Chris Sutton admits he is “not sure what has happened” to an “excellent” Celtic player, following the weekend defeat away to St Johnstone.
Celtic suffer disappointing Scottish Premiership loss
Brendan Rodgers’ side produced a strangely below-par display on Sunday afternoon, losing 1-0 away to their bottom-of-the-table counterparts, in a result that few saw coming. The manager himself was livid at what he saw, sharing his unhappy comments after the game and making it clear his players had been read the riot act.
“There’s definitely anger. I’m trying to control it. And listen, I look at my own self first and foremost. I’m proud of my career and how I teach players and how I inspire them and how I motivate them. Am I doing the very best job I possibly can to inspire these and motivate these to get over the line? So that’s my first look.
“But I just think there’s a comfort there I don’t like. And it doesn’t matter if you’re 13 points or three points ahead. It’s not enough. We have to be much better than where we were in our ambition in the game.”
Rodgers sets high standards at Celtic and it is good to see him lambast his players, rather than go easy on them because of the state of the Scottish Premiership title race. The Hoops may be 13 points clear of Rangers, but it is clear that the 52-year-old is taking nothing for granted, not enjoying seeing his players perform with complacency.
Sutton bemused by "excellent" Celtic player's form
Taking to X after Celtic’s loss to St Johnstone, Sutton gave an assessment of the form of winger Nicolas Kuhn, among others, admitting he doesn’t know what has happened to him.
Sutton has every right to question the form of Kuhn, who made such a bright start to life at Parkhead, being lauded by Rodgers upon his arrival: “We believe he is a dynamic player who has an excellent level of quality and all the attributes to fit well into our style of play He has the profile we are looking for, he has a real attacking intent, a player with great pace and ideas, the ability to create and score goals and a player with a great energy and work ethic.”
Worse than Kuhn: Celtic must axe star who lost the ball every 4 touches
Celtic slipped to a shock defeat to bottom side St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon
ByRobbie Walls Apr 6, 2025
The German, thought to be on around £12,000 a week at Parkhead, has only scored twice since early January though, coming in 14 appearances, with a couple of assists also coming his way in that time. A long campaign may simply have caught up with him, but it is clear that he isn’t the force he was.
Doubt has flooded the environment as the Stokes-McCullum cult credo reaches its fiery endgame
Andrew Miller08-Dec-20256:09
‘Australia have sat back, waited for England and pushed them over’
The Ashes are not yet over, but Bazball most emphatically is. It died, to all intents and purposes, with Ben Stokes’ shockingly frank admission after another crushing defeat, that his team of mindset-driven genre-benders have been found wanting in the heat of a battle that their entire ethos had been geared towards.Specifically, it received its terminal diagnosis under the floodlights on the third evening at the Gabba. England’s display up to that point had been deeply flawed, not unlike so many other Tests of the Bazball era, but this abject passage of play – six wickets in a session, when the daylight resumption promised a flat deck and rich rewards for any batter who could apply themselves – was its point of no return.Theologists have spent thousands of years examining belief systems, watching their rise and fall, and who rightly knows what gives some concepts more stickability than others. England don’t even acknowledge that their curious but compelling cult is actually a thing, let alone that it has a universally recognised name.Related
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But fundamentally, if you believe that there is belief within a system, then there is belief. Cogito Bazball sum, as it were. Right now, there is no sense that England believe in their methods any more. Ergo, the entire philosophy crumbles, or worse. A fiery demise always seemed a plausible endgame.And with it goes every remaining defence of the preparations that went into England’s tour. The cosiness, the togetherness, the lackadaisical attitude to warm-up matches … all of it could be justified by the knowledge that this team, with full-bore mental focus, could be capable of truly extraordinary deeds: specifically of going where their timid, samey forebears could not, and pulling off a series win in Australia for the first time in four dismal visits.That’s not to say, however, that the series has yet been surrendered. Not after a contest in which Stokes and Joe Root were England’s two stand-out performers, it hasn’t.But the circumstances for this team could not be more different from their last 2-0 deficit in an Ashes campaign, at the very height of Bazball in the summer of 2023. Back then, their surety of purpose was intoxicating – nauseating, even, to Australians who still grumble about the pursuit of moral victories – but there was simply nothing that could penetrate their firewall of self-affirmation, not even (at that heady stage of the cycle, at least…) defeat itself.Now, however, if England are to win from here, it can only be through a reversion to type: through a reliance on the sort of miracle-working that Bazball was designed to do away with, with the greats in England’s midst driving every step of the agenda, and with the rank and file falling into lock-step to meet their needs, as Will Jacks did so gamely in the opening session of Brisbane’s final day.Downed under: Ben Stokes conceded his side have not stood up to pressure in Australia•CA/Getty ImagesWhile that seventh-wicket stand was stretching into its fourth hour, we could have been thrust back into the guts of any given show of English resistance from