See things others don’t!

Wisconsin avoided a letdown game following its shocking upset at Michigan when John Blackwell crushed a triple at the buzzer to give the Badgers a 78-75 victory at Minnesota on Tuesday night. The Gophers led 41-30 over their rivals with 18 minutes left thanks to Jaylen Crocker-Johnson hitting a floater plus the foul, but Blackwell answered with a pair of three-point shots to lead Wisconsin on the comeback trail. The Badgers would lead by as many as nine thanks to former Gopher Braeden Carrington knocking down seven triples of his own for a season-high 21 points, but Minnesota refused to go away. Nolan Winter’s missed free throw with 12 seconds left gave Cade Tyson the opportunity to tie the game at 75-75 with five seconds to play, but Blackwell struck right back with his clutch winner.

WISCONSIN WINS AT THE BUZZER IN AN UNREAL FINISH 😱 pic.twitter.com/LqqiJEFDOt

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) January 14, 2026

Blackwell led everyone in scoring with 27 points and added five assists as well. Minnesota had four players in double figures led by Crocker-Johnson with 20 points while Langston Reynolds scored 12 points with 10 of the Gophers’ 20 assists.

Talk about two teams going in different directions. Nebraska wrecked Oregon 90-55 to keep the Cornhuskers undefeated at 6-0 in the Big Ten and 17-0 overall. It’s the biggest blowout Nebraska has ever had over a Big Ten opponent in conference play. This is also the best start to Big Ten play that Nebraska has had since joining the conference for the 2011-12 season. Meanwhile, the Ducks are 1-5 in the Big Ten haven’t started this poorly in league play since they went 1-5 to begin the Pac-12 campaign of 2013-14.

Braden Frager goes back-to-back from deep 🔥 @HuskerMBB

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/JHURPL5b1S

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 14, 2026

The game didn’t start so lopsided. Oregon center Nate Bittle made a layup to tie the score at 28-28 with four minutes left in the first half, but then Oregon rolled off a 14-2 run to gain a 42-30 lead at halftime. The burst was spearheaded by Pryce Sandfort and Braden Frager each making two three-point shots, and they would end up torching the nets by each going 7-for-11 from beyond the arc during the game. That accounted for 14 of Nebraska’s 17 three-point shots. On the other side, Oregon made just six shots from beyond the arc while shooting 26 percent from there.

If it wasn’t clear enough from the Michigan State and Indiana results from earlier this month, the Huskers are for real. Rienk Mast has developed into an all-conference player, Sam Hoiberg is a steady hand at point guard, and the Sandfort-Frager combo is lighting up scoreboards. Plus, Nebraska’s defense ranks even higher than its offense on KenPom!

Two traditional Big Ten powers battled in East Lansing, but the hotly contested game turned into an 81-60 Michigan State blowout thanks to Indiana going seven minutes without scoring down the stretch. With just over 11 minutes to play, Indiana’s Lamar Wilkerson dunked to tie the score at 53-53, but Jordan Scott came back with a mid-range jump shot for Sparty to spark a 7-0 run over the next minute that was punctuated by a breakaway slam from Coen Carr. Hoosiers head coach Darian DeVries called a timeout, but it did nothing to get his team back into the game, as MSU rolled off 12 more unanswered points to make the score 72-53 with five minutes left.

Another game, another Coen Carr slam 😌 @MSU_Basketball

📺: Peacock pic.twitter.com/tYpx0XKZuU

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 14, 2026

Jeremy Fears Jr. was fantastic for Sparty with 23 points and 10 assists while Jaxon Kohler also had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Wilkerson scored 19 points for Indiana, but no other Hoosiers scored more than nine points, as Tucker DeVries was held to that many on 3-for-10 field goals.

In the night cap, Maryland continued to slump in the first year of Buzz Williams’ leadership, falling at USC 88-71 and dropping to 0-6 in league play. Trojans star Chad Baker-Mazara was limited to seven points in nine minutes due to injury, but Jordan Marsh came through with 20 points off the bench. The gigantic center Gabe Dynes played a larger than usual role for USC with 10 points and eight rebounds. Four of those rebounds came on offense, which contributed to USC’s 13-4 edge on the offensive glass. That led to the Trojans firing off 66 shots in this game compared to just 48 for Maryland. All of those extra shots helped USC overcome a 30-point game from Terps guard David Coit.

