Category Archives: Yahoo

Are you ready to get in the game? Make your first bet today.

Yahoo Sports may receive compensation from BetMGM in connection with the wagers you make on the BetMGM platforms.

BetMGM is offering a special promotion for football fans! New customers in AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MI, NJ, TN, VA, WV or WY who bet $10 or more on any event will win $100 in free bets.*

Its easy to sign up and get started:

Thats it! You dont need to win your bet to receive the bonus.

*New customers only. Must be 21+. AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MI, NJ, TN, VA, WV, or WY only. Paid in free bets that expire 7 days from issuance. Minimum deposit required. Visit BetMGM.com/YahooSpecial for terms and conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO, KS, LA, WY & VA), 1-800-270-7117 (MI), 1-800-GAMBLER (IL, IN, NJ, PA & WV), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), or 1-800-889-9789 (TN).

GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL (877-8-HOPENY) OR TEXT HOPENY (467369) (NY)

See the rest here:

Bet $10 on any football game and win $100 in free bets - Yahoo Sports

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has yet to announce which quarterback will start in Week 1, but the team's social media account may have ruined that surprise. Mitchell Trubisky was named a team captain Monday, a sign he will get the start when the team takes the field Sunday.

It's fantasy football season: Create or join a league n

If this news came out in early August, it would not have come as a surprise. Trubisky signed with the Steelers in free agency and prepared all offseason to be the team's starter. While the Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft, Pickett received third-string reps early on in camp. Barring a tremendous preseason, it appeared Pickett wasn't a threat to win the job.

Well, Pickett delivered a strong preseason, showing timing and precision with the Steelers' offense. He finished the preseason with 261 passing yards and three touchdowns. Pickett did not throw an interception in three games. Trubisky did not perform poorly in the preseason, throwing two touchdowns with no interceptions.

The Steelers gave another indication Trubisky would start Sunday. He's listed as the team's No. 1 option on a depth chart released by the club Monday.

The Steelers released an updated depth chart on Tuesday, which still had Trubisky as QB1, but there was an important change. Pickett, who had originally been listed as No. 3 on the depth chart, was named as Trubisky's main backup, with Mason Rudolph serving as the third-stringer.

Though Pickett will likely start the year on the bench, he should have an opportunity to jump into the starting lineup soon. Pickett impressed enough to put pressure on Rudolph and Trubisky. Given how great Pickett looked in the preseason, Trubisky likely doesn't have a lot of room for error. If he gets off to a slow start, Pickett could see significant playing time before the Steelers' Week 9 bye.

It's up to Trubisky to prove he deserves to remain in the starting lineup. Trubisky has put up solid numbers in the past, but has not developed in line with his No. 2 overall draft status. After leaving the Chicago Bears, Trubisky opted to sit behind Josh Allen on the Buffalo Bills last season and develop.

Story continues

It's possible Trubisky is a new man after leaving Matt Nagy behind and operating albeit in a backup role with a functional offense in Buffalo. If that's the case, Pickett will stay on the bench longer, but the Steelers will probably be winning games.

But if Trubisky hasn't progressed during his year as a backup, it's only a matter of time before Pickett hops into the starting role. Pickett put the pressure on Trubisky with an excellent preseason, so it's up to Trubisky to come out early and play mistake-free football if he wants to keep the job.

Mitchell Trubisky was named a captain with the Steelers. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Original post:

Mitchell Trubisky named one of the Steelers' captains, a sign he will start in Week 1 - Yahoo Sports

Earnie Shavers died Thursday, one day after his 78th birthday. (Getty Images)

Earnie Shavers, who earned a reputation as the hardest puncher in the game during a golden era of heavyweight boxing in the 1970s, died Thursday, a day after he turned 78. The cause of death is unknown.

Shavers fought primarily during the '70s, though his career stretched from 1969 through 1995. He was 74-14-1 with 68 knockouts in his career.

He fought both Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title. He fought Ali for the title on Sept. 29, 1977 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ali won a 15-round unanimous decision.

Ali had dubbed Shavers The Acorn before the fight because of his shaved bald head. But Ali had to fight a brilliant 15th round to get the decision and afterward uttered one of his greatest lines when talking about Shavers punching power.

Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk in Africa, Ali said after the fight.

