes and had 53 of the 60 from a national media panel. Duke earned the other seven first-place votes, Illinois held down No. 3 in the poll, and UConn was fourth after winning an NCAA championship game rematch with then-No. 16 Michigan on Friday night.

Michigan State rounded out the top five Monday, taking the place of Arizona, which lost its opener to the Bruins a week ago.

The former Pac-12 rivals met in Las Vegas, where the Bruins’ Trent Perry scored 21 points to help them overcome a career-best 38 from the Wildcats’ Ivan Kharchenkov. Arizona got within a point with 3:11 left before the Bruins held on for the 84-75 win.

It sent UCLA from No. 22 in the preseason poll to No. 9, its highest ranking since the final poll of the 2022-23 season.

“Huge,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said of beating Arizona. “They’re going to win a lot of games, man. I don’t know exactly how many [wins] they’ve averaged over the last three years, but I’d guess it’s close to 30. So when you get a win over a team like that, it’s massive.”

Virginia moved up three spots to sixth after a trio of wins last week, including a victory over then-No. 12 Arkansas. Texas and Houston were next, then UCLA and Louisville, which moved up one spot to round out the top 10.

Tennessee fell three spots to No. 11 after beating Wofford in its only game last week. Arizona dropped seven spots to No. 12.

“It’s not about how we start the season. It’s about how we end the season,” Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Obviously, it hurts when we’re losing. Just remember that feeling. We’ll have a tough stretch in another game, and we’ll need to dig deeper.”

The rest of the Top 25

St. John’s, Gonzaga and Kansas rounded out the first 15 in the poll. Texas Tech, Miami and Alabama were next, while Arkansas dropped seven spots to No. 18 after its loss to Virginia, and Michigan fell four spots to No. 20 after its loss to UConn.

USC, Vanderbilt, Brigham Young, Kentucky and Nebraska finished out the top 25. The Wildcats, who play the Jayhawks on Tuesday night, are one week shy of becoming the first school in the nearly 78-year history of the AP poll to be ranked for 1,000 weeks.

In and out and on the bubble

The Huskers, who opened their season with wins over Le Moyne and Providence, jumped into the poll thanks in part to Iowa State’s loss to Memphis. The Cyclones fell from No. 18 out of the poll, and were third among the others receiving votes.

Memphis was the first team outside of the top 25, followed by Saint Louis, which had an impressive win over Missouri last week.

Conference watch

The Southeastern Conference not only had the No. 1 team in Florida but seven of the top 25. The Big Ten was next with three of the top 10 and six in the poll. The Big 12 had five ranked teams, the Atlantic Coast Conference had four, the Big East had two and Gonzaga gave the new-look Pac-12 one team in the top 25.

Nov. 9, 2026 11:37 AM PT

NEW YORK — USC remained No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll released Monday, garnering one first-place vote ahead of its showdown on Sunday with top-ranked South Carolina.

Defending national champion UCLA tied for 10th in the rankings with Iowa after collecting two home wins over Lehigh and UC Irvine last week. The Bruins host Arizona on Thursday.

South Carolina remained the No. 1 team in the top 25 in the first regular-season poll after wins over Maryland and North Carolina, two ranked teams, to start the season. The Gamecocks received all other first-place ballots from the national 33-member media panel.

Kim Barnes Arico and Michigan used the biggest regular-season win in program history to move up to No. 2. It’s the Wolverines’ best ranking ever and came after a 77-66 victory over then-No. 2 UConn last week. Michigan, which was ranked fifth in the preseason poll, surpassed its previous high of fourth on Feb. 7, 2022.

“To be in position today to beat Connecticut and be the No. 2-ranked team in the country, it’s just a credit to our players and credit to our staff,” Barnes Arico said in a phone interview. “To have an opportunity to be in the top five and beat the best program of all time this week was really special.”

The Wolverines were one of 10 Big Ten teams ranked this week, matching the record set by the Southeastern Conference last season.

UConn dropped two spots to fourth while Duke rounded out the first five.

The rest of the rankings

Texas, Louisville, Vanderbilt, Louisiana State were next. UCLA and Iowa were tied for 10th. Kentucky and Notre Dame followed them. Oklahoma jumped up seven spots to No. 14 after routing North Carolina in the season opener in France.

Texas Christian, Washington, Ohio State, Minnesota, Oklahoma State and Maryland were 15-20. The final five were Ole Miss, Illinois, North Carolina, West Virginia and Nebraska. The Cornhuskers entered at No. 25 while N.C. State fell out.

Conference supremacy

The Big Ten has 10 teams in the top 25. The Southeastern Conference has seven, including four in the top nine. The Atlantic Coast Conference has four and the Big 12 three. The Big East has one.

Michigan’s signature win

Barnes Arico’s team has now beaten a top five team three times in the past five years. The Wolverines topped No. 5 Baylor in 2021 and fifth-ranked Indiana in 2022. The coach also accomplished a rare feat, ending another long UConn winning streak. She was the coach at St. John’s when the Red Storm ended the Huskies’ 99-game home winning streak. Last Thursday, the team ended UConn’s 39-game, regular-season winning streak. Barnes Arico is one of the few coaches who has beaten Geno Auriemma at different schools, joining Texas coach Vic Schaefer.

“When I think back at UConn and Geno, I have the most respect for him of any coach that’s ever coached in our game,” Barnes Arico said. “He’s been able to maintain consistency and what he’s accomplished has been unreal and unheard of. To be one of two coaches that have beat him at two different places is really incredible. People go through a lifetime and never beat Connecticut ever.”

Game of the week

No. 3 USC visits No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday. The two teams met twice last season with the Gamecocks winning both matchups. One was in the regular season while the other came in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Trojans have JuJu Watkins back after she missed the last 20 months recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered in the NCAA tournament her sophomore year.

Arsenal defender Ben White says people do not know the “full story” behind his decision to previously make himself unavailable for England selection – but says he would make the same decision again.

White, who has been named in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for upcoming Nations League fixtures, left the Three Lions’ camp at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to return home for personal reasons.

He then made himself unavailable for selection for the rest of Gareth Southgate’s reign, and was booed by some fans in March’s 1-1 draw with Ukraine after returning to the squad under Tuchel.

Asked by BBC Radio 5 live’s football correspondent John Murray what he would say to people who define his England career by what happened in Qatar, White said: “I think obviously people don’t know the full story, because I [have] never said anything and I won’t put anyone under the bus or share any of that.

“I think that is probably the best way.

“It’s been amazing [though], obviously a bit tricky and not straightforward, but it is amazing to be here now.”

White is now 29 and asked if he would have done anything differently in hindsight, he added: “No, I don’t think I would.

“Obviously, I was a bit younger, I am a bit older now.

“I think as a person I am quite real and I think I made the decision that I would probably continue to make.

“So, one that I am not happy about, but obviously it happened and [it is] time to move on.”

White came on for his first England appearance since 2022 in March’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay and was booed by some supporters before he scored but also gave away the penalty that led to the visitors’ equaliser.

After that, Chelsea midfielder Jordan Henderson said he and his fellow England players would always support White, while Tuchel said recently that the defender deserves “a new chapter” and “positive feedback from the crowd”.

Asked how he dealt with the emotions of that night at Wembley, White added: “Before the game I was thinking ‘don’t not stand out, but [take it] nice and easy’.

“Then I came on and obviously got booed, then I scored, then I gave away a penalty.

“So, it was obviously full of emotions that night, [but] it was a good night.”

England play Croatia at Wembley on Thursday, 12 November before taking on world champions Spain in Madrid three days later.

White is looking to add to his six England caps in this international break and said: It is obviously an amazing privilege to be called up.

“The feeling is the same every time you do get this chance to play for England. It’s one I am really looking forward to this week.”

UCLA coach Bob Chesney dismisses the soap opera.

Forget about the weekly Associated Press top 25 poll. Forget about the College Football Playoff rankings. Forget about everything until the confetti is swept away after all the conference championship games are played. Forget about all of it until Selection Sunday when your ranking finally counts and determines your bowl fate.

“We don’t watch,” Chesney told reporters when asked about the College Football Playoff rankings after his team’s 34-20 statement win at Minnesota on Saturday.

“I told our guys, don’t worry about watching this four-week drama series. That’s gonna be this show that they’re gonna put out there. That’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to focus on getting the work and being the best that we possibly can be. No way slighted, no way honored. Just totally neutral on whatever they might say. We gotta win our football games.”

Sure, it’s essential that you all do that. Focusing on the process has worked for generations in Westwood.

But the rest of us can ask the obvious question: Why isn’t UCLA ranked higher?

The Bruins moved up from No. 5 to No. 4 in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll Sunday. They were No. 8 in the first College Football Playoff rankings revealed last week and are sure to move up at least a little bit when the next round is revealed Tuesday as others lost and the Bruins tacked on a quality Big Ten road win.

But it’s unlikely to be a leap up and it’s definitely not going to be No. 1, no matter how passionately Bill Plaschke argues that’s where the mighty Bruins belong.

A weak schedule generally has been the excuse for an undefeated Power Four team sitting on the middle to lower end of the top 10 of the polls this late in the season.