Big Gabe 💪

📺 FS1 pic.twitter.com/X7Ok4Rez7D

— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) January 14, 2026

Just like with Indiana and Michigan State, this one was close for most of the game, but USC outscored Maryland 25-12 over the last 11 minutes following a three-point shot by Coit that trimmed the Trojans’ lead to 63-59. Jade Brownell made a layup and a triple on consecutive possessions for USC to push the lead to 11 points with six and a half minutes left. Coit tried to stop the run with a layup, but then Marsh and Jacob Cofie hit back-to-back jumpers to put the game away.

There are four more Big Ten games tonight with both Northwestern and my Nittany Lions looking for their first conference wins of the season. Penn State has had a brutal schedule to start league play, so hopefully it can finally pull of a win over UCLA. The Wildcats are coming home to face in-state rival Illinois after losing at Rutgers in overtime. We also have Iowa visiting the Purdue juggernaut and Michigan traveling to Washington for late night hoops.

I was terrible last week, but so was everyone else except Abe, who tightened his stranglehold on the ChabDog picks contest by being sharp when everyone else was being square. Abe had New England when the rest of us had Tampa and New Orleans when the rest of us had Carolina. The only good pick I made was Houston, and that was still a loser after the Texans’ miracle comeback! It took a fluke touchdown at the end to get Houston to cover the spread. At least I finished strong with big wins by the Chargers and Eagles.

Abe might be too far gone at this point, but I can still catch the Tank with a solid Week 11.

Jets +11.5 at Patriots

Jets have won two in a row and the Patriots are wearing ugly uniforms.

Commanders +2.5 at Dolphins

This is such a recency bias spread. Marcus Mariota has played well for Washington with Jayden Daniels out.

Panthers at Falcons -3.5

I should pick Carolina since it was such a letdown last week, but I’m back on the Falcons after they blew the cover and the game in European overtime.

Buccaneers at Bills -5.5

Last week was a fluke for Buffalo. The Bills will bounce back at home against a team from Florida.

Texans -7.5 at Titans

Another favorite that I’m nervous about. Houston crushed Tennessee in their first meeting 26-0.

Bears at Vikings -3.5

Chicago only covered last week because Jaxson Dart got hurt. The squares will say the wrong team is favored.

Packers at Giants +7.5

This has Jameis Winston backdoor cover written all over it.

Bengals +4.5 at Steelers

There’s just something about Joe Flacco! Cincinnati can’t stop a nose bleed, but it’s still hard to bet against.

Chargers -2.5 at Jaguars

I’m going chalk here because of all the fantasy interest I have with the Bolts this week.

Seahawks at Rams -2.5

Chalk again. Rams being favored by less than three at home is disrespectful.

49ers at Cardinals +2.5

Despite getting their doors blown off in Seattle, Arizona has been more consistent than San Francisco lately.

Ravens at Browns +7.5

This game will either go like Bills vs. Dolphins and Saints vs. Panthers last week or like Lions vs. Commanders and Cardinals vs. Seahawks. That’s why picking is hard.

Chiefs -3.5 at Broncos

Major fraud test for the Broncos. I say they fail.

Lions +1.5 at Eagles

Detroit bounced back well last week. Now it is time to assert dominance over the NFC.

Cowboys at Raiders +3.5

Dallas desperately needs this game to justify the Quinnen Williams trade. Raiders have been plucky, though.

Oba Femi is back! The Ruler of NXT had been absent from the wrestling universe since dropping the NXT Championship to Ricky Saints at No Mercy in late September, but he returned to the scene on Tuesday night right after Saints barley survived his bloody Last Man Standing title match against Trick Williams. Williams did everything he could to keep Saints down for a 10 count, including hitting a Trick Shot knee strike, blasting him with the steel ring stairs, burying him under those stairs, and throwing him through a wall, but Saints got up and kept fighting. Williams then brought Saints into the crowd and hit another Trick Shot, but Saints answered by spearing Williams out of the stands and through the announce table below. The epic blow was barely enough to keep Williams down and keep the NXT Championship around Saints’ waist… for now.

Cinema. pic.twitter.com/q2Qxil8WuI

— Aaron Yorke (@AaronPYorke) November 12, 2025

As soon as the match ended, Femi emerged on the entrance ramp to stake his claim to a rematch. With no NXT Championship match on the upcoming Gold Rush card (November 18 and 25 at Madison Square Garden), I’m thinking that Femi will get his shot at becoming a two-time NXT Champion at Deadline on December 6 in San Antonio.