Former heavyweight champion George Foreman said in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman that the hardest punchers he fought were Gerry Cooney, Ron Lyle and Cleveland Williams. When Letterman asked Foreman about Shavers, Foreman had a telling response.

I never fought Earnie Shavers, thank goodness, Foreman said.

Shavers fought Holmes twice, the first time being a non-title bout on March 25, 1978 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in his first bout after losing to Ali. Holmes won a 12-round decision over Shavers in that match and, in his next fight, beat Ken Norton to win the vacant WBC title.

Shavers and Holmes fought for the WBC belt at Caesars on Sept. 28, 1979. In the seventh, Shavers knocked Holmes down. Holmes got up and proceeded to stop Shavers in the 11th.

After the fight, Holmes said the punch Shavers hit him with to drop him was the hardest hed ever been hit.

Shavers wasnt a big man for a heavyweight at 6 feet tall and around 210 pounds. In todays game, hed be encouraged to compete at cruiserweight, which has a 200-pound limit.

But he was feared by all of his peers, who routinely raved about his power.

Story continues

Shavers made several comebacks but was done for good in 1995 after losing by knockout in the second round at 51 years old.

He was an easy-going, fun-loving guy who made a habit of showing up at major boxing events after his retirement. He was always in demand by fans for pictures and autographs and reveled in the attention he received.

The biggest win of his career was clearly on March 23, 1979, when he knocked out Norton in the first round at the then-Las Vegas Hilton. He also had a win over former heavyweight champion Jimmy Ellis as well as Jimmy Young.

He lost a shootout to Lyle in Denver in 1975. Lyle went on from that victory to a fight with Foreman, which would be one of the greatest slugfests in boxing history. But Lyle had no doubt which of the two was the bigger puncher.

Hey man, thats the hardest Ive ever been hit in my life, Lyle said of Shavers. And George Foreman could punch, but none of them could hit like Earnie Shavers did. When he hit you, the lights went out. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it wasn't funny.

Related video:

Here is the original post:

Earnie Shavers, regarded as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history, dies at 78 - Yahoo Sports

Kanye West has pleaded with his followers not to attack Adidas creative director Alasdhair Willis, despite criticizing him on social media only hours earlier in one of a slew of posts related to West's ongoing feud with the retailer.

The rappers feud with Adidas and his other retail partner Gap has escalated in recent days; West accused the brands of copying his designs, and he has made it clear that he thinks Adidas new Adilette slides are a rip-off of his Yeezy slides.

He has also attacked the retailers for not adhering to his desires regarding the promotion of his Yeezys line, and for making decisions without his permission. Last week, he even claimed that he would start his own independent Yeezy store starting in Atlanta, ending his decade-long deal with Gap and long-term partnership with Adidas.

West called out the Adidas CCO on Instagram Tuesday, posting a picture of Willis and writing: To the creative director of Adidas Alasdhair Willis Ive done songs with your father in law. How can you watch Adidas do what theyve done to a fellow creative and not say anything and never even meet me or call me? Why did I have to do this in public?

In another post shortly after, he pulled back on his attack: To all the Ye fans, please take down any meme of Alasdhair. I believe this is a good guy and he will actually call me and actually help.

He captioned the second post: Lets see if we can speak to him first. Me and Paul McCartney have made a lot of great music, Im cool with the family, referring to Willis wife Stella McCartney, daughter of the veteran musician.

Kanye West and Paul McCartney have collaborated four times, most notably on their hit song FourFiveSeconds with singer Rihanna.

In April this year, Willis became the chief creative officer of Adidas after he helped push forward the collaboration between the brand and designer Stella McCartney in 2005he has been married to McCartney since 2003, and they have four children together.

Story continues

Willis is in charge of leading Adidas design team and heads up its Performance, Originals, and Sportswear labels.

Aside from Adidas, he is also creative director of British fashion heritage brand Hunter and cofounder of Wallpaper magazine.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Read this article:

Kanye West pleads with fans to cease online attacks on Adidas creative directorhours after calling him out on Instagram - Yahoo Finance

Jake Pauls critics will moan, and note that the You Tube sensation turned boxing prodigy pro boxer is again taking the easy way out. Hes facing Anderson Silva 47-year-old man on Oct. 29 at Gila River Arena in Phoenix, Arizona in the main event of a Showtime Pay-Per-View card. That 47-year-old man only has four boxing matches, theyll moan.