The Bruins improved to 9-0 with their win at Minnesota, but their strength of schedule ranks No. 67 nationally, according to ESPN analytics.

But then someone needs to explain Utah.

The Utes, who are led by a first-year coach just like the Bruins, are the only other undefeated team in the country and improved to 9-0 after a 28-20 win over No. 9 BYU on Saturday.

They were ranked No. 3 in the first College Football Playoff rankings without the benefit of that win over the Cougars and moved up to No. 2 in the AP poll with that rivalry victory in hand.

However, that BYU win is a bit of an outlier. The Utes’ strength of schedule ranks No. 81 nationally, according to ESPN analytics, 14 spots below UCLA.

UCLA linebacker Sammy Omosigho (10) celebrates earn a defensive against Minnesota Saturday in Minneapolis.

(Abbie Parr / Associated Press)

At this point, critics typically cite the eye test. UCLA lost its starting quarterback to a season-ending injury and its offense and defense haven’t performed well at the same time most of this season. The run game looked unbeatable against weaker non-conference opponents and then slowed down significantly against Big Ten defenses. The Bruins didn’t look or feel dominant.

Chesney has noted the coaches have had a lot of mistakes to address after every win this season. And the coaching staff has dialed back on the creativity during some games that seemed to be in hand, but that allowed the Bruins to stun Minnesota with back-to-back 75-yard touchdown passes they never previously saw on tape.

And whether observers choose to believe it, his team has consistently exceeded expectations all season.

UCLA improved to 9-0 against the spread after entering the Minnesota game as a 3.5-point road favorite, according to Yahoo! Sports.

Even the bettors in Las Vegas and around the country are sleeping on the Bruins, but they probably won’t for much longer.

The final reason that fans haven’t packed the Rose Bowl and poll voters have been more skeptical of UCLA’s success than they have of other teams is probably because it’s been a long time since anyone could believe the Bruins were this good.

UCLA football has, during the last 25 years, trained fans and national audiences to expect a bit of a letdown when the calendar turns to November.

The Bruins have never won more than 10 games in a season in school history. The last time UCLA was ranked No. 4 in the AP poll was the 2001 season. The team’s final record that year was 7-4 overall and 4-4 in the Pac-12.

But it is getting harder for cynics to deny this year’s UCLA team is, in fact, for real.

Minnesota was a team that is tough to beat at home, has a record of keeping pace with the top Big Ten teams and embraces an ethos very similar to Chesney’s Bruins. UCLA’s decisive win over the Golden Gophers helped, as did Oregon’s win over Ohio State.

UCLA will be favored to win at home against Illinois on Friday and at Michigan Nov. 21 before what could be a massively important Thanksgiving week rivalry game against No. 20 USC at the Rose Bowl.

Chesney has his team focused on the first task, completing a strong week of practice while preparing to play the Illini. The Bruins are sticking to the same daily routine he has been preaching since January.

And regardless of whether everyone has hopped on the UCLA bandwagon, the Bruins are confident they everyone will eventually catch up.

“I just feel like the whole team is just keeping the belief and the faith that we could beat anybody that we play against,” UCLA linebacker Jalen Woods said.

A secret passing attack

Chesney didn’t want to answer the question.

He was asked about Ty Dieffenbach’s back-to-back 75-yard touchdown passes to Aidan Mizell after a win over Minnesota and responded with a bit of verbal dancing.

“Yeah, just I don’t want to get into it too much, to be honest with you, but there were some things we were doing early that were setting up this next thing that we could do, and that’s ultimately what we felt like we saw, and we were able to attack it just a little bit,” Chesney said.

He added a bit more description, but the coach generally made it clear that his staff saw some things on tape, exploited them on game and absolutely did not want to give away any other hints to future opponents.

The Bruins unveiled a previously dormant passing attack that shredded the Golden Gophers’ secondary and Dieffenbach’s ability to pass the ball is impossible to hide at this point.

He said he connected on deep passes with Mizell during preseason camp and they’ve continued to work on their connection this season, making it pretty natural to pick apart gaps in the Minnesota defense on Saturday.

They both took great pride in delivering daggers that seemed to crush Minnesota’s spirit.

“We hit a lull for a little bit there late in the second quarter and in the start of the second half. So it felt really good to do that and just hit some explosive plays,” Dieffenbach said.

“It felt great. I was tweaking out,” Mizell said. “I don’t really remember the second one, but, yeah, it was an amazing feeling.”

Mizell said Dieffenbach has steadily improved since taking over the starting job and their connection was strong all week in practice.

“He’s more confident, he’s more consistent in practice,” Mizell said. “I feel like how we practice is how we play. And we knew the way we practiced this week it was over with.”

Dodd sets water polo record

UCLA junior Ryder Dodd scored 12 goals during the No. 3 Bruins’ 19-9 win over No. 7 UC San Diego on Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center, shattering the school and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation single-game goals records.

Dodd previously held a share of the school record with eight goals. The previous conference record was 10.

“Obviously, it felt really good. I think coming off of last weekend where physically and mentally I don’t think I played my best at all,” Dodd said. “Coming off a good week of training, I think that led me to have a good game, but also the teammates doing a good job of pulling each other and pulling the other guys to them, making it really easy on me.”

Bruins on deck

Here is this week’s UCLA athletics schedule. All Times are PST.

Wednesday

Men’s basketball vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 6 p.m.

Thursday

Swimming and diving at Trojan Diving Invite, All Day

Women’s volleyball vs. Washington, 11 a.m.

Women’s basketball vs. Arizona, 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Swimming and diving at Trojan Diving Invite, All Day

Cross country at NCAA regional, TBA

Football vs. Illinois, 6 p.m.

Saturday

Swimming and diving at Trojan Diving Invite, All Day

Men’s water polo vs. USC, 1 p.m.

Women’s volleyball vs. Oregon, 2 p.m.

Sunday

Women’s basketball vs. Princeton (National title banner to be raised), 3 p.m.

In case you missed it

UCLA moves up to No. 4 in latest AP top 25 poll; USC climbs to No. 15

Plaschke: Undefeated UCLA proves why it should be ranked No. 1

Bob Chesney’s Bruins keep rolling as No. 8 UCLA earns statement win at Minnesota

Nikola Kusturica shines in No. 22 UCLA’s blowout victory over North Florida

UCLA focuses on winning turnover battle, edge in trenches during key Minnesota matchup

Sienna Betts helps lead No. 11 UCLA women to victory over UC Irvine

UCLA is No. 8 in the first College Football Playoff rankings; USC is No. 20

No. 22 UCLA men open season with big upset of No. 5 Arizona

No. 11 UCLA women begin their NCAA title defense with win over Lehigh

Swanson: Championship blueprint: Why Cori Close’s people-first approach is what college sports needs

UCLA Unlocked: Mick Cronin rebuilt roster with an eye on defense

Have something Bruin?

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.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. Remember when Kobe Bryant said, “I’m a girl dad” in 2018? If only he could see how far everyone has come. JSerra’s unbeaten flag football team, led by sophomore Tessa Russell and many others, is an example. Let’s explain.

The rise of a phenom

Standout JSerra receiver Tessa Russell.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

In 2018, when Hall of Fame basketball player Kobe Bryant said, “I’m a girl dad,” it helped ignite a movement that continues today. Female athletes are gaining attention aided by dads who were great athletes themselves.

Tessa Russell, the daughter of former NFL safety Brian Russell, is on a journey in flag football that could take her to unprecedented success in a high school sport that is only four years old as an official sport in the Southern Section.

There are few better receivers in the nation.

“I’d say nobody,” JSerra coach Brian Ong said. “I think it’s her dedication. When you are dedicated to something and practice it over and over and you constantly challenge yourself, it appears to look easy.”

Russell has spent countless hours catching passes under the watchful eyes of her father. She started playing flag football with boys in a youth league at 8, about the time of Bryant’s comment.

“I definitely heard a lot about how much Kobe Bryant put into women’s sports and how much he tried to make it something we could do as we got older,” Tessa said. “And I’m really grateful he was able to make it bigger for us and make it at a bigger stage.

“I think it was really important, because looking where we are today, I think it’s been such a big improvement from then to now. Flag football is on a big stage, too, and hopefully it will keep growing as the Olympics come here.”

She also had 10 interceptions for a 28-0 JSerra team that ended its season Saturday with another Southern Section championship and a 56-game winning streak. The Lions defeated Newport Harbor 40-14.

Imagine what she might look like over two more years of high school flag football. She’s hoping she can inspire others to join the sport and help teach lessons to younger girls.

“It’s definitely cool to see the sport grow,” she said.

Damir Peraza (50) starts the Sun Valley Poly victory celebration after 20-0 Division I playoff win over Marshall.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

The opening week of playoff action had only three No. 1 seeds out of 14 divisions go down to defeat in the Southern Section and none in the four City Section divisions. In other words, most of the favorites won, which should lead to great quarterfinal games Friday.

One of the major City upsets was No. 12-seeded Sun Valley Poly defeating No. 5 Marshall 20-0 behind King Exusdus’ 174 yards rushing. Here’s the report.