One rematch that is happening at Gold Rush is Tatum Paxley vs. Jacy Jayne for the NXT Women’s Championship. Paxley opened the Tuesday show by granting a rematch to Jayne despite Paxley’s friend Izzi Dame wanting her to be more selective when handing out title shots. If Paxley wins at Gold Rush, it could make the champion more confident in doing things her way instead of listening to Dame. If she loses, Dame can say “I told you so” and continue having Paxley do the bidding of The Culling. That’s why I’m predicting that Dame costs Paxley the title next week. Remember, at Halloween Havoc, it looked like Dame was trying to sabotage Paxley when Dame ran into the ring with the title.

We also set up an NXT Tag Team Championship match on Tuesday with Je’Von Evans and Leon Slater announcing that they’ll challenge DarkState at Gold Rush. Slater appeared to be in a remote location during the announcement, but when DarkState attacked Evans, he ran out from backstage and helped the Bouncy Boy fight off the fearsome foursome. Evans and Slater are a hot team right now, so I could see this going either way. I will give the edge to DarkState since I think Evans is close to breaking out on the main roster. Look for DarkState to interfere with Evans’ match against Gunther on Monday Night Raw the night before Gold Rush.

This is CHAOS!!!@theahail_wwe and @wwe_alba are giving us a good one! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/57mSGcyaAo

— WWE (@WWE) November 12, 2025

The Triple-A Mixed Tag Team Championship is also set to be defended during Week 1 of Gold Rush, and we got a little preview on Tuesday when Thea Hail defeated Secret Hervice member Alba Fyre in a singles match while fighting off interference from Ethan Page and Chelsea Green. Everyone loves Hail and Joe Hendry, but they don’t have the chemistry together than Green and Page do. That’s why I expect the defending champs to win next week. I would rather Hail lose and go on to pursue the NXT Women’s Championship or the Women’s North American Championship than continue teaming with Hendry and living in his shadow.

One more match on the Gold Rush card is Blake Monroe vs. Sol Ruca for the NXT Women’s North American Championship. I feel very good about Monroe winning so that the wedge between Ruca and Zaria is driven deeper. I could see Ruca losing next week and then Zaria winning the Speed Championship during Week 2. That would make Ruca bitter about Zaria only winning when its her title opportunity and not Ruca’s. Remember, Zaria lost the Women’s North American Championship at Halloween Havoc when she stepped in for an injured Ruca.

It wasn’t surprising to see John Cena open up Monday Night Raw last night and hear him hype up his last match ever on December 13. It was a lot more surprising when Dominik Mysterio came out and accidentally got himself booked in a fight for his Intercontinental Championship. Dom busted out all of his tricks in an effort to retain the prestigious title, but Cena ended up defeating him twice. First when Dom tapped out to the STF while the referee was incapacitated and again when Cena rolled through Dom’s Frog Splash and hit the Attitude Adjustment, this time with the referee ready to count to three.

Just one month before his retirement from WWE, Cena has shockingly won his first Intercontinental Championship, which raises the question, will Cena’s final match be a loss for the legendary wrestler? It seems likely now that the anticipated match on December 13 will be for the Intercontinental Championship unless Cena drops the title as suddenly as he won it. Heel Cena had previously talked about going home with the Undisputed WWE Championship and ruining wrestling, but this current version seems content to let the legacy of his current title continue past 2025. Unless Cena is taking the Intercontinental Championship with him into retirement, he is probably losing in his final match, and that only builds the intrigue over who the opponent will be.

We got two more possibilities announced by Adam Pearce on Monday night. The Raw general manager said that Je’Von Evans will face Gunther in The Last Time is Now Tournament next week. Solo Sikoa will also be in tournament action against a mystery opponent. That leaves us with a second mystery entrant with the first set to be revealed on SmackDown as LA Knight’s tournament opponent. Joe Hendry has been speculated as a mystery spot, but I would be surprised if it was him because he doesn’t have a connection to Cena. Oba Femi makes more sense to me because he is larger than life and is someone that fans including myself would love to see fight Cena before he rides off into the sunset. I will currently project Hendry to face Sikoa and Femi to face Knight, but the possibilities are endless. Chris Jericho making a return to WWE would be electric and Trick Williams seems overdue to break out on the main roster.

Next week, the tournament continues.@WWE pic.twitter.com/lwYpsGM495

— Adam Pearce (@ScrapDaddyAP) November 11, 2025

Right now my two favorites to defeat Cena in his final match at The Miz and Gunther. It would probably take some shenanigans to get The Miz past Jey Uso in the first round of The Last Time is Now Tournament, but he just cut a killer promo on Friday and he has history with both Cena and the Intercontinental Championship. Gunther has never faced Cena, but he’s someone who would certainly have had an epic feud with Cena if he had come around a decade earlier. With Seth Rollins out of action, Gunther is returning to the spotlight as WWE’s most dominant heel. He has almost always had a title around his waist since being promoted to the main roster, so it would make sense for him to take the IC Championship back after his glorious run with it two years ago.