His supporters will point out that 47-year-old is arguably the greatest fighter in UFC history and that he is, by far, the toughest test of Pauls fledgling boxing career.

Showtime made the Silva-Paul bout official on Tuesday.

It should be pointed out that both points of view are correct. Since he turned professional on Jan. 30, 2020, Paul has fought: AnEsonGib, a social media influencer; Nate Robinson, a former NBA player; Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley (twice with Woodley), ex-MMA fighters; and now Silva. MMA and boxing are similar sports but not the same, and both Askren and Woodley had wrestling as their base in MMA.

Yes, Silva is 47 and yes, his win over ex-middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is hardly something to brag about. Chavez battled drug and alcohol issues throughout his career and by the point he fought Silva, he was no longer interested in fighting, barely trained and was spotted throughout his camp partying.

Silvas boxing debut came on May 22, 1998, when Paul was 16 months old. He didnt box again until 2005 and then not again until 2021 after hed finished his MMA career.

But even at 47, Silva is a vastly superior striker to both Askren and Woodley (and, it goes without saying, to Robinson and AnEsonGib). Hell be by orders of magnitude the finest fighter that Paul has faced.

Paul is still a developing boxer, and if he didnt have a widely recognizable name, hed either not be boxing at all or would be facing boxers the world has and never will have heard of.

[It's fantasy football season: Create or join a league now!]

His name is big enough, though, to sell tickets and pay-per-views, though he seems much more popular in the MMA space than he does in the boxing community.

Story continues

A bout with a 47-year-old Silva is a fairly matched fight, though a bout with a 37-year-old Silva would have been a gross mismatch.

Anderson Silva will face Jake Paul on Oct. 29 at Gila River Arena in Phoenix, Arizona (Getty Images)

The only bad thing here is that Paul is treading on Silvas name and stellar reputation to boost his own reputation, and Silva may be at a point in his career where hes not able to do anything about it.

What the success of these boxer-versus-MMA fighter shows prove and theres a wide range from amazingly good to very poor is the gullibility of the public. I remain amazed five years later that there were more than a handful of people who figured Conor McGregor had a chance to defeat Floyd Mayweather. He didnt, and the fact that McGregor won a couple of rounds was simply due to Mayweather playing and carrying McGregor to build up drama before he got to work.

Yet, even despite that outcome, there are plenty who still believe an MMA fighter would have a chance in a boxing match against a similarly situated boxer. An MMA fighter would beat a boxer easily and every time if they fought MMA instead of boxing. But when they box, the boxer is going to win going away.

The only difference is in a case like this, where Silva is 22 years older than Paul, clearly years past his prime and not really a boxer.

If Silva wins, it says a lot more about Paul than it does Silva. And if Paul wins, well, given Silvas age and recent track record, it doesnt prove anything other than that Silva was well beyond his sell-by date. Silva, remember, was 1-7 with a no-contest over the last seven years of his UFC career. He was hardly the guy who dominated the sport for nearly 2,500 days.

Paul, though, is a master salesman and none of that matters to him.

Anderson The Spider Silva is the most versatile fighter the world has ever seen, Paul said in a statement. Just a year ago, he outclassed boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and showed the world why he is often referred to as the greatest fighter of all time. Every expert, from MMA to boxing, has said Jake Paul wont fight Anderson Silva. They said Jake Paul is afraid of Anderson Silva, and Jake Paul would lose to Anderson Silva.

Well, to all the non-believers Jake Paul is fighting Anderson Silva. Its an honor to have the opportunity to share the ring with the greatest UFC striker of all-time. On Saturday, October 29, I will walk humbly into the ring, touch gloves with a living legend and do my best to exterminate The Spider.

Of course, Chavez was hardly a boxing champion when Silva defeated him. It had been more than nine years since he was a champion on the night he fought Silva, but hey, Paul is a salesman and he has PPVs to sell.

The result will come down to Silvas legs. If hes got his legs under him, hell win the fight. If he doesnt, Paul will probably take him by decision.