The City Open Division playoffs begin, with No. 1 Carson a huge favorite. The best opening matchup could be No. 3 Cleveland hosting No. 6 Crenshaw in a rematch of a nonleague game won by Cleveland.

The Southern Section Division 1 playoffs begin, with Mater Dei playing Corona Centennial at Santa Ana Stadium in another rematch that the Monarchs won earlier this season.

The most drama of the week occurred at Chaparral, where the death of 16-year-old linebacker Connor Rios on Wednesday tested coaches, players, friends and family members. They were in mourning and trying to figure out how to honor Rios. Chaparral decided to play its Division 2 playoff game against Orange and advanced.

Quarterback Ryan Rakowski runs for a first down during Palos Verdes’ 38-20 playoff win over Gardena Serra on Nov. 6, 2026.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

One of the best Division 2 games on Friday is another rematch matching Bay League rivals Palos Verdes and Inglewood. Palos Verdes opened with a win over Gardena Serra. Here’s the report. Inglewood advanced by eliminating unbeaten Huntington Beach.

Here’s a look at top individual performances from the opening week of playoff action.

Here’s a look at possible game changers during the playoffs.

Here’s this week’s playoff schedule.

QBs are being loaned

San Pedro quarterback Seth Solorio.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

Only one player gets to play quarterback, which leads to the backups looking for more playing time at other schools. It happens every year, and the schools that end up starting sophomores or taking in transfers can really see an exodus of backups.

St. John Bosco and Mater Dei have successful programs, and it’s been tough to keep their backups from leaving.

Among the former Mater Dei quarterbacks who left are Trevor Scott (Long Beach Poly), Furian Inferrera (Mission Hills), Reagan Toki (Orange Lutheran) and Ayden Edwards (Tustin).

Former St. John Bosco quarterbacks include Seth Solorio (San Pedro), Brodie Scheinberg (Newbury Park) and Gharam Lunzer (Valley Christian).

If you take a look who’s starting on the freshman and JV teams, it’s tough to keep them waiting their turn on varsity.

San Juan Hills has two former San Clemente quarterbacks in Eiler King and Preston Getz.

Two former Sierra Canyon quarterbacks, Kris Carranza and Delvin Young, are starting at Agoura and Birmingham, respectively.

Chaparral’s Dane Weber was a roadblock, so Alexander Doucette (Etiwanda), Trent Lux (Great Oak) and Julian Gallardo (Winchester Liberty) are at other schools.

Two former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame quarterbacks, Cooper Berry and Donovan Shirley, have been starting at Cathedral and Salesian, respectively. Two former Chaminade quarterbacks, Cameron Pooley and Tahj Skinner, are at Mater Dei and Notre Dame.

It’s one of the toughest challenges for coaches convincing backups to stick around because they are one injury away from playing, but few are willing to stick out, which is why one solution is to play multiple quarterbacks.

The ringer at Cleveland

Shiloh Wickliffe was a late edition to Cleveland’s unbeaten football team.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Cleveland is 10-0 and seeded No. 3 in the City Section Open Division playoffs. And let’s just say Shiloh Wickliffe deciding to come out for the football team in the middle of the season was great timing.

Calll him Cleveland’s ringer. He was a second baseman for the baseball team but had played football his freshman year at Sierra Canyon. His arrival has been big for the Cavaliers. Here’s the report.

Girls volleyball

Mater Dei players celebrate after beating Sierra Canyon in four sets to win the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship on Nov. 7, 2026.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

It was No. 1 vs. No. 2 to decide the Southern Section Division 1 girls’ volleyball championship, and Mater Dei prevailed over Sierra Canyon in four games.

Here’s the report.

Making its fourth finals appearance in five seasons, Taft defeated West Valley League rival Cleveland in five thrilling sets at Birmingham High to claim the City Section Open Division championship — its seventh City title under coach Arman Mercado since he took over the program in 2000.

Here are the pairings for the Southern California regionals that begin this week.

Sophomore wins City title

Harbor Teacher sophomore Layla Phillips watches her tee shot soar down the fairway at the CIF City Section Championships at Balboa Golf Course in Encino on Nov. 5, 2026.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Sophomore Layla Phillips of Harbor Teacher defended her City Section individual golf championship last week. Granada Hills won the team title.

Here’s the report.

Water polo

Orange County powers Newport Harbor and JSerra have advanced to Saturday’s Southern Section Open Division finals.

In the semifinals, Newport Harbor defeated Oaks Christian 13-8. JSerra defeated Harvard-Westlake 11.

The finals will be at Mt. SAC.

Notes . . .

Cherif Millogo of St. Francis has committed to Kentucky.

(Craig Weston)

Cherif Millogo, a 7-foot-5 senior at St. Francis, has committed to Kentucky….

Addison Archer, the state girls’ basketball freshman player of the year last season by CalHiSports.com when she played for Rancho Christian, will be eligible at Mater Dei as a sit-out period transfer student. Mater Dei has also been waiting to see if Ontario Christian transfer Tatianna Griffin becomes eligible. She has been “under review” for weeks in the Southern Section transfer portal. Griffin is one of the top juniors in the state…

Girls basketball standout Charis Rainey of Windward has committed to USC…

Junior pitcher Steven Genovese III of Valencia has committed to UC Santa Barbara….

Ron Jones, who guided Pasadena to a Southern Section football title in 2024, has been dismissed as head coach after the team was forced to discontinue this season because of lack of players….

Ken Holsenbeck has resigned as football coach at Canyon Country Canyon after five years as head coach….

Mario Morales has stepped down as football coach at Lakewood….

Coley Candaele is stepping down as football coach at Vista Murrieta after his second stint as head coach. He’s been at Vista Murrieta for 32 years, 17 in football. Alex Rosenblum, who joined the staff this year from Murrieta Valley, is expected to be a candidate to be promoted….

Lance Neal has retired as football coach at Century….

Jarid Allchin has resigned as football coach at Santa Ana….

Frank Sanchez, who was head baseball coach at Hart, an assistant coach for USC’s 1995 national championship team and head coach at Pepperdine, died on Nov. 4. He was 73….

Loyola High, the all-boys school near downtown Los Angeles, has added a 13th sport to its program: wrestling….

After concerns from schools whether baseball and football fields would be reseeded, a Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman said, “The District is committed to providing safe, well-maintained athletic facilities for students, families, and the community. Reseeding of LAUSD baseball and football fields is underway. At some campuses, the work began about a month later than planned. The District’s Maintenance and Operations teams maintain the fields and carry out the reseeding.”

From the archives: Steven Perez

Former Banning safety Steven Perez in 2024 when he was a 16-year-old senior the first month of the season.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Former Wilmington Banning football standout Steven Perez has become a star in his freshman season at Wyoming.

After redshirting last season, Perez ranks second on the team in solo tackles with 28 and 54 overall playing linebacker. He’s grown to 6 feet 1, 231 pounds.

At Banning, he could play any position, including quarterback. He was All-City and expected to keep getting better because of his work ethic and the fact he played the first month of his senior year at the age of 16.

Here’s a profile of Perez and his versatility in 2024.

Here’s an interview from 2024.

Recommendations

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on how two 0-10 teams made the City Section football playoffs.

From FrontOffice, a story on the changing roles for high school athletic directors.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story of a football hazing incident has rocked a Northern California school.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.

Leon Goretzka (Aston Villa): Although it was 4-4 in the end at Man Utd, Goretzka was a beast. He was calm under pressure and moved the ball really well as well. He obviously got a goal but his passing, movement and the ability to just be calm and handle every situation presented to him was really, really good.

Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool): How this guy has not got a new deal I don’t know. He keeps coming up big, high energy and he is vitally important to the way Liverpool play. When he is fit and available and firing on all cylinders it feels like they have a chance in this title race.

Enzo Le Fee (Sunderland): Where would Sunderland be without this guy? He has been good, he has been scoring, chipping in with big moments. Also his ability to take the ball when under pressure, take his side up the pitch and also have that little bit of innovative play and free thinking. He is exceptional.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Everton): Bossed the game for Everton against Coventry. Unbelievable goal but he absolutely bossed it. There was nothing more he could have done. Never gave the ball away, defensively he was solid. Attacking wise – goals and assists.

The first volunteers gathered in the back house of Nithya Raman’s Silver Lake home with little besides a whiteboard counting down the number of days until the June 2 primary election.

Raman had jumped into the Los Angeles mayor’s race the day before, right at the Feb. 7 filing deadline. Her campaign didn’t have an office, a bank account, a campaign treasurer, or even a proper website.

It lacked, put simply, “the most basic things,” said Ian Manheimer, Raman’s campaign manager, who joined the team after a 10 p.m. call from Raman the night before the filing deadline. There would be a meeting the next day in Raman’s backyard accessory dwelling unit to get things rolling.

“For anyone who suspected Nithya had designs on this for a long time, you could just come to the ADU and that would dispel those notions,” Manheimer said.

Those unassuming beginnings in Raman’s backyard, with her parents and her husband’s parents taking turns cooking vegetarian Indian lunches for the small staff, evolved into a disciplined campaign that overcame initial struggles to unseat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, a veteran politician who had racked up endorsements from most of L.A.’s traditional power brokers.