yesteryear: Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe batting through to the close at the Gabba in 1994-95, for instance, or Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen compiling a similar stand on the same stage 12 years later. Resistance was futile then, as it is likely to be now, as England find themselves hauled back to the standard rules of Ashes engagement, after a three-and-a-half year experiment that is already being derided down under as an absurd flight of fancy.Despite all the I-told-you-sos around England’s under-taxing preparations, there’s not a lot of point in being wise after the event. This was their plan, and they were entitled to stick to it, but only on the assumption that the players were still responding to such a permissive environment. To cut Brendon McCullum some slack, that was more or less the point he was trying to make in his post-match comments: that, in the wake of the Perth defeat, England’s sudden switch from calm visualisation to hyper-intensive net sessions was a factor in their subsequent mental fraughtness. Unfortunately, in the circumstances that have just played out, such a takeaway sounds delusional.Far more revealing was Stokes’s own declaration, that “Australia is not for weak men, and a dressing-room that I am captain of is not a place for weak men either”. He might as well have been priming any number of his team-mates (and Ollie Pope in particular) for their collective launching beneath the bus. But moreover, he was reframing the debate so far as the rest of this campaign must pan out. The kid gloves are off now. Crisis has engulfed this tour, just as it did each the three previous Ashes trips that span Root’s and Stokes’ careers. They’ve never yet found so much as an emergency exit, but those players at the very least already recognise that this is not a drill.There’ll be time enough for affectionate remembrance of Bazball when its ashes have been cremated (through hours of toil in the field) over the coming three Tests. But for now, it’s worth recalling Stokes’ sentiments, in the calm before the storm at the start of 2023, when the team was riding high on nine wins out of ten, and long before its subsequent stack of missed opportunities (P33 W16 L15 since) had begun to chip away at its foundations.
“The sadness for Stokes in particular is that he has been conditioning his team to walk this tightrope for three-and-a-half years. They’ve run towards the danger, they’ve explored their line and taken it “too far”, all with half an eye on a challenge that he was willing to risk losing in order to win”
“I’m at a stage now where I would much prefer to leave a mark on other people’s careers than look to make mine more established,” Stokes told reporters on the eve of England’s last pink-ball Test, against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui. “That’s one of my goals as England captain: to hopefully let some of these guys in the dressing room here just have an amazing career and if I can influence that in any way shape or form then I’ll be happy.”It sounds positively Kumbaya, compared to his latest growl from the trenches. By ceding some of his main character energy – with Root, in spite of some acknowledged struggles, doing likewise – Stokes knew he had the means to make the collective stronger, and guard himself against the burnout that almost ended his career four years ago. There is absolutely no doubt that he achieved his aim, for as long as the vibe endured.And yet, England really hadn’t bargained for the collateral that they’ve picked up along the journey. Their failure to win any five-Test series since 2018 is deeply galling, but if Old Trafford 2023 stands out as the great what-if of Bazball’s first iteration, then their loss to India at The Oval last summer will probably come to be regarded as the moment that crushed the concept once and for all.England’s failure to close out the Oval Test against India now looks like a critical moment in the team’s development•Getty ImagesAt the time, and in keeping with so many of this regime’s ickier elements, the shattering nature of England’s six-run defeat was initially lost in the “isn’t-Test-cricket-great?” narrative. And while images of Chris Woakes’ shoulder-in-a-sling heroism abounded, rather less was made of, say, Jamie Smith’s terrible slog off his third ball of that final day, or Gus Atkinson’s inability to grind his team over the line.Even Harry Brook’s bat-flinging departure attracted less eyebrow-raising than it might have done, thanks to the magnificent century that preceded it. You can’t have the one without the other, was the takeaway he brought down under with him, en route to a truly rank dismissal in England’s first innings at Brisbane for which Australia’s tail went out of their way to shame him two days later.And as for Pope, the vulnerability that has stalked him all year long – from Jacob Bethell’s competing claims to the loss of the vice-captaincy – confirms a fact about the Bazball mindset that hasn’t been fully acknowledged since England’s first attempts to “reset” the approach after their 4-1 loss in India. Bubbles pop when you poke holes in them. The doubts had flooded into the environment months ago – including, in all likelihood, from the white-ball set-up that McCullum took over (to deeply unspectacular effect) before the Champions Trophy in January.The sadness for Stokes in particular is that he has been conditioning his team to walk this tightrope throughout these three-and-a-half years. They’ve run towards the danger, they’ve explored their line and taken it “too far”, all with half an eye on a challenge that he, as captain, was willing to risk losing in order to win.Stokes will not get another shot at repairing his legacy in the country that has so defined his career. After two ill-balanced steps, his team’s challenge is already plunging towards the abyss. England need miracles from hereon in. But when you’re all out of faith, that’s easier said than done.