Either way, the result will prove very little. But it will do business and those who criticize it should remember that fact. The fight game is a business, and at the end of the day, thats really all that matters.

Originally posted here:

UFC legend Anderson Silva will face Jake Paul in boxing match on Oct. 29 in Arizona - Yahoo Sports

Quarterbacks get most of the attention in the NFL. That's why they always win the MVP awards.

There are passing props on just about every starting NFL quarterback at BetMGM. Our Yahoo Sportsbook team takes a look at our favorite overs and unders for passing yardage and touchdowns:

MARK DRUMHELLER: Unders on QB props (passing yards and TDs) hit at a 74% clip last season per Betsperts Connor Allen. There isnt a QB in the league in a worse position than Justin Fields. Chicago has the worst OL in the NFL and the second-worst set of receivers. Fields under 3,299.5 yards are as good as gold.

NICK BROMBERG: Patrick Mahomes has thrown for over 4,700 in each of the three full seasons hes played the NFL. His only season as a starter with fewer than 4,700 yards came when he missed time because of a knee injury in 2019. Thats why I really like Mahomes to throw for over 4,649.5 yards this year.

Patrick Mahomes is looking for another big season with the Kansas City Chiefs. (AP Foto/David Banks)

PETER TRUSZKOWSKI: Justin Herbert to go over 4,699.5 passing yards. He eclipsed 5,000 last season and I expect him to be near the top of the league again. The Chargers will need to throw the ball to keep up in games against their loaded division. My only concern would be injury, but thats a concern with anyone.

GREG BRAINOS: Kirk Cousins over 31.5 passing touchdowns. Hes cleared this in each of his seasons with Justin Jefferson, and that was in Mike Zimmers vanilla offense. I see Cousins tossing 40+ scores under Kevin OConnell this season, which is why Im also putting a taste on him to lead the league in passing touchdowns at 18-to-1.

SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Baker Mayfield cruises over 3,600 yards (-115) if he simply stays healthy. Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore can drag him there. And dont be spooked by 2021 Mayfield; he wasnt healthy for most of the year and the Browns set him up to fail. All is forgiven.

FRANK SCHWAB: Id rather bet unders than overs, because more can go wrong in an NFL season than can go right. Theres a trio I like: Jameis Winston under 3,749.5 (he wasnt a high-volume passer last season and is an injury risk now), Mac Jones under 3,949.5 (another low-volume passing offense) and Matt Ryan under 3,899.5 as my best bet. The Colts threw for 3,588 yards last season, not that much has changed around the quarterback position and I expect them to be good and protecting a lot of leads. Ryan will be efficient but not a 3,900-yard passer.

See the article here:

NFL betting preview: Mahomes, Herbert and the rest of our favorite passing props - Yahoo Sports

NBA fans will get an early look at the potential top two picks in the 2023 draft next month.

European star Victor Wembanyama, the projected No. 1 pick in next years draft, will travel with the Metropolitans 92 from Paris to Las Vegas for a pair of exhibition games on Oct. 4 and 6, according to ESPNs Jonathan Givony.

Wembanyamas team will take on the G League Ignite, which will match him up against projected No. 2 pick Scoot Henderson.

The games, which are set to be broadcast on an ESPN network, are sure to draw plenty of scouts and attention.

Wembanyama is one of the most anticipated players out of Europe in recent memory. The 18-year-old stands 7-foot-4 barefoot and has an 8-foot wingspan, and he was named the French LNB Pro A Best Young Player for two straight years.

Yahoo Sports Krysten Peek described him as Rudy Gobert mixed with Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis. Or more simply, hes a larger Giannis Antetokounmpo without any weaknesses. Wembanyama is easily the most talked-about prospect since LeBron James.

Henderson is entering his second season with the Ignite this fall, and is one of three players on the team projected to go in the first round of next years draft. The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 14 points, five rebounds and 3.6 assists last season, and hes been turning heads for years.

"I think what separates me from the rest of the players in my draft class is I just played an entire season in the G League," Henderson told Yahoo Sports. "I'm basically a pro. I've been around pro settings and pro development and that's really helped prepare me for next year."

The Ignite will open their season officially on Nov. 4, and the team will play a full 50-game schedule for the first time. Metropolitan 92s season will start later this month, and theyll have three games before they travel to Nevada.