Nithya Raman speaks at a campaign phone bank event at UCLA on May 31.

(Jonathan Alcorn/For The Times)

Raman did it on a hyper-abbreviated timeline by turning out and expanding her base of younger renters, pitching herself successfully to Latino voters, securing late but key endorsements from groups and officials that gave massive support to her campaign’s ground game and by running on a hopeful message about restoring city services against a deeply unpopular mayor.

From the moment she got into the race, there was an evident, yet narrow lane for the progressive, second-term council member to rise to the city’s highest office, but it was far from clear that she would be able to make it through.

For much of the primary, Raman and her campaign were all alone. She had few endorsements, and almost none from elected officials.

Because of her late entry into the race and some past disagreements, she failed to secure the backing of the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America for the June 2 primary, even though the left-wing organization endorsed her in both of her council campaigns. Raman got almost no supportive outside spending in the primary, while millions of dollars were spent opposing her.

But Raman had made a name for herself on the City Council as an advocate for tenant rights, and her campaign focused on turning out L.A.’s legions of renters to secure enough of the vote to make the runoff.

She was still a largely unknown entity early on in the race, with 51% of likely voters in a March poll saying they didn’t know enough about Raman to form an opinion of her.

On top of that, Raman was quickly upstaged by Spencer Pratt, the Republican former reality television personality, whose slash-and-burn campaign on social media attacking L.A.’s liberal political establishment dominated news coverage.

While Raman’s camp hadn’t initially worried too much about Pratt, thinking he and entrepreneur Adam Miller would split the more conservative vote in the city, it became clear as the primary went on that Pratt could emerge over Raman as the second candidate in the runoff.

Spencer Pratt, from left, Karen Bass and Nithya Raman take part in a televised debate at the Skirball Cultural Center May 6 during the primary race.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

To dent Pratt’s appeal, the Raman campaign worked to brand him as the MAGA Republican in the nonpartisan race, knowing it would hurt his chances in a deep-blue city like Los Angeles. They chose to try out the line at the only televised mayoral debate.

Raman didn’t miss her chance.

“This is a MAGA Republican’s idea of what Los Angeles looks like,” she said during the NBC4 debate on May 6, referring to Pratt’s sometimes dystopian depiction of L.A. “This is really not the city that I love so much.”

Though Raman’s debate performance was widely panned — and Pratt’s was praised — her team felt she had gotten the point across to Angelenos: With the unpopular Bass almost certain not to win the primary outright, the runoff could either be a contest between two progressive Democrats, or Bass versus a candidate whose views echoed those of President Trump.

That debate was a learning moment for Raman and her campaign.

“She’s up against an extremely seasoned politician and a television star. She’s just a normal person who hasn’t been on stage like that,” Manheimer said.

But defining Pratt as MAGA, the campaign believed, would pull some voters to Raman from lower-performing candidates on the left and in the middle with the hopes of keeping Pratt out of the runoff.

Raman was able to eke out a win against Pratt in the primary, getting 29% of the vote compared to his 26%, with Bass taking first place at 34%.

The sole goal of the primary for Raman’s campaign was, self-evidently, to make it out of the primary.

If her team could move on to the runoff, it would be able to reset — fundraising would restart, it could build a bigger team and it would have a longer runway to increase Raman’s name recognition and build out her base.

While Bass dominated labor and elected official endorsements throughout the race, Raman began to pick up key supporters in the runoff.

In August, the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters endorsed her, sponsoring an independent expenditure group for her called Estamos con Nithya for Mayor 2026.

That was followed by the endorsement from the union Unite Here Local 11, a major player in city politics, which represents hospitality workers at airports and in hotels.

Raman also got major endorsements in the runoff from City Controller Kenneth Mejia and L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

Mejia especially became a pit bull for Raman at events and on social media.

“Kenneth would call every day and say, ‘Let me know what myths I can bust today,’ ” said Tessa Wick, the communications director for Raman’s campaign.

“We didn’t have time to feel particularly lonely in the primary, but once we saw what it felt like to have all these groups and people behind us, each press conference we would do was injecting more force into this movement we were building,” Wick said.

Raman’s bid also got a serious infusion of cash from Aaron Sosnick, a hedge fund manager and bike lane advocate who poured $8 million into two independent expenditure groups to support Raman, making him the single biggest spender in the mayoral campaign.

“He is a cyclist. He just wants to not die riding the streets in L.A.,” said Michael Schneider, who runs Streets for All, a transportation advocacy group that ran one of the independent expenditure groups that Sosnick funded.

Raman also capitalized on a difficult summer for Bass, during which the mayor faced turnover on both her campaign and administration teams, unsheltered homelessness rose citywide (but crucially, went down sharply in Raman’s city council district) and a massive fire burned at a cold-storage food warehouse in Boyle Heights, sending noxious fumes into the heavily Latino, working-class neighborhood.

Nithya Raman, right, reviews notes in Spanish with Lauren Perez-Rangel before an interview at Univision on Oct. 22.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

“Many Latinos saw themselves in the Boyle Heights residents,” said Lauren Perez-Rangel, senior director of Latino outreach for the Raman campaign.

Bass had prevailed in more Latino neighborhoods than any other candidate in the primary. The Raman campaign worked to change that in the runoff, Perez-Rangel said, focusing especially on Latino voters. Raman brushed up on her Spanish and used it frequently at events.

The campaign also teamed up with Latino and Spanish-language content creators to spread Raman’s message of affordability, building more housing and solving the homeless crisis. The result: Raman led Bass among Latino likely voters throughout the runoff campaign, according to polls by UC Berkeley IGS and the L.A. Times.

Despite that growing support, Bass and her allies’ negative portrayal of Raman in attack ads had an effect, as Raman’s unfavorable ratings rose month by month. They framed the council member as too far left, allowing homeless encampments in front of schools and failing to show up for thousands of City Council votes.

“It was a race to define Nithya,” said Jeff Millman, an advisor and spokesperson for Raman’s campaign. “Their strategy was to tear down Nithya. Our job was to make sure that people knew Nithya’s strengths and record of success as a council member.”

As the campaign drew to a climax, Raman improved as a candidate and came off as more confident during the two runoff debates. Her team said she spent many hours improving her debate skills.

“There was no secret weapon, just a person really committed to practicing,” said Wick.

Still, she opened herself up to attacks from Bass’ side during the final debate Oct. 13, after she said the city used to be the “gold standard” of noncooperation with immigration authorities under controversial former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates. Bass hammered Raman over the remark, accusing the council member of romanticizing Gates’ tenure.

Despite that and other missteps during the closing days of the campaign, her team said it was Raman’s insistence on running a largely positive campaign about an optimistic vision of L.A.’s future that pushed her over the finish line.

“She was really dogged that it was a campaign that was hopeful, not nasty and cynical. She wanted the campaign to be a love letter to L.A.,” said Wick.

Nithya Raman embraces her husband, TV writer Vali Chandrasekaran, left, on election night at the Greek Theatre plaza.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

In her election night speech, still trailing Bass by a few percentage points that she would quickly make up, Raman spoke to that vision.

She called it a vision where the people who made L.A. extraordinary could afford to live in the city and where government is responsive and takes responsibility.

“We believed that Angelenos were hungry for that city,” she said. “And it turns out that we were right.”

Upon hammering her 19th kill on a cross-court attack, Westley Matavao leaped into the arms of her teammates to celebrate Mater Dei’s 24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 triumph over Sierra Canyon in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 girls’ volleyball final Saturday night at Cerritos College.

Having avenged a loss in the section finals last season, the Monarchs’ next goal is to defend their state championship, and they will be the top seed when the Southern California Regional Open Division bracket is released Sunday.

Westley Matavao goes on the attack for Mater Dei against Sierra Canyon in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 girls’ volleyball championship match on Nov. 7, 2026.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“This season it’s important for us to win everything because I’ve been here all four years, this is my last one and I wasn’t going to take losing as an answer,” said Matavao, a senior outside hitter headed to UCLA.

The Monarchs (39-1) have dealt Sierra Canyon (32-2) its only losses this season and the top two programs in the nation could meet for a third time, but for now Mater Dei reigns supreme after earning its second section title in three years. It swept the Trailblazers in the finals two years ago.

Freshman Jimin Seung had 14 kills, Cal-bound middle blocker Emma Kingston had 11 kills and sophomore libero Sienna Cicero finished with a match-high 23 digs, diving all over the floor to keep points alive.

“It was definitely tougher this time around — over half of them are high Division I level players — so you can’t underestimate a team like that,” Cicero said. “Our blockers played great and funneled the ball perfectly for me. My mentality is we’re going to win no matter what.”

Mater Dei beat Sierra Canyon, 25-18, 25-17, in the gold division final at the Durango Fall Classic in September before suffering its only loss to Trinity League rival Santa Margarita 11 days later.

Katherine Nowak, center, celebrates a kill with Mater Dei teammates Jael Smith, left, and Riley Stringer against Sierra Canyon in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Sierra Canyon trailed by seven points midway through the first set but rallied to take an 18-17 lead on an ace by McKenna McIntosh, who blasted through a left-side block on the Trailblazers’ first set point. McIntosh, a hitter headed to USC, finished with 10 kills and 19 digs and Nebraska-bound middle blocker Kendall Omoruyi had a match-high 22 kills.