Opportunities for players has never been higher but fixture clash undermines tournament
Matt Roller17-Jan-2024Laurie Evans is the fastest-scoring batter in the Big Bash League this season and blitzed 72 off 34 balls in Perth Scorchers’ final-ball defeat to Sydney Sixers on Tuesday, their final game of the regular home-and-away portion. But when Scorchers face Adelaide Strikers in Saturday’s Eliminator, he will be 9,000km away in Abu Dhabi.Evans is one of seven players who will miss the BBL’s knockout stages in order to feature in the early stages of the ILT20 in the UAE. It is a scheduling clash which leaves three Englishmen – who have a single international cap between them – as the only overseas signings left standing in Australia, and one which diminishes a season that has reinvigorated the BBL.Strikers are the worst-affected club: they will lose this season’s joint-highest wicket-taker in Jamie Overton and the third-highest run-scorer in Chris Lynn, as well as Adam Hose. Brisbane Heat will be without Sam Billings and captain Colin Munro for Friday’s Qualifier against the Sixers, who themselves will have to cope without James Vince.The principal reason does not take long to work out: the ILT20 pays players more than the BBL. “All the way through my career I’ve made a name for myself in finals and big games,” Evans said on Tuesday night. “It’s absolutely the worst time to be leaving, but I’ve got a job to do and a family to feed. It’s just the nature of the beast.”Despite a 50% increase in the BBL’s salary cap ahead of this season, the ILT20 has more financial muscle. ILT20 franchises can spend up to US$2.75 million – including two ‘wildcard’ players – on salaries for a four-week tournament, while BBL teams are capped at US$2m for a seven-week period. Put simply, players earn more money for less work.But wages are not the only consideration: most players had signed ILT20 contracts long before the BBL’s overseas draft. When Overton signed off from the Big Bash with an Instagram post on Monday, he denied a fan’s comment that Gulf Giants will pay him more. “They aren’t,” he said. “I had signed for them before I got drafted with the Strikers.”The first two overseas drafts have split opinion and have added needless uncertainty for players who would otherwise have been retained directly. Billings, for example, has spent the last two seasons with the Heat, but had to go through the uncertainty of a televised draft between them rather than simply signing a contract extension.
Some people forget that a draft literally has zero guarantee of being picked up…
All players want to play finals
— Sam Billings (@sambillings) January 16, 2024
Evans believes that there is also a “general consensus” among players that the BBL’s 44-match season could be played in a tighter timeframe: “I certainly feel that the BBL could squeeze some more games in. We’ve had a lot of downtime and I think that way, you’ll get the best players coming back over without any clashes, and get the finals done.”It’s great that I can go and play as many tournaments as I can in a year,” Evans said. “I just think you need to move with the times. You’ve seen it in England with the Hundred: they want it done inside a month and it’s a brutal schedule, but that’s the game we’re in. The 10 games [per team] is about right, but I definitely think we could shorten the start and end.”Several ILT20 franchises have the advantage of a global footprint. Evans will be aware that if his form continues in an Abu Dhabi Knight Riders shirt over the next month, it could result in contracts with their affiliates in the US (Los Angeles), the Caribbean (Trinbago) and even India (Kolkata) down the line. There is no equivalent with Scorchers.The game is at saturation point worldwide: from Friday, the BBL’s finals will compete for attention not only with the ILT20, but also the Bangladesh Premier League, the SA20 and a swathe of bilateral international series, including Australia’s Test series against a West Indies side missing several players to those leagues.The status quo is not working. Take Nicholas Pooran: he played three games in five days for Durban’s Super Giants in the first week of the SA20 but has since joined MI Emirates, whom he will briefly captain before flying to Australia for a T20I series. Players have never had so many opportunities to earn a living, and the global market has never been more competitive.Even still, the BBL remains an attractive league for overseas players: they can base themselves and their families in Australia over Christmas, play for established teams in front of engaged crowds, and earn a competitive wage while doing so. Holding onto a set of high-quality overseas players for the knockout stages should not be an impossible task.The BBL has been a major success this year, with the decision to reduce the number of games vindicated by a significant spike in crowd numbers and a compelling narrative that has sustained the league’s 13th season. But the talent drain to the UAE should remind its administrators that there is no room for complacency.