Victor Wembanyamas Metropolitans 92 and Scoot Hendersons G League Ignite will play a pair of exhibitions in Henderson, Nevada, next month. (Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

See more here:

Projected top picks Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson to square off in exhibitions in Las Vegas - Yahoo Sports

One more sleep. The NFL season is finally upon us. Many have spent the past few weeks preparing for the upcoming season and have just recently started diving into the betting market. However, BetMGM first released its betting lines for Week 1 of the NFL season all the way back in April. These lines have been molded by transactions, injuries, hype, sharp money and a collection of other factors, and the result is what we see now.

How has the betting market changed over the fast few months? Only three games currently have the same spread as when the market opened, and two of those games saw the line moved earlier in the summer before moving back. Let's take a look at the bigger line moves that we saw this NFL offseason.

As you're getting ready to start your NFL betting season, you're probably starting with the season opener on Thursday night in Los Angeles. Currently, the Rams are 2.5-point home underdogs against the Buffalo Bills. However, when this line opened, the Rams were actually 1-point favorites.

There's plenty of hype surrounding the Bills. They are the Super Bowl favorites. They have the highest win total in the league. Josh Allen is the preseason betting favorite to win MVP. It's no surprise that bettors have sided with Buffalo in the season opener. At BetMGM, 74% of bets and 90% of the money is backing the Bills to cover as 2.5-point favorites.

Josh Allen and the Bills open the NFL season as favorites over the Rams. (Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)

There are some questions surrounding the Rams. The biggest question is the health of Matthew Stafford's elbow. The Rams say there's no limitations, but there's also concern it could impact him all season long. On top of the health of their quarterback, this team is missing some key pieces from last year's Super Bowl winning team. Von Miller, Odell Beckham Jr, Robert Woods, Andrew Whitworth, Austin Corbett, Sebastian Joseph-Day and Darious Williams are gone. They've been replaced by Allen Robinson, Joseph Noteboom, Brian Allen, Bobby Wagner and Troy Hill.

Story continues

The Rams should still be very good. They have the fourth-best Super Bowl odds. However, bettors and the market just like the Bills more, and it has been reflected in the line movement throughout the summer.

A year ago at this time, many felt the Cleveland Browns finally had a franchise quarterback in Baker Mayfield. However, Mayfield attempted to gut through injuries last season and had a putrid year. The Browns acquired Deshaun Watson in March, signaling the end of the Mayfield era in Cleveland. Now as we get ready for Week 1, Mayfield is a member of the Carolina Panthers and preparing to face his old team in Week 1. Meanwhile, Deshaun Watson is suspended and the Browns are going to start Jacoby Brissett in his place.

When the market opened, the Browns were 4.5-point favorites. Baked into that line was the chance Watson would avoid suspension, or Mayfield might stick around and suit up for Cleveland. However, with everything shaking out how it has, the Browns are now 1.5-point underdogs in Carolina.

Mayfield is an upgrade for the Panthers over Sam Darnold, while Brissett is a below average starting quarterback in the league. There's also no denying that the majority of the football world outside of Cleveland is rooting for Baker Mayfield on Sunday. At BetMGM, 87% of bets and 91% of the money is backing the Panthers to cover the 1.5-point spread.

The six-point line movement is the largest we've seen in any Week 1 game this offseason. It looks like bettors are expecting Baker to stick it to his old team. No matter how it goes, it's must watch.

The Kansas City Chiefs opened as 3-point road favorites against the Arizona Cardinals. Rather quickly, that line moved to 3.5 points. However, it was stuck there almost all summer until just this week.

Over the past few days, the line has ballooned up to 6 points. Overall, 76% of bets and 89% of the money is on Kansas City. The Chiefs have been a popular bet throughout the offseason, so the sudden and massive line movement is rather surprising.

The Cardinals were the best team in the league through the first half of last season. However, things fell apart in the second half of the season. Kyler Murray missed some time, as did DeAndre Hopkins. They laid a complete egg in the playoffs against the Rams. Arizona is one of the harder teams to read entering the season, but it feels like bettors are deciding to fade them to start the season.