Both Rusev and Sheamus won their matches in The Last Time is Now Tournament to advance to the quarterfinals. Both wins were easy to predict since both guys have history with Cena. Sheamus’ case for winning the tournament is interesting because he has never won the IC Championship and December 13 is the anniversary of Sheamus defeating Cena for the WWE Championship many years ago. Rusev has beef with Cena because when Cena beat him for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 31, the Bulgarian Brute’s career was never the same. I like the promo that Rusev cut this week, but I give Sheamus the edge to advance farther in the tournament.

Getting back to that Dom vs. Cena match on Raw, it is interesting that none of Dom’s Judgement Day family was at ringside to help him out, especially since so many of his title defenses have been team efforts. Is this signaling a split between Dom and The Judgement Day? The legacy superstar is already being treated like a babyface by the crowd, and he’s been one of the hottest heels in the company since he betrayed his father three years ago. Pulling the trigger on a babyface turn for Dom would likely ignite a massive run for him with limitless possibilities including a reunion with Rey Mysterio and an underdog run at a major championship. It’s all potential energy right now and the only question for WWE creative is when to push that button.

"Lonely" Dominik Mysterio 👀 pic.twitter.com/uHm0JVWqS4

— WWE (@WWE) November 11, 2025

The other big thing to happen on Raw was the formation of teams for WarGames. On the men’s side, CM Punk called out Logan Paul after Paul sucker punched him with brass knuckles last week. That led to Paul coming to the ring with Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, which in turn led to Punk fighting them off with the help of Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes. Later in the evening, William Regal showed up out of nowhere to officially announce “WarGames!”

We are still at only three men aside, though. It would be surprising if Roman Reigns didn’t join the babyface side. He’s got a strong bond with Jey and both he and Punk share a disdain for Paul Heyman, the man managing Breakker and Reed. With Reigns in the mix, you might as well throw in Jimmy Uso as well to get the babyfaces to five men. I suppose Sami Zayn is also a possibility if he is medically cleared with the history he shares with Reigns and Uso.

PREPARE FOR WAR. 👀

IT'S TIME FOR WARGAMES!!! pic.twitter.com/GN32iss2JS

— WWE (@WWE) November 11, 2025

As for the heels, Drew McIntyre is suspended, so he probably won’t get announced until close to Survivor Series, but he makes too much sense since he doubled down on his feud with Rhodes by Claymore Kicking a referee last Friday. Gunther is also a possibility based on him disappearing since losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Punk at SummerSlam. Kevin Owens has been on the shelf even longer than Gunther and has a score to settle with Rhodes, but I’m not sure how close he is to returning to action. Owens would also make sense as one of the mystery combatants in The Last Time is Now Tournament since he had a major feud with Cena as soon as he came up on the main roster.

The ladies also got into the WarGames spirit when the new team of Nia Jax and Lash Legend showed up to screw over Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss during their Women’s Tag Team Championship match against the Kabuki Warriors. Bliss had done a great job intercepting Kairi Sane with Sister Abigail to stop the Pirate Princess from breaking up Flair’s Figure Four leglock, but Jax and Legend interfered with the submission while the referee wasn’t looking. That led to Sane throwing Bliss over the announce table and then hitting the Insane Elbow on Flair for the pin to crown new champs.

NEW WOMEN'S TAG TEAM CHAMPS!

RHEA RIPLEY IS BACK!

WOMEN'S WARGAMES MATCH IS ON!

WHAT A CHAOTIC ENDING TO RAW! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/S27ZMgbw6D

— WWE (@WWE) November 11, 2025

Bliss tried to pick a fight with Jax and Legend after the match and it predictably wasn’t going well until Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley showed up to clear the ring of the heels. Ripley shouted “WarGames!” at the baddies and all of a sudden we had four women on each team. I’m thinking that the final two spots will go to Jade Cargill and either Tiffany Stratton or Bianca Belair depending on who is available. Cargill doesn’t have a challenger for her new WWE Women’s Championship yet because all she did on Friday was say “I’m that bitch” and walk out of the ring. However, she didn’t make it far before bumping into Flair, which foreshadowed beef between the two powerhouses. Both Stratton and Belair have history with Cargill with Stratton just dropping the title to her and Belair teaming up with her before missing time due to injury.