The Monarchs were clinging to a 21-20 lead in the second set when Matavao took control, hammering spikes for her team’s last four points. An ace by Kalea Lee gave Mater Dei a 21-19 lead in the third set and another by Matavao had the Trinity League champions one set away from victory.

Lee (22 assists) and fellow setter Riley Stringer (25 assists) ran the Monarchs’ offense with precision and Matavao, the cousin of Trailblazers setter Lucky Fasavalu, who is committed to Missouri, added 14 digs.

Sierra Canyon’s Kendall Omoruyi hits over Mater Dei blockers Emma Kingston, center, and Jimin Seung in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Concentrating on the task at hand, Matavao said the two did not talk before the match.

“I’m grateful to be part of this team,” Matavao said. “We did all this together.”

In the preceding Division 2 final, Long Beach Poly trailed 14-12 in the fifth set before reeling off the last four points to beat Redondo Union, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 16-14. It marked the second section title in three seasons for the Jackrabbits, who won the Division 3 title in 2024.

Avery Milburn had 18 kills for second-seeded Poly (29-7) and blocked the Sea Hawks’ top hitter, Asofiafia So’oto, on match point.

“I could see her approach going angle and I knew I had to get my right hand on it and make it the best block ever,” said Milburn, who got a kill to thwart the first of the Sea Hawks’ two chances to end it.

Long Beach Poly’s Alison Wetteland plays a ball at the net in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 girls’ volleyball final against Redondo Union on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

McKennah Iamaleava had 29 kills, 15 digs and two aces and teamed with Alison Wetteland for a block to level the final set at 14-14. Mina Orbiso finished with 32 assists, Cedra Talaga had 20 digs and Aleeya Salima added 18 kills and seven digs for Poly.

So’oto had 17 kills, Abigail Hairrell had 11 kills and Leah Blair had nine kills and 14 digs and Addison Uphoff had five blocks, including one to end the fourth set for Redondo Union (22-12), which had upset No. 1-seeded Newport Harbor in the quarterfinals and No. 4 San Juan Hills in the semifinals.

In the Division 3 final, Corona del Mar outlasted Newbury Park 24-26, 25-20, 25-15, 22-25, 15-13 to capture its first section title in 22 years and the eighth in program history.

Corona del Mar’s Sofia Dajnowiec, right, tips the ball over two Newbury Park blockers in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 girls’ volleyball championship on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I’m glad I was able to score that final point,” said senior outside hitter Sofia Dajnowiec, who pounded her 36th kill to end the match. “To win this means everything, it’s the best thing that could happen. We really worked hard in practice and stuck together as a team.”

Isabella Spinella dished out 44 assists, Savannah Dennis had 14 kills and 18 digs, Olivia Rosowski had 25 digs and Dajnowiec added 17 digs for the Sea Kings (26-9), who served 13 aces.

Charley Knupp had 18 kills and 15 digs, Emmery Reynolds had 10 kills and 10 digs, Olena Harasymowycz added 29 digs and Keira Overbeck handed out 32 assists for the Panthers (34-10), who were making their second finals appearance in three seasons, having lost the Division 4 title match to Campbell Hall in 2024.

Taft takes City Section Open Division title

Making its fourth finals appearance in five seasons, Taft defeated West Valley League rival Cleveland in five thrilling sets at Birmingham High to claim the Open Division championship — its seventh City title under coach Arman Mercado since he took over the program in 2000.

The fourth-seeded Toreadors (34-7) avenged two league losses to the third-seeded Cavaliers (31-12), who were vying for their first section crown after going 10-0 in the West Valley League to capture their first outright league title since 2004.

Mercado piloted the Toreadors to the City championship in 2006, the Invitational title in 2008, Division II titles in 2009, 2013 and 2014 and their first Open Division championship in 2024.

Second-seeded Granada Hills Kennedy upset top-seeded Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in four sets in the Division I final.

This is no longer about sweet underdogs. This is no longer about smoke and mirrors.

This is as real as a Ty Dieffenbach rocket. This is as legit as a Wayne Knight rumble. This is as true as a Sammy Omosigho roar.

This is the best college football team in America.

This is UCLA.

The College Football Playoff selection committee has insulted them, their city has mostly ignored them, and few outside of the range of Bob Chesney’s wonderfully gravelly football voice has actually believed in them.

Wise up. Pay attention. This is evolving into one of the best stories in college football history, and it gets more eight-clappy by the week.

Less than a year removed from a 3-9 record, the Bruins improved to 9-0 Saturday with a dominating 34-20 victory over physical Minnesota at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Playing in a place where the Gophers had only lost once in two years, playing with a backup quarterback making his first road start — and still outgaining Minnesota by 170 yards and outscoring them 17-0 to end the game — this was the Bruins’ best win of the season.

They entered Saturday morning sitting only eighth in the initial CFP rankings, which is a joke, and one that should be corrected by next Tuesday night.

UCLA should be ranked No. 1. Right now. Period. That’s right, number one, ahead of those stinky two-loss SEC teams, ahead of those marginal one-loss SEC teams, ahead of unbeaten but untested Utah, ahead of unsettled Miami, ahead of every other team that may have better metrics but just don’t look the part.

UCLA aces the eye test. Watch this team for four quarters and marvel at the depth, the drive, the smarts and the shock.

For the last two months the Bruins’ defense has been the best in the country, their running game has been the best in the Big Ten, and they’re outscoring opponents 112-34 in the fourth quarter.

Heard enough? Just watch. Their specialty is that shock, witnessed Saturday at the start of the fourth quarter with the game locked in a 17-all tie after a Gopher touchdown dart from Drake Lindsey to a leaping George Rohl seemingly gave the home team all the momentum.

UCLA quarterback Ty Dieffenbach smiles after the Bruins’ win over Minnesota on Saturday.

(David Berding / Getty Images)

Next play from scrimmage? Dieffenbach hits sprinting Florida transfer Aidan Mizell down the middle for a 75-yard touchdown pass.

Boom, Bruins.

Minnesota used the ensuing possession to drive for a 36-yard field goal by Luke Drzewiecki to keep it close and regain some of that momentum.

Next play from scrimmage? Dieffenbach connects with an all-alone-again Mizell with another soaring downfield pass that became another 75-yard touchdown reception.

Boom, boom, Bruins

“Our guys battled,” said Chesney afterward. “They never wavered.”

They indeed never waver, a testament to this team’s experience, toughness and depth. The players have bought into this resilience such that they’re not afraid to state it as fact.

“We own the fourth quarter,” Dieffenbach said. “People can say whatever they want. We know what we have in this building.”

What they have is a team that their coach claims is guided by a single word.

“Belief, belief, belief,” Chesney said. “They believe in their coaches, and they ultimately believe in each other.”

UCLA coach Bob Chesney yells during the first half of the Bruins’ win against Minnesota.

(Abbie Parr / Associated Press)

If you close your eyes, you can hear Curt Cignetti saying all those things last season during Indiana’s miracle run to an unbeaten national title.

Chesney doesn’t particularly like being compared to Cignetti — they are two totally different coaches who don’t really know each other — but the similarity in the rise of the two programs is unmistakable.

Renowned basketball school. Forlorn football tradition. Enter dozens of veteran transfers and a culture-changing coach and — voila! — you have a title contender.

That UCLA has the best football team in the country at the moment obviously doesn’t guarantee they will win it all. They still have tough games at home against Illinois, on the road at Michigan, and back home against USC, followed by the Big Ten championship game. They will still have to earn a first-round bye and its accompanying home playoff game to have a chance.

But that chance seems charmed, as charmed as a second-string quarterback leading your team to a November road victory by completing just eight passes for an amazing 303 yards and three touchdowns.

“Every game, every play I think I’m going to keep gaining confidence, showing the guys I can play too,” Dieffenbach said.

The quarterback was complemented by the usual Knight numbers — 109 yards rushing and a touchdown — and an Omosigho-inspired defense that makes every big play.

Next up, the Illini, winners of four consecutive games, coming to the Rose Bowl Friday night in front of… who knows how many? So far the biggest Bruin skeptics appear to be their own fans, which last week led to some friendly fire from their famous former quarterback.

Speaking on Dallas radio’s The Ticket, Troy Aikman chided Bruin fans who are maintaining their recent tradition of avoiding the Rose Bowl.

“Little embarrassing that we were 7-0 going into last week’s game and, they shoot it pretty low [TV camera angles] so you can’t really tell when you’re watching the game, I’m told there was about 20-25,000 people at the game,” Aikman said of the Bruins’ win over Nevada. “So when you have a stadium at the Rose Bowl that holds over 100,000, 25,000, it may as well be empty as opposed to some other stadiums that maybe hold 40,000.

He added, “We’ve got to get people going to games, we’ve got to get them excited about it. And then you say, ‘Well, how do you get them excited? If 7-0 doesn’t get them excited, what will?’ I don’t know the answer to that.”

The Bruins drew just 24,611 to the Rose Bowl against Nevada, but it was a game held on Halloween afternoon. Wait until USC shows up two days after Thanksgiving. And give Bruin fans a break. This fast-moving bandwagon is still brand new.