Kansas City isn't without questions themselves. They traded Tyreek Hill to Miami in the offseason. It'll be interesting to see what this offense looks like now that Patrick Mahomes no longer has his most explosive weapon. Bettors think the Chiefs will do just fine and beat the Cardinals comfortably on the road.

The Ravens opened as 4.5-point favorites against the Jets. However, an influx of Ravens bets (93% of money) and a Zach Wilson injury has the Ravens currently favored by 7 points on the road.

New Orleans is now a 5.5-point favorite against the Falcons after opening at -4. At BetMGM, 81% of bets are on the Saints.

The line movement in the Dolphins-Patriots game has been interesting. The Dolphins opened as 3-point favorites. However, for most of the offseason, the line was Miami -2.5 as early support favored New England. Now as we approach kickoff, the line has moved the other way and the Dolphins are 3.5-point favorites.

San Francisco opened as a 6.5-point favorite against Chicago on the road. That line is now up to 7.

The Eagles are 4-point road favorites in Detroit currently. The market opened with Philadelphia as a 3.5-point favorite. At BetMGM, 76% of the money is backing the Lions to cover as an underdog.

There's been movement through a key number in the Jacksonville-Washington game. The Commanders opened as 3.5-point favorites, but now Washington is just a 2.5-point favorite.

Denver opened as just a 3.5-point road favorite against Seattle in Russell Wilson's return. However, the Seahawks are planning to start Geno Smith and the betting market isn't a fan of that. The Broncos are currently 6.5-point favorites.

More here:

NFL odds movement: Bills weren't always favored to beat the Rams - Yahoo Sports

Last week, the Los Angeles Dodgers went to New York for a midweek series that was imbued with extra-special stakes for its potential as a postseason preview: a chance to find out how the top two winningest teams in the National League would fare against each other. The Mets took two of three to walk away feeling more triumphant than Timmy Trumpet pantomime riding his namesake instrument.

The games were great, hard fought and close, and the results speak to the possibility that the Mets will make a deep postseason run come October. But they do not upend the existing hierarchy or dislodge from the top spot the Dodgers, who can add their one win in Flushing to 92 others, plus a whole backlog from recent seasons.

The top of their lineup boasts rings from three other clubs: Mookie Betts, who won in 2018 with the Boston Red Sox; Trea Turner, who won in 2019 with the Washington Nationals; and Freddie Freeman, who won last season with the Atlanta Braves.

They know how it feels to play on a championship-caliber team, so what makes the Dodgers different?

I think that was a little bit more of a cultural thing, Turner said about the Nationals team that went from 19-31 to wild card to World Series winners.

We all liked each other and hung out with each other and we were really close. So I think talent, plus how much we enjoy one another was the success there. Here, we definitely enjoy each other and I think we've come together a lot in the last few months, which is really important and cool but I just think we would have won regardless, whether we liked each other or not. Just cause of the talent and everything.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Max Muncy gestures as he heads to third after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Insofar as the Dodgers have a secret sauce, this explanation does little to illuminate it. Which makes sense. Their secret part is how theyre able to turn 31-year-old below-average pitcher Andrew Heaney into a sub-3.00 middle-of-the-rotation regular on a staff with the best ERA in baseball. Acquiring guys like Turner practically an afterthought of the Max Scherzer deal that brought him to L.A. last summer thats the fun part of being a behemoth.

Story continues

The answer has stuck with me ever since anyway. Not because it says anything especially revelatory about the inner workings of a specific organization, but because it reflects a funny sort of paradigm in the sport. To win a World Series you need a mercurial magic thats hard to define and impossible to predict. Sustained excellence is something much simpler. Not easier, just simpler.

MLBs postseason is one month away. Down the stretch, teams will jockey for a berth that erases the previous six months. In October anything can happen. And in the end well crown a deserving champion that every baseball season requires the last team standing to both run a marathon and then survive a sprint is a feature, not a bug. But since were to the part of the year where the superlatives start to really mean something, it just feels worth mentioning that we already know the best team in each league. Its been the same two for the past five years.

The Dodgers got a head start. Including 2022 (and I feel pretty good about doing so), theyll have finished first in the NL West nine out of 10 seasons. The one year they didnt, they matched a franchise-high with 106 wins and came up just short in a division race that deserves to have a book or maybe an epic poem written about it. So just keep that in mind for your own sense of awe the Dodgers have been doing this for nearly twice as long as we tighten the time frame to include the ALs best: the Houston Astros.