If Stratton and Belair both aren’t cleared, I can see Bayley jumping on on the babyface side due to her history with Damage Ctrl. Nikki Bella and Stephanie Vaquer would make great candidates for WarGames as well, but they appear locked in their own feud after Bella smashed Vaquer with the title following the latter defeating Raquel Rodriguez to defend the Women’s World Championship last night.

Straight from Ava’s office…

Think of @WWE Last Man Standing matches from the past and understand that ya don’t wanna miss tonight!!!@TheCW_Sports pic.twitter.com/UZzA4ZKseM

— Robert Stone (@MrStoneWWE) November 11, 2025

Tonight on NXT, my hero El Grande Americano defends the Speed Championship against Jasper Troy and Ricky Saints faces Trick Williams in what is sure to be an epic Last Man Standing Match for the NXT Championship. Should be a great show.

The Giants announced today that they have parted ways with head coach Brian Daboll. General manager Joe Schoen, who joined the franchise in 2022 right before he hired Daboll, still has a job for now despite two of his six first-round NFL Draft selections being massive busts (Evan Neal and Deonte Banks). To be fair to Daboll and Schoen, the two players they chose in the first round of the 2025 Draft have the potential to be future franchise cornerstones with Jaxson Dart and Abdul Carter both in consideration for Rookie of the Year awards. To also be fair, the rosters produced by Daboll and Schoen have started 2-8 for three straight seasons following the 2022 playoff season.

Brian Daboll has been relieved of his duties; Mike Kafka will serve as interim head coach.

📰: https://t.co/IH63AEqwwl pic.twitter.com/quKIBitNc7

— New York Giants (@Giants) November 10, 2025

Daboll and Schoen both came from Buffalo together in 2022, so in my opinion, they just both leave together. So why was Daboll shown the door before Schoen? Probably because of the Giants losing four games this season in which they held a lead of 10 points or more. In the games at Dallas and Denver, New York scored to take the lead with mere seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. In the game at New Orleans, the Giants turned the ball over on five straight possessions after jumping out to an early 14-3 lead. In the most recent collapse at Chicago, the Giants led by 10 in the fourth quarter before falling apart on both sides of the ball.

If you reverse those results, the Giants are in position to make the playoffs and Daboll might be in line to win Coach of the Year like he did in 2022. Instead, the season has been torturous. Big Blue has shown the potential to be a solid team when it defeated the Chargers and Eagles. In the seven quarters spanning the win over Philadelphia and the start of the Denver game, the Giants looked like a legitimate playoff contender, but instead of closing out the Broncos, New York wilted like it has too often this season. Daboll couldn’t get the Giants across the finish line.

Daboll has also been reckless with Dart. The rookie quarterback has been evaluated for a concussion four times this season, and he was confirmed to have suffered a concussion on Sunday. The injury may have cost the Giants the game based on how ineffective Russell Wilson was in relief. Dart isn’t doing enough to protect himself when he runs, even after he has gained enough yards for a first down. Hopefully interim head coach Mike Kafka will move Jameis Winston ahead on the depth chart so that we don’t have to watch Wilson again this season. It’s a big decision because Dart will probably miss at least one game due to the concussion.

Whoever is the next head coach of the Giants will have big expectations out of the gate. The offense in 2026 will be talented with Dart, Cam Skattebo, and Malik Nabers on the roster. Plus, the Giants will probably have an opportunity to grab a great talent with their first round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The next three opponents this season are Green Bay, Detroit, and New England, so it might be a while until New York improves on its 2-8 record.

Guess who is the Week 9 picks champion at ChabDog? That’s right. It is me, and I did it without hitting on any island picks. The keys to victory were the Falcons, Panthers, Steelers, Raiders, and Bills. On those five picks, I was in the minority with only one other person making the correct selection. On four of those five, it was me and Frank the Tank riding together. We didn’t plan it like that! I was just in a Tank state of mind.

The victorious week put me one game above .500 for the season and just two games behind Frank for second place. Can I stay hot in Week 10?

Raiders +9.5 at Broncos

The Las Vegas offense came alive last week with the return of Brock Bowers. Going up against Denver’s defense will be a tougher test, but I’m thinking Bowers will create enough opportunities to keep the Raiders in the game. The Broncos have won six straight, but four of the six wins are by less than a touchdown.

Falcons +5.5 at Colts

Finally we saw some of the real Daniel Jones last week, as he threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles in a loss at Pittsburgh. Indianapolis probably won’t turn the ball over six times for a second straight week, but I think Atlanta has the weapons to keep this close.

Giants +3.5 at Bears

I expect Caleb Williams to tear up the Giants’ depleted secondary like Mac Jones did last week. Hopefully Jaxson Dart can be heroic and provide an answer to every Chicago touchdown.