“That air keeps getting thinner and thinner and thinner as you climb to the top of this mountain,” said Chesney.

Nine and oh and if Saturday is any indication, the best football team in America is just getting its second wind.

It began as something merely conceptual, a tantalizing possibility.

Last June, immediately after the Rams traded for star edge rusher Myles Garrett, the NFL grapevine began buzzing:

Would Aaron Donald, a three-time NFL defensive player of the year, consider coming out of retirement to play with Garrett, a two-time winner of the award?

After a summer of rampant speculation, Donald signed on to join what was already regarded as a Super Bowl-favorite team.

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Gary Klein breaks down what to watch for Sunday when the Rams face the Washington Commanders.

But Donald’s ramp-up to achieve football shape precluded him from playing in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers. And Garrett underwent knee surgery after that loss, so the two stars were unable to play together for seven games.

On Sunday, it will finally happen.

Barring an unexpected setback, Garrett and Donald will line up together for the first time when the Rams play the Washington Commanders at Northwest Field in Landover, Md.

Two players accustomed to being double- or triple-teamed — two players with a combined 236½ sacks — are eager for opportunities.

“The offenses are really going to have to pick their poison,” said Garrett, who amassed an NFL season-record 23 sacks last season. “‘Who’s going to be freed-up this play?’

“I think either of us are pretty good at winning one-on-ones, so we’ll have some fun.”

Said Donald, one of the most dominant interior linemen in NFL history: “It’s always good when you’ve got all the pieces to the puzzles out there.”

The Rams (4-4) aim to build on their modest two-game winning streak and get over .500 for the first time this season.

The defense will be without cornerback Jaylen Watson, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in last Sunday’s victory over the Chargers. Cornerback Trent McDuffie is questionable after suffering a back injury against the Chargers and not practicing this week.

Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald tackles New York Giants running back Najee Harris for a loss during a Rams win on Sept. 21 at SoFi Stadium.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

But Garrett’s return should energize a team that still intends to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.

The Rams have only 12 sacks, which is tied for 26th among 32 teams. Edge rusher Byron Young has a team-best 4½ sacks. Donald is still looking for his first.

The attention the Commanders and future opponents must pay to Garrett and Donald will open play-making opportunities for others, Young said.

“I always call it art,” he said of Garrett’s and Donald’s ability to excel despite double teams. “Because it’s not easy when you’ve got four hands on you 90% of the time. And they still make it work.

“So it’s going to be fun. I can’t wait.”

Defensive lineman Braden Fiske said players are acclimating to Garrett’s skill set and play style.

“I’m sure there will be some kinks to work out early on, but it’s still pretty early in the season,” Fiske said. “He’s been playing for 10 years, so it shouldn’t be too hard to catch his stride.

“But he looks damn good out there.”

Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson played against Garrett in 2023, when the Rams defeated the Cleveland Browns at SoFi Stadium. The 6-foot-4, 272-pound Garrett’s size, speed and burst at the snap is “amazing,” Jackson said.

“He’s like a running back with skill but like a D-lineman with his power,” Jackson said. “He’s good at change of direction — like on a dime…

“He’s kind of like a do-everything kind of guy who’s seen everything as far as looks.”

Coach Sean McVay wants Garrett to “play within himself” Sunday.

“He doesn’t have to do anything other than be Myles and play one-eleventh of what the rest were asking to do for the defense,” McVay said.

Garrett said he won’t fight the excitement, the joy and all the emotions of finally getting to play again.

“You don’t try to push them back,” he said. “You open yourself to them. You accept it.

“After acknowledging it, you go out there and do what you’ve always done.”

“There’s nothing more difficult than taking something that’s really, really good and trying to make it better,” says Daniel Harding, newly appointed music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Harding is perched on a sofa at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in an office that belonged to Gustavo Dudamel for nearly 20 years. The name on the plaque outside the door is now Harding’s, but the decor — particularly the heavy Hollywood Bowl throw blanket that keeps sliding off the cushions behind him — is not. Understandably tired after flying in from Paris the night before, Harding is in town to conduct three concerts of Brahms and Bernstein this weekend.

The LA Phil is heralding a new era after Dudamel left for the New York Philharmonic, having achieved legendary status and leaving a world-class orchestra in his wake. Harding doesn’t officially begin his directorship until the 2027 season, but he has two programs on this season’s schedule.

With Harding’s arrival, the LA Phil has announced a new shared leadership model that represents a departure from the 17 seasons under Dudamel, who served as both music and artistic director. Instead, Harding will split responsibilities with Esa-Pekka Salonen, who holds the title of creative director, and Anna Handler, the new conductor-in-residence. On Wednesday, the LA Phil also announced a new row of artistic chairs: Samara Joy (McLendon) as creative chair for jazz (succeeding Herbie Hancock), Silvana Estrada as creative chair for Latin music, a new position, and Thomas Adés as creative chair for New Music (succeeding John Adams). A chair for film music is still being finalized, and veteran film composer Joe Hisaishi was recently appointed composer-in-residence.

(Hancock and Adams will join Zubin Mehta with emeritus titles. Dudamel holds an artistic and cultural laureate position.)

Esa-Pekka Salonen holds the title of creative director under the L.A. Phil’s new shared leadership model.

(David Swanson/For The Times)

It’s all very exciting and just a tad chaotic — kind of like a game of musical chairs. Scheduling the interviews and photos for this article has taken nearly four months seemingly because all of these musicians are busy and scattered to the four winds. McLendon is based in Harlem, where she has started a jam session night at a local restaurant. Estrada lives in Mexico City and is currently on tour with her band. Hisaishi lives in his native Japan, and Harding resides in Paris.

President Kim Noltemy’s strategy, to divide labor and empower an array of specialists, is a bold counter to the traditional model of the all-powerful artistic and music director.

“Our new artistic leadership team brings us a remarkable breadth of perspectives and strengths across disciplines,” Noltemy said in a news release about the most recent appointments, “allowing us to imagine new forms of presentation, build unexpected collaborations, and create experiences that challenge, inspire and engage audiences. Perhaps most important of all, this team will amplify the wide range of voices, cultures and genres in Los Angeles.”

It remains unclear just how the new system will work, but all participants seem eager to find the best way as they go, and Harding still emerges as the symbolic head of the system with direct purview over the orchestra itself.

Anna Handler, the new L.A. Phil conductor-in-residence leading the Beethoven program at the Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026.

(Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)

“They have a vision [that] more voices can represent better what they want to do in the future,” says Handler, whom I interviewed at Massachusetts’ Tanglewood music festival in August. “You know, one single voice is not enough to speak for everything they want to do and everyone they want to reach.”

Salonen offers a steady, familiar hand, although neither Harding nor Handler are strangers to this orchestra. Both are well-liked guest conductors, going back as far as 1997 for Harding.

Handler, who turned 30 in April, says that when her appointment was announced, “I think like 25 musicians wrote to me on WhatsApp or on Instagram, and they were all like, ‘This is so deserved,’ or ‘We are so happy, we can’t wait for the projects to come with you,’ or like, ‘We’re so happy you’re part of our family now.’”

Handler embodies the youthful and diverse future of classical music — half Colombian, half German, she speaks fluent Spanish and is interested in new technologies. She is also visibly enthusiastic about the vote of confidence from the LA Phil and the creative sandbox it represents.

“This position for me means a safe space to grow, step by step, and do projects that I couldn’t do somewhere else,” says Handler, who has something “super cool” in mind for a Hollywood Bowl concert next year and is particularly excited to work with children. “You have the Walt Disney Concert Hall which, when you set foot in this building, you are like, ‘Wow, am I in the future? Am I in the present? Am I in the past?’

“The building evokes inside of me a desire to experiment,” she says.

McLendon, 26, and Estrada, 29, have both been contracted to curate four concerts, in different LA Phil venues, for two years. McLendon says she wants to bring some East Coast influence to the L.A. scene, and — in addition to playing with her own septet — she has a dream for “a night where older musicians and younger musicians kind of share the stage in a way that maybe they haven’t done before outside of their respective projects.”

Estrada says one of her goals is exploding the idea many non-Latino people have that “the Latin sound is just one sound.”

“The Latino community is the soul of an entire continent,” she says. “So there are so many sounds and so many stories, really. And I think I’m really excited about, in one hand, bringing all this richness of the Latino culture, but also how this richness reacts to other cultures and to other sounds.”

“I think what is great about the LA Phil and all the venues they have,” Estrada says, “is it’s a really, really beautiful and empowering place to tell any story you want to tell.”

Harding, 51, arguably has the least specific and most challenging mandate.

Daniel Harding, the newly appointed director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, arrives in L.A. in May after he was announced as Gustavo Dudamel’s replacement.

(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

“The genuine success of everything that’s happened here in the last 20 years is so impressive and so deep,” Harding says, “that coming in and saying, ‘Yeah, I can contribute something,’ that feels like a step. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could be part of the journey as we continue to grow. But yeah, that’s a big challenge.”

The Oxford-born conductor and licensed pilot, who has co-piloted the London Symphony and captained the Orchestre de Paris and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (among other posts on an impressive CV), brings a dry, erudite charm and a different energy than his charismatic Venezuelan predecessor.