As a team renowned for its batting, Mumbai are yet to impose themselves
Nagraj Gollapudi09-Apr-20224:07
Wasim Jaffer: Plenty of holes for Mumbai Indians to plug
Hunger and desperation. That was what Rohit Sharma had asked of Mumbai Indians immediately after their defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this week. It was their third straight loss, but Rohit did well in his dressing-room speech to not act desperate. More than once, he told his players there was no need to panic.So, on Saturday, did Mumbai show that hunger, that desperation, to snatch those “little moments” that Rohit pointed out could reverse their woeful start to this IPL campaign?Related
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How do you describe Rohit’s premeditated charge against Harshal Patel, second ball after the powerplay where Mumbai had collected a healthy 49 runs, only to be deceived by a slow offcutter? What about his opening partner Ishan Kishan who, shackled by the wide off-stump line that Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers maintained, eventually went for an upper cut despite knowing that third man was just moved for a simple catch? What about Tilak Varma’s brain fade where he called for a non-existent single while attempting to take on one of the best throwing arms in cricket, in Glenn Maxwell? What about Kieron Pollard failing to read the googly, a delivery that Wanindu Hasaranga bowls for a living?From 50 for no loss, Mumbai lost six wickets for just 29 runs in the following seven overs. On such evidence it is only fair to conclude Mumbai were desperate. Mumbai panicked.Their frazzled state of mind became evident when Rohit said at the toss that the team had decided to field just two overseas players in the XI for the first time in the IPL. Both Tymal Mills and Daniel Sams, the two overseas fast bowlers who had played in the first three matches, were out. That probably was owing to the two-paced nature of the Pune surface. But were their two replacements – debutant Ramandeep Singh and Jaydev Unadkat – good enough to bolster the lower-order batting?If you want to single out an area where Mumbai have malfunctioned badly, it is their batting in the middle overs (7-16). In this phase, Mumbai’s run rate is 6.75, the lowest among all teams this season. Even in terms of average, Mumbai have the worst in this segment of play where the more successful teams this season, like Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals, have been landing the knockout punch on the opposition bowling attacks.Rohit admitted as much in the post-match chat with host broadcaster Star Sports on Saturday, saying there were a “lot of areas” Mumbai needed to improve on, especially in their batting and he would want the batters to play deeper into the innings. Mumbai lack the batting depth of rival teams and that strategy of a key batter or two dropping anchor is not a bad one. However, Mumbai will want to have a rethink and redraw their batting order.Suryakumar Yadav, who missed the team’s opening two matches but returned to score two half-centuries in their last two matches, both in Pune, has been Mumbai’s best batter. But he walked in at No. 4. Wouldn’t it have been better to have Suryakumar at one-down followed by Varma, who has shown the character and the skills needed to succeed at this level?Both Rohit and Kishan have had two 50-plus stands already but those have still not served Mumbai well. But with Suryakumar’s ability to accelerate at all points in the game, both openers could play with a bit more freedom instead of being in two minds about whether to attack or be circumspect – a scenario that was on display against Royal Challengers.As a team renowned for its batting, Mumbai are yet to impose themselves. And Suryakumar needs the support. In the past, the Pandya brothers and Pollard have manned the lower order. But following the big auction in February, only Pollard remains and he has not yet made a statement with either bat or ball. Tim David’s absence from the last two matches is intriguing. Mumbai bought the hard-hitting freelancer for $1.1 million because they believe he can clear the ropes with ease with his massive reach. David failed in his first two matches, both times getting out to spin. Yet, he has been among the top players of spin since April 2019 in all T20 cricket with a strike rate of nearly 152.Mumbai have used 15 players already in four matches, the joint second-most so far this tournament. They need to figure out their best XI soon to reverse this woeful beginning to the new season. Luckily, Mumbai have waded through such rough starts on more than one occasion in the past. In 2014, they had a run of five successive defeats before sealing a spot in the playoffs. In 2015, they began with four straight losses, but ended up winning the tournament.So what will Rohit tell the Mumbai dressing room now? Don’t panic.
Also: who is the oldest umpire to stand a first-class match?
Steven Lynch18-Feb-2020I read that Naseem Shah was described as the youngest bowler to take a Test hat-trick. Whose record did he break? asked Steve Dillon from England Pakistan’s Naseem Shah, who turned 17 on the weekend, took a hat-trick last week when he was still 16, against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi. He broke the record of legspinner Alok Kapali, who was 19 when he achieved the feat for Bangladesh against Pakistan, in Peshawar in 2003 (Kapali took only three more wickets in 16 other Tests). Abdul Razzaq was 20 when he took a hat-trick for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2000.The oldest man to take a Test hat-trick was 38-year-old Rangana Herath, for Sri Lanka against Australia in Galle in August 2016. He was about three months older than the England offspinner Tom Goddard when he took one against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1938-39. For the full list, click here.Two batsmen scored 200 for Chandigarh the other day – from No. 7 and No. 8. Is this unique? And was Chandigarh’s first-innings lead of 609 a record too? asked Rahul Bhasin from India The match in question was the Ranji Trophy Plate Group encounter between Chandigarh and Manipur in Kolkata, which had excited number crunchers even before it started, as according to the Association of Cricket Statisticians it was the 60,000th first-class match ever played.Chandigarh were in a spot of bother at 136 for 5, but Uday Kaul made 148, putting on 221 with Bipul Sharma, who then added a further 172 with Gurinder Singh. That ended when Sharma was out