Bills -8.5 at Dolphins

Buffalo is back in juggernaut mode since the bye week. The defense did a great job last week hanging on when I thought the Bills would blow it against Kansas City.

Ravens at Vikings +4.5

Baltimore seems to have righted the ship with two blowout wins in a row, but the Vikings just scored a huge upset win at Detroit in J.J. McCarthy’s return to action. I am a sucker for this kid and his grit.

Browns at Jets -2.5

The Jets trading away Sauce Gardner after signing him to a massive contract is a gut punch that even the most pessimistic Jets fans did not see coming. I think the team rallies together and beats the Browns, though.

Patriots at Buccaneers -2.5

This should be a terrific game. I think Tampa Bay superior playmakers (even with Mike Evans out and possibly Chris Godwin as well) make the difference.

Saints at Panthers -5.5

New Orleans is not a spunky underdog anymore with Tyler Shough under center, and Alvin Kamara looks washed.

Jaguars at Texans -1.5

C.J. Stroud is out and Houston just lost a tough one against Denver, but I believe in this Texans defense.

Cardinals +6.5 at Seahawks

Arizona has covered the spread in all three of Jacoby Brissett’s starts, and the defense came alive last week in Dallas.

Rams -3.5 at 49ers

Mac Jones has played well for San Francisco, including a month ago in a big upset over these Rams. Sean McVay and company will not let that happen again. Ram it!

Lions at Commanders +8.5

Marcus Mariota is not a big drop off from Jayden Daniels and my faith in Detroit is shaken after last week’s shocking upset loss.

Steelers at Chargers -3.5

The Bolts were punched in the mouth by Tennessee last week, but they still came back and won comfortably on the road. Yes, the Titans are awful, but that is still a good sign.

Eagles +2.5 at Packers

Philadelphia is a chalky underdog, but you can’t trust Green Bay when it just lost a second game this year as a big favorite.

I got busy over the weekend and didn’t have a chance to talk about the insane ending to the World Series. I really thought the Blue Jays were going to finish the job, but despite all of their money bags, the Dodgers maintain the grit of a desperate underdog looking to defy the odds. That’s how Los Angeles was able to escape the ninth inning of Game 7 after Toronto loaded the bases with one out. Dalton Varsho hit a sharp ground ball to second base that Miguel Rojas, who had just tied the game with an unlikely home run in the top of the inning, had to back up on. It should have been enough to score the run from third, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had just been inserted as a pinch-runner for Bo Bichette, didn’t get a great jump off of third base and was forced out when Rojas threw home to catcher Will Smith.

MIGUEL ROJAS GETS HIM AT THE PLATE pic.twitter.com/lAW2GEcdDh

— MLB (@MLB) November 2, 2025

That is a run that the gritty underdog is supposed to score to get an edge over the powerhouse filled with superstars. Instead, it was Rojas with the nerves of steel and Kiner-Falefa not being desperate enough to score. The mistake of inserting Kiner-Falefa compounded itself for Toronto skipper John Schneider when the infielder came to the plate in the bottom of the 11th. Will Smith had homered for the Dodgers in the top of the frame to put Los Angeles on top, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the Blue Jays going with a double. With Kiner-Falefa at the plate instead of Bichette, Schneider opted for a bunt to get Guerrero Jr. to third. The play was executed correctly, but it proved to be the wrong strategy as after Addison Barger walked, Yoshinobu Yamamoto got Alejandro Kirk to ground into a season-ending double play.

Poor running of the bases also doomed Toronto in Game 6 when Barger was doubled off second base following Andres Gimenez’s line drive to left field. Barger had just hit a double that somehow got stuck against the center field wall. I thought that Los Angeles outfielder Justin Dean took a huge risk by putting his hands in the air and claiming that the ball was lodged, but fortunately for him, the umpires agreed and forced Barger to stop at second base. If they said that the ball wasn’t lodged, Barger could have run all the way home thanks to Dean not playing the ball.

#Postseason hero Kiké Hernández had one final trick up his sleeve to finish out the month of October 🤯#WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/Vg9xQyZBtP

— MLB (@MLB) November 1, 2025

Anyway, without that lodged ball call, Barger might not have been at second base and he might not have run into a double play on Gimenez’s drive that was caught by Enrique Hernandez. The Blue Jays might have caught a bad break, but they also ran themselves out of the game. There’s also the possibility that Barger would have stopped at second base if the ball had just bounced off the wall, so maybe it’s not too bad of a break.