“I inherit from him an orchestra that has great energy and flexibility and knows what it is to sell something with what they call ‘sexy music-making,’” says Harding, “and it’s all there to be enjoyed and to be nourished. It’s a huge gift.”

Still, Harding adds: “We all hear different things. We all have slightly different priorities.”

Harding recalls conducting the orchestra two years ago, in a program of Britten and Strauss, and offering tweaks to color and balance: “I thought, yeah, there’s an orchestra which has a way of doing things which is very coherent, but they have so much available space in their musical awareness, and so much technical ability, that if you give them something else to think about or to munch on, the change is strong and quick.”

“Gustavo and I share a lot of things,” he continues, “but any two musicians hear things differently, see things differently, understand them differently — and I think the orchestra is very, very receptive to that.”

Gustavo Dudamel, left, hugs Daniel Harding, Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new music director, before a Rockies vs. Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium in May — just after Harding was announced as Dudamel’s replacement.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Harding is keeping his big dreams and schemes for the LA Phil close to the vest, but teases that one of them “involves one of our chairs, and it involves some of the people who make this town so admired all around the world, and it involves something that chair and I both grew up with. And that’s looking possible, and even if nothing else were to happen, if we make that one happen, I’ll be very, very excited.”

How this game of musical chairs will play out is a mystery, and it will likely take some time — and possibly trial and error — for Harding and his sprawling cohort to find their rhythm together. But the LA Phil is arguably the perfect band to take a big swing and try bold new things.

Handler cites her experience as a Dudamel Fellow, in 2024, conducting “Swan Lake” selections for the orchestra’s youth series.

“I had five performances, and what the musicians said to me about what they liked was that I did something different every time,” she says. “I tried this idea of experimenting for the sake of getting better, but also keeping it alive.”

Ryan Rakowski approached Friday night’s Southern Section Division 2 opener like it was the last of his high school career.

Palos Verdes’ senior quarterback assured it would not be by completing 11 of 14 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-20 triumph over visiting Gardena Serra. He also ran for a three-yard score and was subbed out midway through the fourth quarter with his team comfortably ahead.

“It comes down to one week at a time and the goal tonight was to be one of the eight,” said Rakowski, who committed to Nevada in June. “Whether it’s ugly or pretty, just get it done.”

Palos Verdes running back Christian Reis is shoved out of bounds in the first half against Gardena Serra on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

The win was the 200th for coach Guy Gardner, the Sea Kings’ head coach since 2009, and afterward his players sang happy birthday to senior wide receiver and defensive back Kevin Owens — a testament to how close knit the team has grown.

“The competitiveness on this team is unmatched,” added Rakowski, who led the Sea Kings to the Southern Section Division 5 title as a sophomore and to the Division 3 final last season. “It helped having played them already. We looked back at the film and were prepared even though they changed some things.”

The teams met in the first week of the season Aug. 21 and Palos Verdes won. 17-14. The Sea Kings will have another rematch next Friday when they host Inglewood in the quarterfinals. The Sentinels dealt Palos Verdes (10-1) its only loss 26-23 in Bay League action Oct. 9.

Palos Verdes was in command from the start Friday, On the first play from scrimmage, Rakowski threw a sideline pass to Jackson Reese, who faked out a defender and raced 53 yards for a touchdown.

Palos Verdes’ Joseph Sarmiento and Jeremey Roe sack Gardena Serra quarterback Hassi Houston for a loss on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Rakowski’s three-yard run capped a 10-play, 89-yard drive to make it 14-3 and his eight-yard strike to Jalen Flowers capped a 12-play, 78-yard march that upped the lead to 18 points. Jovany Barragan’s second field goal — a 35-yarder on an untimed down — cut Serra’s deficit to 21-6 at halftime.

Rakowski connected with Aaden Brady on a 17-yard score on Palos Verdes’ first possession of the third quarter, Niko Dragin kicked a 30-yard field goal and Weston Reis returned an interception 25 yards to the house after the ball popped into the air on a punishing hit.

Darlington Nzenwa caught a 38-yard pass from Malik Tunai in the third quarter and Quintin Washington closed the scoring on a 30-yard fumble return with 2:35 left for Serra (5-6).

Serra’s star running back AJ McBean was hoping to return after sitting out the last two games because of a hamstring injury first suffered Oct. 2 against Bishop Amat.

Palos Verdes receiver Jackson Reese eludes a Gardena Serra defender near the sideline Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I feel pretty good, man!” the 6-0, 215-pound Stanford commit said as he took the field for pregame warmups but he remained in uniform on the sideline all game.

Cavaliers freshman quarterback Hassir Houston had to be carried off the field with an apparent leg injury late in the first half but returned in the fourth quarter.

In a surprise shakeup of the Dodgers coaching staff, hitting coach Aaron Bates and the team are parting ways, as confirmed by a person with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said after the season that he expected “status quo” for the coaching staff. But, as MLB Trade Rumors first reported, negotiations on a new contract for Bates eventually reached an impasse.

The rest of the Dodgers coaching staff, including co-hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, is expected to return next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.

Bates spent 12 years in the Dodgers organization, including four as a co-hitting coach with Van Scoyoc, and four as an assistant hitting coach. Before joining the major-league staff, Bates served as a minor-league hitting director and coach.

This past season, the Dodgers’ star-studded but aging offense ranked No.2 in weighted runs created-plus (111) — a comprehensive offensive stat that adjusts for ballpark factors — behind only the Cubs. But the Dodgers are working to diagnose two straight years of a July and August dip in offensive production.

Their search to replace Bates begins in a unique offseason. When the current CBA expires on Dec. 1, MLB team owners are expected to impose a lockout, during which teams will be restricted from communicating with players. So, if the Dodgers want their new hitting coach to meet with hitters or contribute to their offseason hitting plans, they will have to finalize the hire or promotion in the next few weeks.

Who: Valencia vs Real Madrid
What: La Liga
Where: Mestalla Stadium, Valencia, Spain
When: Saturday, November 7, at 9pm (20:00 GMT).
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up from 17:00 GMT ahead of our live text commentary stream

Jose Mourinho’s Madrid visit Valencia knowing that a win will provisionally draw them level with league leaders Barcelona.

Madrid have had some wobbles so far this season, but have won their last seven games in all competitions – including four in the league and an El Clasico win over Barca since a 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid in September.

Mourinho’s side are currently third in the La Liga table, three points behind the leaders Barcelona, with the Catalan side set to play second placed Atletico on Sunday.

Valencia will be hoping to inject some life into their season as they go into the weekend second bottom of the table, having taken just nine points from 11 games.

Madrid’s coach lavished praise on Jude Bellingham after the midfielder scored a brilliant back-heeled goal against AEK Athens in the Champions League on Wednesday.

On a night when Bellingham became the youngest player to make 60 appearances in European club football’s top competition, the England midfielder scored and was named player of the match as Madrid rallied to a 3-2 win.

“He is a unique player. Today, there is no midfielder in world football like Jude, who is complete on all levels,” Mourinho said.

“I don’t have many words because, for me, he is an absolutely extraordinary player. Even on a day when he doesn’t have a great match, one of those jaw-dropping performances, he still brings work, leadership, ambition, quality, and goal-scoring ability. He is an extraordinary player.”

Bellingham, who was also the youngest player to make 50 appearances, reached his latest landmark at the age of 23 years, 128 days, overtaking iconic former Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

He struck in the 32nd minute by connecting with Marc Cucurella’s cross and flicking a first-time shot past goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli.

“It was just instinct really,” he said. “I found myself in a good position and managed to do the only thing that came naturally in that position. It was a nice one.”

Valencia get ‘very important’ win at Elche

Coach Javier Aguirre said his Valencia side needed the win over Elche last weekend, which came courtesy of a second half goal by substitute Nigerian striker Sadik.

“It’s a very important win for us, because we’d come off three matches without a victory, and now we have Real Madrid CF coming up. We couldn’t afford to get cut adrift,” he said.

“Getafe CF and RCD Espanyol both won, so if we hadn’t done likewise, a rather large gap would have opened up.”

“It’s a very significant win, both in terms of the result and the performance.”

What have the coaches said about the match?

Mourinho, Real Madrid: “This match is one of the toughest matches in the entire Spanish league. Valencia’s coach is extremely difficult, he has great experience, he knows what he wants, and he has a clear philosophy in working with teams, so it will be a very difficult match.”

Aguirre, Valencia: “You don’t need extra motivation for that game. We’ll be playing against one of the best sides in the world, and I hope that we have a good game.”

Prediction

The Opta supercomputer has made Real Madrid the clear favourites, with a win probability of 70.4 percent. Valencia were given a 12.7 percent chance of winning, while a draw was estimated at a 16.9 percent likelihood.

Head-to-head

• Previous matches: 216
• Real Madrid wins: 114
• Valencia wins: 59
• Draws: 43

Last five encounters:

• February 8, 2026: Valencia 0-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
• November 1, 2025: Real Madrid 4-0 Valencia (La Liga)
• April 5, 2025: Real Madrid 1-2 Valencia (La Liga)
• January 3, 2025: Valencia 1-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)
• March 2, 2024: Valencia 2-2 Real Madrid (La Liga)

What happened in their last encounter?