Since the start of 2017, the Dodgers have won 544 games, the most in MLB. The Astros are second with 522. Only one other team clears 500, the Yankees with exactly that many.

(Their continued success in the years since does not excuse the Astros sign-stealing, but it provides a compelling, if complicated, case that they would have been good without it. Three years after the sanctions, theyre on pace for 104 wins. Youd have to think they stole 22 wins to undermine this argument.)

This is no fluke: Houston has scored the most runs in that span; L.A. is second. L.A. has given up the fewest runs in that span; Houston is second. They have the highest two team wRC+ in that time and the lowest two ERAs. Defense is harder to distill into a universally accepted metric, but they also have the lowest two opposing BABIP in that time, a testament to the ineffectiveness of putting the ball in play against them.

Both their championships come with caveats, shall we say, and each would likely need another to entertain dynastic consideration. But even the rings they have are notable: The other three winningest teams in that five-year span Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians have all failed to win a World Series. Consistently dominating the regular season and peaking in the postseason is a tier of two.

Well, we werent good for a lot of years, obviously, Lance McCullers Jr. said recently of the Astros run of success. And thats certainly part of it. They did this on purpose, and being bad was part of that plan. But the cyclical sacrifice required to tank is precisely why sustainability is considered the ultimate achievement. And including 2017, neither the Dodgers nor Astros have selected higher than 15th in the draft since.

The Houston Astros' Jose Altuve (27) celebrates his solo home run with Yordan Alvarez during the third inning against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

McCullers drew the connection between the Astros front office and disgraced former general manager Jeff Luhnows career start with the St. Louis Cardinals, a club that has managed to stay similarly relevant if not quite as fruitful with a smaller payroll and for far longer. St. Louis has had only one losing season this millennium, reliably turning middle-of-the-pack draft slots into homegrown talent that learns to win together in the lower levels, expertly complemented by a select few high-profile acquisitions.

And to that blueprint, the Astros added early adoption of advanced analytics.

It's not only here's the information, it's here's the information and here's how you should try and apply it, Astros third baseman Alex Bregman said recently.

McCullers said the Astros have always used data to simplify players processes, rather than complicate them. Bench coach Joe Espada, who coached for the Miami Marlins and Yankees, added: Its just part of our DNA, its who we are and it's part of our process. It's actually the best I've seen on the teams that I've been with.

Of course all good teams rely on data. Beyond that, Turner distills the Dodgers particular strengths down to depth and matchups.

Well, that and relatively unmatched financial might.

They do a really good job putting people in a position to have success here, he said. So not only do they have the depth from development, spending the money and all that, but then also I feel like the matchups and the way they use people is really efficient.

This is all a pretty long-winded way of saying look at the cumulative standings. And a pretty cursory look at the machinations behind the scene that make them possible. But since the whole point is to determine the top teams, its worth considering that at a certain scale, the answer and the evidence is incontrovertible. There will be plenty of good stories in October this year, mostly premised on long droughts and skin-of-their-teeth finishes. Plus two teams with the best cases to be there and that can be fun, too.

Just ask Trey Mancini, whose career with the Baltimore Orioles involved a lot of losing in service of what is hopefully an Astros-esque future before getting traded to Houston at the deadline. Recently, he provided a compelling assessment of the vibes inside a clubhouse thats used to winning.

It's great, he said. "I mean, it's awesome.

See original here:

Making sense of the Dodgers' and Astros' sustained success is rather simple - Yahoo Sports

The start of the college football season is a mixed bag. The excitement is palpable as everybody is ready to have their Saturdays filled with college football again. However, most of the games are non-conference games. While there are some intriguing non-conference matchups every week, there are also a lot of one-sided matchups on the schedule. Some teams use the first few weeks as a preseason and don't want to take the risk of an early season loss ruining their season.

As a result of the scheduling, the first few weeks are littered with large spreads. For every marquee Notre Dame vs. Ohio State matchup, there are two or three Alabama-Utah State matchups. Large spreads scare off a lot of bettors as it's hard to judge how willing a team will be to run up the score. There's also the possibility of backups playing a lot of the game. Some bettors don't want to mess around with that stuff. If you're one of those bettors, you might want to rethink your stance as you left some money on the table in Week 1.