for 200, but Chandigarh’s captain, Manan Vohra, didn’t declare until Singh also reached 200. Singh, in his more usual role as a left-arm spinner, then took 5 for 19 as Manipur were skittled for 63.This was the first time in first-class history that Nos. 7 and 8 both scored double-centuries – but there is an instance of Nos. 7 and 9 reaching 200, again in the Ranji Trophy. For Haryana against Karnataka in Hubli in 2012-13, Amit Mishra scored 202 not out and Jayant Yadav 211, most of them during an eighth-wicket partnership of 392.Chandigarh’s first-innings lead of 609 was the fourth highest in India – on top are Holkar (912 for 8), who led Mysore (190) by 722 runs in the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Indore in 1945-46 – but the biggest in all first-class cricket remains 886, by Victoria (1107) over New South Wales (221) in Melbourne in 1926-27. In Pakistan’s Ayub Trophy in Lahore in 1964-65, Pakistan Railways scored 910 for 6 before bowling Dera Ismail Khan out for 32 (they thus conceded a lead of 878) and 27.Umpires Maurice Tate and John Langridge (right) walk out for a game in 1956•Getty ImagesR Ashwin has now taken 362 wickets in 70 Tests. Is that the most after 70? I know he held this record for a while, but does he still? asked Milind Bhaskar from India You’re right that R Ashwin held this mark for a while. He still has the most wickets after every number of Tests from 39 (when he had 220) to 65 (342). But Muttiah Muralitharan was level with Ashwin after their 66th Tests, with 350 wickets – and 11 more in his next game put Murali in front, where he has remained. He had 382 wickets after 70 Tests, so Ashwin has a fair bit of ground to make up if he is to get back in front.I noticed that Patsy Hendren’s brother Denis umpired a first-class match when he was nearly 75. Was he the oldest umpire in any first-class fixture? asked Lawrence Cartwright from England Denis Hendren played a few first-class matches for Middlesex between 1905 and 1919. His brother, Patsy Hendren, was much better known, scoring 170 centuries (second only to Jack Hobbs) in a career that stretched to 1937, when he was 48.Denis Hendren took up umpiring, joining the county panel in 1931 and eventually standing in 390 first-class matches. He did not officiate in the County Championship after 1949, but stood in many university games over the next eight seasons, including ten in 1957. His last was Oxford University against Leicestershire in the Parks in June, three months before his 75th birthday. The oldest known umpire in a Championship match was John Langridge, who was 73 when he stood in his 557th and last first-class game, between Leicestershire and Yorkshire at Grace Road in 1983. Before taking up umpiring, Langridge had played 574 first-class matches, all but seven of them for Sussex.Five umpires older than Hendren are known to have officiated in first-class matches. The oldest of all – and the only octogenarian – was William Bock, who was 81 when he stood in Wellington’s game against Otago at the Basin Reserve in January 1928.In a tough quiz the other day we were asked to name the batsmen who made the highest score for and against Middlesex in 50-over cricket – apparently it was the same score, and both in 2019? asked Mike Everett from England This peculiar double was indeed achieved inside a fortnight in 2019, during the Royal London Cup. First Luke Wright blasted 166 for Sussex at Lord’s, breaking the old record by anyone against Middlesex in a List A match, Chris Adams’ 163, also for Sussex, at Arundel 20 years earlier, in a 45-over game. Then Max Holden hit 166 for Middlesex against Kent in Canterbury, breaking the county’s previous-highest – also 163 – by Andrew Strauss against Surrey at The Oval in 2008.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions
Until Sunday, the 12 teams in playoff position at the All-Star break were the same 12 teams holding playoff spots with one week to play. No more. The Reds leapfrogged the sagging Mets, and the molten-hot Guardians can replace the Tigers as soon as Tuesday. You want chaos? This is your week, when baseball becomes a high-stakes, minute-by-minute sprint.
The third wild card is proving its intention: inject sizzle back into September. And don’t worry about a watered-down playoff field. The six No. 6 seeds in three years of the 12-team format have won between 84 and 89 games with an average of 86.9 wins. We again should see the last two teams qualify in that range.
How crazy is the tournament? In the three seasons with six playoff teams in each league, the No. 6 seeds (32–26) have won as many postseason games as the No. 1 seeds (32–22). Just get in, baby.
Wild card spots are not all that’s at stake this week. We’ve got playoff seedings, major awards and MLB records also up for grabs. Here’s your guide to what’s on the line in Chaos Week:
The collapse of the Mets
They no longer control their playoff fate now that the Reds, who hold the tiebreaker over the Mets, caught them for the third wild card.
Since Aug. 19 the Mets are 13–18, including 3–8 against the Marlins and Nationals. But this is not just a late fade. From 45–24 in their first 69 games to 35–52 in their next 87, the Mets have been a bad team longer than they’ve been a good team.
They have used more pitchers than any team in history, received the fourth fewest innings from starters, lost more games out of the bullpen than any playoff contender, walked far too many batters, not once rallied to win after trailing after eight innings and whiffed on trade deadline acquisitions Cedric Mullins and Ryan Helsley, who had been in one organization for a decade before they were dropped into the heat of a New York pennant race.
This week the Mets play three games at Wrigley Field against the Cubs (where they see pitchers Cade Horton, Matt Boyd and Shota Imanaga) and three games in Miami against the Marlins, while asking three kids in their rotation to save their season.
The Reds have three at home against Pittsburgh (including one start by Paul Skenes) and finish with three at Milwaukee against the Brewers. Cincinnati has the edge because of its starting pitching. It also has the tiebreaker advantage over Arizona, which still lurks in the wild card race.
The Tigers in freefall
Detroit takes a six-game losing streak into Cleveland for a huge series against the Guardians that starts Tuesday, then goes to Fenway to finish against the Red Sox, another team hanging on by its fingernails. The Tigers are in a 7–18 freefall in which their 11.5-game AL Central lead has shrunk to one.