Real Madrid won 2-0 at Valencia in February as second-half goals by Alvaro Carreras and Kylian Mbappe settled a largely uneventful contest.

Real dominated possession but found chances hard to come by, with Valencia keeper Stole Dimitrievski rarely called into action as the visitors struggled to turn control into threat.

It took them until the 65th minute to break the deadlock through Carreras before Mbappe wrapped up the points in stoppage time.

Valencia’s team news

Sergi Canos, Diego Lopez and David Otorbi will all be unavailable due to injuries, while Jose Manuel Copete is a doubt as he continues to struggle with a knee issue.

Loanee Harvey Elliott returns from suspension, and striker Sadiq looks to have regained full fitness after a hamstring injury and is likely to start.

Predicted starting XI:

Dimitrievski (goalkeeper); Martinez, Tarrega, Pepelu, Gaya; Rodriguez; Maffeo, Mayol, Guerra, Rioja; Sadiq

Real Madrid’s team news

Rodrygo, Raul Asencio, and Ferland Mendy remain unavailable due to injuries, while Vinicius Junior will miss out as he serves the final game of a domestic suspension.

Predicted starting XI:

Courtois (goalkeeper); Valverde, Konate, Huijsen, Cucurella; Tchouameni, Bernardo; Guler, Bellingham, Diomande; Mbappe

One mistake can turn your season around

From Kevin Baxter: The most significant game of Angelina Anderson’s season was also her worst.

It was Angel City’s fifth match of the season and Anderson, the team’s goalkeeper, made a crucial error in stoppage time that led to a winning goal. And while that was significant, what really made the game stand out is what happened next.

When she carried the weight of the loss home with her, her boyfriend, Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Thomas Booker, staged an intervention. Every time she make a mistake, Booker told Anderson, she would beat herself up. Yet when she played well, she simply considered that part of her job.

“We came to this conclusion that is not sustainable,” Anderson said. “I’m putting way too much pressure on myself so I had to figure out a way to care, not less, but care optimally. As athletes, we’re always like ‘what more can I do?’ when really I think it’s ‘what’s optimal for you?’

“That kind of gave me more freedom on the pitch.”

Playing with that freedom, Anderson gave up just one goal per game during the rest of the season, pitching a league-best nine shutouts since May 17 and leading Angel City (15-8-7) to its second playoff appearance. Anderson and Angel City will meet Kansas City (16-9-5) on Saturday morning at CPKC Stadium, where the Current is unbeaten in its past 32 games.

Continue reading here

Aaron Donald works on fumble recovery

From Gary Klein: Since coming out of retirement before this season, Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald adopted a humble approach, always allowing younger, less-accomplished players to go ahead of him during drills.

But on Thursday, the future Hall of Famer enthusiastically moved to the front of the line.

The Rams practiced scooping fumbled footballs off the turf.

“I needed that,” Donald said Thursday, chuckling. “Learn bending and getting down.”

Last Sunday against the Chargers, Donald missed the opportunity to score his first NFL touchdown when, with a clear shot to the end zone, he failed to come up with a fumble, albeit in hilarious fashion.

Continue reading here

Angel City signs Maddie DiMaria, 17

From Kevin Baxter: Angel City heads into this weekend’s NWSL playoffs with the youngest starting lineup in the league. And with a 10-game unbeaten streak, it has the hottest team in the league as well.

On Thursday, that team got a little younger and potentially a bit better when it announced the signing of 17-year-old Maddie DiMaria, the leading scorer in the U-17 women’s World Cup. Financial terms of the four-year deal were not released.

“This person is special,” sporting director Mark Parsons said of DiMaria, who signed with Angel City before scoring 12 goals in four games in the age-group World Cup. “But she also represents what Angel City football is about and what Angel City is trying to do over the so many years, which is win.

“And she’s a winner.”

A two-time Gatorade girls’ national soccer player of the year, DiMaria scored 24 times in 23 appearances with the U-17 team, with her 12 goals in Morocco breaking Michelle Akers’ 35-year-old American record for most goals in a World Cup. Before graduating from Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis, she scored 67 goals and had 25 assists as a junior, leading her team to a 25-0 season and a state championship.

Continue reading here

Lakers send two to G League

From Dan Loumena: Third-year guard Bronny James and rookie guard Cameron Carr have been assigned to G League Coachella Valley, the Lakers announced Thursday.

James, who is the third year of a four-year contract worth $7.9 million ($4.4 million guaranteed), played only 12 minutes this season across five games, scoring four points on two-of-three shooting while missing his only three-pointer.

Carr, who was the 24th overall draft pick this summer, has played only four minutes in three games, missing the only shot he took.

Continue reading here

UCLA women defeat UC Irvine

Sienna Betts scored 17 points on eight-of-10 shooting and No. 11 UCLA used a big start and strong finish to roll to a 78-42 win over UC Irvine on Thursday night.

The Bruins never trailed after Betts hit a short basket 12 seconds into the game. It was 23-8 after one quarter. The Anteaters were only outscored by seven in the middle quarters and then UCLA had a 14-0 advantage in the fourth quarter when Irvine went 0 for 11 from the field and committed seven turnovers.

Elina Aarnisalo added 14 points for the Bruins (2-0), Timea Gardiner had 12 points and KK Bransford had 10 points.

Continue reading here

UCLA box score

Ducks edge the Oilers

Cutter Gauthier became the first Ducks player with nine goals over a four-game span, scoring and adding an assist in a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Gauthier — coming off consecutive hat tricks — has seven power-play goals in the four-game span. Dating to 1933-34, the only other NHL players to accomplish the feat are Dave Andreychuk (eight, Nov. 7-14, 1992) and Teemu Selanne (seven, Oct. 25-31, 2008).

Pavel Mintyukov and Beckett Sennecke each had two goals and an assist for the Ducks, and Laurent Brossoit made 23 saves. They have three in a row to improve to 8-7-1.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1869 — First U.S. college football game played, Rutgers 6, Princeton 4.

1934 — Joe Carter scores four touchdowns and Swede Hanson rushes for 190 yards as the Philadelphia Eagles crush the Cincinnati Reds 64-0.

1966 — Philadelphia’s Timmy Brown returns kickoffs 93 yards and 90 yards for touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a 24-23 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

1981 — Larry Holmes knocks out Renaldo Snipes in the 11th round to retain the world heavyweight title in Pittsburgh.

1983 — James Wilder of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rushes for 219 yards and a touchdown in a 17-12 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

1988 — Britain’s Steve Jones win the New York City Marathon in 2:08:20, the fastest time in the world this year. His margin of victory, 3 minutes and 21 seconds over Salvatore Bettiol, is the largest in the history of the five-borough race. Grete Waitz wins an unprecedented ninth women’s title, finishing in 2:28:07 well ahead of Italy’s Laura Fogli (2:31:26).

1992 — Manon Rheaume of the Atlanta Knights becomes the first woman to suit up for a regular-season pro hockey game. The 20-year-old goalie doesn’t play in Atlanta’s 3-2 overtime loss to Cincinnati in the IHL game.

1993 — French-based Arcangues stages the biggest Breeders’ Cup upset, rallying to beat Bertrando by 2 lengths in the $3 million Classic at Santa Anita. Arcangues went off at 133-1 and returned $269.20 on a $2 bet.

1993 — Evander Holyfield regains the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships from Riddick Bowe in a fight disrupted by a parachutist. During the seventh round at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the chutist tumbles into the ringside seats and stops the fight for 21 minutes. Holyfield becomes the fourth man to become a heavyweight champion at least twice.

1995 — Art Modell officially announces Cleveland Browns are moving to Baltimore.

1999 — Charles Roberts rushes for 409 yards and five touchdowns to lead Sacramento State past Idaho State 41-20, setting a new NCAA record for a single-game rushing performance.

2005 — Annika Sorenstam becomes the first player in LPGA Tour history to win a tournament five straight times, shooting an 8-under 64 for a three-stroke victory in the Mizuno Classic.

2010 — Michigan wins the highest scoring game in its 131-year history by stopping a 2-point conversion attempt in the third overtime for a 67-65 victory over Illinois.

2010 — Zenyatta comes within a head of finishing a perfect career. Horse racing’s biggest star closes from dead last, but Blame holds off the 6-year-old mare and wins the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic under the lights Churchill Downs. Zenyatta entered the race hoping to improve to 20-0 on her career.

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.

Third-year guard Bronny James and rookie guard Cameron Carr have been assigned to G League Coachella Valley, the Lakers announced Thursday.

James, who is the third year of a four-year contract worth $7.9 million ($4.4 million guaranteed), played only 12 minutes this season across five games, scoring four points on two-of-three shooting while missing his only three-pointer.

Carr, who was the 24th overall draft pick this summer, has played only four minutes in three games, missing the only shot he took.

James has played in 74 games during his young career, including 42 last season when he averaged 2.9 points and 1.2 assists in 8.9 minutes.

The Lakers moved their G League affiliate to Coachella Valley, where they will open the season Friday at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert against Salt Lake City.