In Week 1, FBS teams that were favored by at least four touchdowns against other FBS teams went 8-0 against the spread. Those results included:

Alabama 55 - Utah State 0 (Alabama -42)

USC 66 - Rice 14 (USC -32.5)

Michigan 51 - Colorado State 7 (Michigan -30.5)

Texas 52 - UL Monroe 10 (Texas -37)

Oklahoma 45 - UTEP 13 (Oklahoma -31)

Tennessee 59 - Ball State 10 (Tennessee -37)

Minnesota 38 - New Mexico State 0 (Minnesota -36)

Tulane 42 - UMass 10 (Tulane -28.5)

A lot of people are cautious when it comes to big spreads. Some try and get cute and bet first-half lines or first-quarter lines to avoid any late-game shenanigans. Others avoid the game all together. However, at least in Week 1, it was as simple as just laying the massive number with the favorite for the whole game.

There's no denying there's a wide gap in talent between teams at the college level. These spreads are massive for a reason. The lesser teams have little chance of keeping up. Most of these teams have backups better than the other team's starters.

Story continues

Jim Harbaugh and Michigan covered as massive favorites in Week 1. Can they do it again in Week 2 of the college football season? (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

However, the narrative becomes different when you look at FBS teams going up against FCS teams. In those scenarios, the FBS team was just 11-11 against the spread when laying at least four touchdowns. Maybe those teams are lesser known and harder to gameplan for. Maybe teams have a harder time getting up for games against little-known FCS schools.

Will the trend of FBS teams covering large spreads against other FBS schools continue in Week 2? Here's a list of games that meet the criteria in Week 2:

Ohio State's offense looked a bit lethargic in their opener against Notre Dame, though you have to give some credit to the Fighting Irish defense. Jaxon Smith-Njigba didn't play much in the opener, and he's expected to miss 1-2 weeks with a hamstring injury.

Arkansas State is coming off a 55-3 win in their opener against Grambling State. It's hard to take much out of that game, but former Florida State quarterback James Blackman was efficient, going 15-of-20 for 210 yards and two touchdowns for the Red Wolves.

Ohio State is a 44-point favorite on Saturday.

Western Michigan was within a score of Michigan State in the third quarter, but two fourth-quarter touchdowns from the Spartans got their backers a rather undeserved cover as 21.5-point favorites. On the other side, Akron needed overtime to knock off St. Francis PA in their opener. Michigan State is a 34.5-point favorite on Saturday.

Brent Venables' coaching debut went rather well, as Oklahoma covered as 31-point favorites against UTEP. UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel was efficient, averaging over 10 yards per attempt and throwing two touchdowns. The Sooners averaged nearly 7 yards per carry on the ground. They are back in the massive favorite role this week, as Oklahoma is a 33.5-point favorite against Kent State. The Golden Flashes failed to cover as 23-point underdogs in a 45-20 loss to Washington in Week 1.

Michigan rolled in its opener, winning 51-7 as a 30.5-point favorite against Colorado State. However, there are still question marks surrounding Michigan. J.J. McCarthy will take the first snap for the Wolverines this week as he and Cade McNamara continue to split quarterback duties. McNamara started last week and was far from impressive. He went 9-for-18 for 136 yards, 61 of which came on a bubble screen to Roman Wilson. Despite the quarterback questions, the defense was dominant and Michigan pounded the ball on the ground.

Michigan is a 51.5-point favorite against Hawaii this weekend. Hawaii has been putrid to start the season, getting outscored 112-27 combined by Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky. The defense hasn't stopped anyone and the offense isn't doing much either. It feels like Michigan will be able to pick its score here, and we know Jim Harbaugh has no issue with bullying lesser teams.

Toledo beat Long Island University by a score of 37-0 in their opener, but failed to cover as a 47.5-point favorite. UMass projects to be one of the worst FBS teams again, as it failed to cover as a 28.5-point underdog against Tulane in Week 1. Toledo is a 28-point favorite this week.

See the article here:

College football betting: Don't be afraid to lay the points on big spreads - Yahoo Sports