Despite Shohei Ohtani’s unbelievable Game 3 performance, the World Series MVP went to Yamamoto, and it’s hard to say that he didn’t deserve it. The man pitched a complete game to lead the Dodgers to victory in Game 2 and then pitched six innings with one run allowed in Game 6 to earn a second World Series win. We already knew Yamamoto was built different when he started warming up during the 18th inning of Game 3, but then he proved it by entering Game 7 in the ninth inning and keeping Toronto off the scoreboard until the game was over two and two thirds innings later. Yamamoto was hyped up a lot when he signed a massive deal with the Dodgers before the 2024 campaign, but he has lived up to it and then some with his heroic postseason performances.

We got some bad news on Wednesday night, as the Blue Jays are now one win away from bringing the Commissioner’s Trophy to Canada. They cruised to a 6-1 victory in Game 5 of the World Series after Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the game. Trey Yesavage took it from there with just four batters reaching base against him (three hits and a hit by pitch) in seven innings. He struck out 12 Dodgers during the incredible performance.

Trey Yesavage is LOCKED in 🔒

He strikes out the side in the 2nd! pic.twitter.com/XcbWPvNq4N

— MLB (@MLB) October 30, 2025

Toronto now has two chances to clinch the championship in its home ballpark. The good news for the Dodgers is that Yoshinobu Yamamoto is slated to start Game 6, and he is coming off of two straight complete games. Kevin Gausman will take the mound for the Blue Jays after being outdueled by Yamamoto in Game 2.

We got a little football action during the World Series’ off day, and I’m happy to say that I started the week 1-0 with my picks, but these standings remained the same because everyone picked Baltimore to crush Miami.

Here are the rest of my Week 9 picks as I try to escape the Isle of Mid.

Ravens -7.5 at Dolphins

Miami surprisingly blew out Atlanta on the road last week, but Baltimore was also impressive. I think Lamar Jackson’s return gets the Ravens the points they need to cover the spread.

Bears -2.5 at Bengals

The Bengals have scored more than 30 points in each of the past two weeks with Joe Flacco under center, but the defense still stinks. I think Caleb Williams has a day.

Vikings at Lions -8.5

Detroit is great at covering big spreads like this one because they can keep scoring even when trying to kill the clock.

Panthers +12.5 at Packers

Last week was a big return to form for Green Bay, but Carolina isn’t a pushover.

Chargers -9.5 at Titans

I’m done picking the Titans to cover anything.

Falcons +5.5 at Patriots

The Falcons are Jekyll and Hyde. I think they play well on the road after everyone wrote them off.

49ers at Giants +2.5

Maybe this isn’t Kyle Shanahan’s masterpiece after all? The win over the Rams is looking like a fluke.

Colts at Steelers +3.5

I am going back to the Pittsburgh home underdog well. Indianapolis has been a juggernaut, but its schedule has been very soft.

Broncos at Texans -1.5

Texans have now won three of four, but they played terribly in the one game of those I watched. That was at Seattle, and Houston has been better at home.

Jaguars at Raiders +3.5

Just when I was starting to believe that the Jaguars weren’t frauds, they go out and lose two in a row.

Chiefs at Bills +1.5

Chiefs have been unstoppable since the Jacksonville loss, but Buffalo appears rejuvenated after the bye week.

Seahawks -3.5 at Commanders

Washington might just be bad.

Cardinals at Cowboys -2.5

Cowboys at home is the easiest pick every time they play at home.

Since the World Series shifted to Los Angeles on Monday night, the Dodgers won a game that will be considered one of the greatest in the history of the Fall Classic. The next day, the Blue Jays won a very boring game by comparison, but they both count the same and we are tied 2-2 heading into a pivotal Game 5 on Wednesday night.

FREDDIE FREEMAN WALK-OFF HOME RUN IN THE 18TH INNING! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/wD1xbRxDbC

— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025

So how did we get here? It has a lot to do with Shohei Ohtani cementing his legacy as an all-time baseball legend and setting a Postseason record by reaching base nine times during the Game 3 marathon that ended on Freddie Freeman’s walk-off home run off of Brendon Little to lead off the bottom of the 18th. If nine times on base with no outs made wasn’t amazing enough, Ohtani’s first four plate appearances resulted in extra-base hits, and the last two led to the Dodgers coming back and tying the game. His double in the fifth inning drove in Enrique Hernandez to make the score 4-3 before Freeman singled to get Ohtani home with the equalizing run.