The length of the season has exposed the flaws of the Tigers. They strike out too much, their bullpen has the worst strikeout rate in baseball and they are a 46–54 team when anybody other than Tarik Skubal or Casey Mize starts.
American League musical chairs
The Tigers (85–71), Red Sox (85–71), Guardians (84–72) and Astros (84–72) are separated by one game with six to play and three spots up for grabs. One spot will go to either Detroit or Cleveland as the AL Central winner (Cleveland wins the head-to-head tiebreaker with one more win). That leaves three teams for two wild card spots. Here is the skinny on the race:
Tigers: The good news is by finishing against Cleveland and Boston they don’t need help. Their fate is smack in front of them. But that schedule—finishing on the road against two contenders—is also the bad news, especially after Detroit hit .182 against the Guardians while getting swept in three games last week. The Tigers are in trouble, especially if they lose with Skubal on the mound Tuesday in Cleveland.
Red Sox: They are 3–10 against Toronto and Detroit, their opponents this week. They see veteran pitchers Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber in Toronto. Holding tiebreakers against Cleveland and Houston and with head-to-head games with Detroit, Boston still has a good chance of getting in.
Guardians: Manager Stephen Vogt went to a six-man rotation to survive 17 games in 17 days. It worked, not just to keep his starters fresh, but also because pitching coach Carl Willis had them throw two bullpen sessions in between starts to dial in mechanics and pitch shaping. Cleveland is 16–5 with a 2.32 ERA this month. Cleveland is the only one of these four bubble teams to finish all this week at home. If they take two of three from Detroit, the Guardians will be in first place (by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker) and control their fate entering a series against Texas.
Astros: This is the bubble team in the most trouble, if only because they lose the tiebreakers to the Tigers, Red Sox and Guardians and they don’t have Yordan Alvarez (ankle) in the lineup. The Astros are 12–16 in August and September without Alvarez. They need to go at least 4–2 on the road against the Athletics and Angels.
Will Cal Raleigh’s historic year be enough to propel him past Aaron Judge in the AL MVP race? / Troy Taormina-Imagn ImagesThe AL MVP race
If you like positional importance, you like Cal Raleigh (118 games behind the plate) over Aaron Judge (89 games in the outfield). But when it comes to impacting games at bat, Judge has the significant lead.
Raleigh is having a historic season when it comes to comparisons to switch hitters, hitters who have played for the Mariners and catchers. Judge is having a historic season compared to … well, everybody, especially dead legends. He is likely to join Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle as the only players to hit 50 home runs and win a batting title. He leads in all three percentage triple crown categories—. He has been better than Raleigh with runners in scoring position (.327 to .242) and better in September across all three slash categories, including an absurd .506 OBP.
The slight edge overall goes to Judge. But it’s close enough for Raleigh to make one last push this week to steal it. How about four more home runs to get to 62?
The 50-150 club
Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers needs nine runs to become the second player since Ted Williams in 1949 to score 150 runs (Jeff Bagwell had 152 in 2000.) Only two players have hit 50 homers and scored 150 runs: Babe Ruth (four times) and Foxx.
The (crowded) 30-30 club
Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jose Ramírez, Juan Soto and Corbin Carroll are in. Julio Rodríguez (two stolen bases), Pete Crow-Armstrong (one home run) and Francisco Lindor (two home runs) are close. There has never been a season with five players reaching 30-30.
The (sparse) 200-inning club
Garrett Crochet of Boston and Logan Webb of San Francisco are getting there. Skubal may get there if the Tigers need him to pitch Game 162 on Sunday. And that’s likely it. That would mark the fewest 200-inning pitchers in any season in history.
The (closed for renovations) 100-win club
Unless the Brewers go 5–1 this week, this will mark the second straight season no team has won 100 games. There were 22 100-win teams in the previous eight full seasons.
These things run in cycles. There were no 100-win teams from 2012–14. The talent gap between teams has shrunk. And the incentive to max out wins has declined with the expanded playoff format and the conservative use of pitchers to try to keep them healthy.
The single season strikeout record
With 215 strikeouts, Nationals outfielder James Wood is just eight strikeouts short of tying the record of Mark Reynolds that has stood for 16 years. The Nationals have six games remaining.
Paul Skenes could become the first pitcher to win the Cy Young with a losing record. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn ImagesOne more win for Paul Skenes
No starting pitcher has won the Cy Young Award without a winning record. Only two were one game better than .500 over a full season: Félix Hernández (13–12) in 2010 and Jacob deGrom (10–9) in 2018. Skenes is 10–10 with one start remaining: Wednesday in Cincinnati against the Reds.
Rock bottom for the Rockies
Colorado needs to go 4–2 to avoid a 116th loss, which would put it behind only the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (134) and 1962 New York Mets (120) as the third worst team in NL history. The Rockies already have clinched the worst run differential in MLB (-406), blowing away the 93-year-old record of the 1932 Red Sox (-345).
Hope and Powell led West Indies’ batting turnaround before the bowlers put in a comprehensive display
Mohammad Isam27-Oct-2025West Indies captain Shai Hope led a batting turnaround that helped his side win by 16 runs against Bangladesh in the first T20I in Chattogram. Hope and Rovman Powell, playing his 100th T20I, put together a late burst of sixes to help the visitors to 165 for 3. In reply, Bangladesh crashed to 42 for 4 in the powerplay, and were bowled out for 149.Jason Holder and Jayden Seales took three wickets each, while Akeal Hosein picked up two in the powerplay.It was, however, Hope and Powell’s unbroken 83-run stand for the fourth wicket that set up victory. Hope scored an unbeaten 46 off 28 balls with a four and four sixes. Powell had similar numbers, facing 28 balls, hitting four sixes and a four, and ending up unbeaten on 44.Nasum keeps WI quietBangladesh began well with the ball. They rallied around Nasum Ahmed’s four overs. He went wicketless but the left-arm spinner kept West Indies quiet, conceding just 15 runs in his quota. Openers Brandon King and Alick Athanaze only hit a six each though they stuck around for 8.2 overs. Rishad Hossain bowled Athanaze for 34, when the batter missed a reverse sweep. Taskin Ahmed then removed King, caught at deep square leg for 33.Taskin followed up with the wicket of Sherfane Rutherford, whose Bangladesh ordeal continued. This time, he fell first ball, caught behind. Although Hope struck couple of sixes at this stage, West Indies couldn’t quite push the scoring rate. Nasum finished off his spell with another stingy over, the 15th.Hope, Powell roar in the endHope then went after Rishad with two sixes, but with three over remaining, the visitors looked well short of a decent total. Hope cracked a Taskin half-volley for his fourth six to start the 18th over. Powell, meanwhile, finally middled one with seven balls remaining in the innings.Rovman Powell helped revive West Indies’ innings•AFP/Getty ImagesHe slog-swept Mustafizur Rahman for a 102m six, before creaming Tanzim Hasan for three consecutive sixes in the last over. He hammered Tanzim’s full-toss, before going straight for the next two. West Indies picked up 51 runs in the last three overs, changing the complexion of the contest.Bangladesh crash in the powerplayBangladesh came out all guns blazing in their pursuit of 166 runs. Tanzid Hasan was going at a shot-a-ball but he lasted just five balls, with Romario Shepherd taking a stunning catch running back from mid-on. Litton Das then played a soft shot as Akeal Hosein got the ball to stop on the Bangladesh captain. Caught in two minds, Litton popped back a return catch, with Hosein taking it blind behind the non-striker standing next to him.Hosein then had Saif Hassan caught at short fine leg in the next over, attempting a sweep. When Holder removed Shamim Hossain in the fifth over – clipping off his off-bail – West Indies had made significant progress, with Bangladesh’s last pair of specialist batters at the crease by the end of the powerplay.Tanzim, Nasum make late effortThe hosts continued to slide when Khary Pierre bowled Nurul Hasan off the inside edge in the ninth over. Towhid Hridoy joined the procession when he fell to Seales in the 12th over. He struck just two fours in his 28 off 25 balls.Tanzim Hasan then struck a six and three fours in his 33 off 27 balls, to keep Bangladesh’s hopes alive. He added 40 runs for the seventh wicket with Nasum, before Holder had him caught at deep point in the 16th over. Nasum kept the fire burning with another boundary, but Seales made him his third wicket in the following over.Holder then snuffed out the threat of Rishad, who miscued one to long-off. The innings ended when Taskin stepped on the stumps in the final over, having sent Holder sailing out of the ground in the 18th.
Manchester United are on a better run of form than ever before under Ruben Amorim. They have now gone unbeaten in their last five games, a momentum that they will be looking to keep up ahead of what is set to be another busy festive period.
They will lose some players next month, though, with AFCON set to start just before Christmas. Bryan Mbeumo, who has been one of Amorim’s best players, will be representing Cameroon, and Noussair Mazraoui will be playing for Morocco, who host the competition.
However, perhaps the biggest loss for United will be Ivory Coast international Amad.
Why Amad will be the biggest loss during AFCON
It has not been easy for every member of United’s squad to find a place they fit into Amorim’s infamous 3-4-2-1 system. Yet, for Amad, that has been at right wing-back, a role in which he has gelled nicely.
The former Atalanta academy star has become a pivotal player on that right flank for Amorim. His electric ability going forward has been important, and his hard-working nature defensively is something which seemingly makes him a real favourite of the United manager on the right.
This term, the 23-year-old has made all but three of his ten Premier League appearances at right wing-back. Amad has grabbed two assists and a goal whilst playing that role, with the pick of the bunch surely the pass which set Mbeumo up to give the Red Devils an early lead at Anfield last month.
As to why Amad might be viewed as the biggest loss during AFCON, well, United don’t really have anyone else who can play that role like him.
If you take the Ivorian out of the equation, Diogo Dalot and Mazraoui, both full-backs, are the only viable options. The latter, of course, will be away on international duty himself.
So, Amorim may be forced to turn to the academy to help solve this particular issue.
United’s in-house Amad replacement
The academy has so often been the answer to United’s problems. Think back to Marcus Rashford’s debut for the club, when the then 18-year-old was drafted into the Europa League side at the last minute.
In The Pipeline
Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.
He scored twice on debut, did the same again against Arsenal a few days later, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Well, the person who could step into Amad’s shoes when he is on national team duty is Shea Lacey. The youngster is also a right-winger by trade, a position in which he has shone for their academy this season.
In nine games across all competitions for the Red Devils’ youth sides, Lacey has scored three times and assisted a further two. He averages a goal involvement every 101 minutes, mainly operating as a right-winger.
The Liverpool-born forward has always been a highly-rated player. He has shone for several years in a United shirt, notably “beating Lamine Yamal” to the player of the competition award in a junior tournament, as per GOAL’s Richard Martin.
One reason why the youngster could excel as a right wing-back is his crossing ability. Look at this pass he played for Gabriele Biancheri a few weeks back.
Operating from wide on the right, he’s able to move inside and loft a perfect cross into the path of the Wales youth striker, who scored a lovely goal.
Lacey has impressed against senior sides in the EFL Trophy this term, too. The 18-year-old has put up some impressive numbers, averaging one key pass and completing 1.7 dribbles per 90 minutes.
Goals and assists
0.6
2
Key passes
1
3
Dribbles completed
1.7
5
Tackles
2.4
7
Losing Amad will be a blow to United, especially if this upturn in form continues. However, in Lacey, they might have a ready-made wing-back replacement, who, like Amad, will offer plenty going forward.
It could be seen as a risk to play the teenager in a new role, but if Amorim wants to keep in line with the DNA of the club, it might be something he is willing to do.
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A win will take Afghanistan to the top of the Group B points table
ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-20252:26
Abhinav Mukund impressed by Afghanistan’s on-field trial
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat against Afghanistan in their Asia Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Bangladesh captain Litton Das said the pitch looked a bit on the slow side, despite the Abu Dhabi surface having been better for batting recently. Rashid Khan said Afghanistan would have liked to bat first as well.Bangladesh made four changes with Saif Hassan, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed coming in. Mahedi Hasan, Pervez Hossain Emon, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan missed out. Afghanistan, meanwhile, named an unchanged XI.Related
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A win for Afghanistan On Tuesday will take them to the top of the Group B points table.Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan Tamim, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Litton Das (capt & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Nurul Hasan, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Shamim Hossain, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Rishad Hossain, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Taskin AhmedAfghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Gulbadin Naib, 5 Karim Janat, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
O Santos está matematicamente fora da Copa do Brasil de 2024, com o término da 36ª rodada do Brasileirão. Com isso, perdeu a oportunidade de arrecadar uma quantia milionária no próximo ano.
➡️Veja tabela do Campeonato Brasileiro-2023 clicando aqui
O time da Baixada Santista não pode mais conseguir a vaga pelo Campeonato Brasileiro, que era a última esperança de ingresso do Peixe no milionário torneio. A derrota por 3 a 0 para o Fluminense impossibilitou que o clube abocanhasse a última vaga remanescente para o torneio, que consiste em ter a melhor classificação entre os times que não garantiram vaga para a próxima Libertadores.
➡️Tudo sobre o Peixe agora no WhatsApp. Siga o nosso novo canal Lance! Santos
Baseado nos valores deste ano da Copa do Brasil, o prejuízo astronômico pode variar de acordo com o progresso do clube dentro do torneio. Apenas por participar, o Alvinegro Praiano já garantiria R$ 1,4 milhão. Caso o time se classificasse até a terceira fase da competição, o clube já teria acumulado R$ 5,2 milhões.
Caso o Santos alcançasse as oitavas da competição, assim como chegou nesta temporada, o clube arrecadaria mais R$ 3,3 milhões, ou seja, já teria arrecadado R$ 8,8 milhões.
Se o Peixe faturasse a taça da copa, a remuneração total acumulada no torneio seria de impressionantes R$ 91,8 milhões. Mesmo se fosse até a final e não vencesse, o vice-campeonato garantiria R$ 51,8 milhões.
Como todo ano, os valores de premiação da Copa do Brasil passam por reajuste. Portanto, a perda pode ser ainda maior para a equipe caiçara.
O REGULAMENTO MUDOU!
A classificação para a milionária Copa do Brasil foi alterada para esta temporada e priorizou o desempenho na competição estadual. Sem sequer se classificar para a fase mata-mata do Paulistão, o clube poderia se classificar caso alcançasse uma vaga na Libertadores da próxima temporada ou se vencesse a Copa Paulista.
Como o time optou por não disputar o torneio regional, não venceu as copas que disputou na temporada e, agora, não conseguiu vaga via Brasileirão, o time cravou sua ausência na competição nacional.
NÃO VAI TER CONVITE!
Em junho, o presidente Andres Rueda, em reunião do Conselho Deliberativo, disse crer que o clube poderia ser convidado para participar da copa. Contudo, o regulamento da competição não prevê essa forma de ingresso e a CBF não pretende abrir uma exceção.