SHOHEI OHTANI'S SECOND HOMER OF THE NIGHT

TIE GAME! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/eA6h6saLnV

— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025

Then, after Bo Bichette’s single down the right field line got Vladimir Guerrero all the way from first to home with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, Ohtani answered with his second home run of the game to tie the score at 5-5, where it would stay for the next 11 innings. Part of the reason the game stayed tied for so long was that Toronto intentionally walked Ohtani during his next four plate appearances and then walked him conventionally in his final plate appearance to mix things up. That last walk by Little in the 17th inning was so noncompetitive that it looked like an old intentional walk from back when you had to throw the ball to the catcher. The craziest part of the five Ohtani walks was that only one of them came in a typical intentional walk scenario with first base open and a runner on second or third. On the other four occasions, Blue Jays manager John Schneider either put Ohtani on as the winning run or to push the winning run into scoring position. The strategy worked.

We also wouldn’t have made it to the 18th inning without a couple of relief pitcher heroes in Eric Lauer for Toronto and Will Klein for Los Angeles. Lauer is a former Padres and Brewers southpaw who split his time between starting and relief pitching this season with the Blue Jays. He threw four and two thirds scoreless innings after entering the game with one out in the 12th. Klein’s four shutout frames were even more surprising because he had never started a game before in his two-year big league career. In his 22 regular season appearances, he never went longer than two innings before, and yet here was Stein taking the Dodgers deep into the night when they didn’t know if they even had another pitcher available.

PAINT

The Dodgers' TENTH pitcher of the night keeps it tied in the 15th! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/ApMh6prBlG

— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025

If Little had retired Freeman in the 18th, we might have seen something as incredible as Stein’s great outing. That’s because Yoshinobu Yamamoto was warming up in the bullpen after throwing his second straight complete game of the Postseason just two days before! Just when I thought I would never see a pitcher save his team on short rest again, Yamamoto was willing to come back on one day of rest! It’s kind of a shame that Freeman ended the game when he did, because that would have been something to see. It REALLY would have been a shame if Toronto won, but at least that didn’t happen.

Monday night’s cathartic Game 3 victory made it seem like Los Angeles had all the momentum, especially with Ohtani on the mound to start Game 4. Could he possibly grow his legend even more? It turns out that no, he could not. The Dodgers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning when a Max Muncy walk and a Tommy Edman single led to a sac fly by Hernandez, but Shane Bieber would keep Los Angeles off the scoreboard for the rest of his five and a third innings. Toronto struck back and took the lead in the third when Guerrero Jr. launched a two-run home run off of Ohtani.

VLADDY GETS AHOLD OF ONE! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/UIgEgJBUPu

— MLB (@MLB) October 29, 2025

The Dodgers’ best chance to retake the lead came in the sixth when Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez singled to set the table with one out, but Mason Fluharty came on for Bieber and got Max Muncy to fly out before striking out Edman to end the threat. The Blue Jays started the seventh with two straight hits to chase Ohtani and went on to rally for four runs with RBI hits coming from Andres Gimenez, Bichette, and Addison Barger. That was more than enough for Toronto, and it went on to win 6-2.

It feels like we’ve already had enough dramatic events to fill a whole series (probably because the Dodgers and Blue Jays have played five games’ worth of innings in four games), but there are still at least two more games left to play in the 2025 season. I can’t wait to see what happens in Game 5 tonight with Blake Snell on the bump for Los Angeles against Trey Yesavage for Toronto.

Boy, did I have a bad sports day on Sunday. It was bad enough when the Giants got whomped by the Eagles so badly that it made New York’s home win over Philly two weeks ago seem like a total fluke. Then I had to watch the Knicks fall behind the Heat by 18 points in the fourth quarter and tease with a comeback before falling 115-107. The cap off the evening, the Rangers lost a second straight game to one of the worst teams in hockey.

At least the 38-20 defeat suffered by the Giants might have been closer in an alternate universe where the referees called the game fairly. I’m not a big blame-the-refs guy, and the Giants might have lost this game anyway due to some horrendous run defense that allowed Saquon Barkley to take off on a 65-yard touchdown run on Philly’s first possession, but a few calls in this game were very frustrating.

After the Giants tied the score 7-7 on a touchdown pass from Jaxson Dart to Cameron Skattebo, the Eagles answered with a drive of their own that hit a snag when Jalen Hurts scrambled for eight yards on 3rd and 9. Usually this wouldn’t be a problem for Philly because of its famous Tush Push that it uses whenever there is one yard to go. However, this time Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux ripped the ball away from Hurts as he reached for the first down. This looked like a huge momentum shift as the Tush Push was not supposed to be beatable. It was a huge play early in the game, until the refs explained that Hurts’ forward momentum had stopped after he achieved the first down but before he lost the football. How convenient!

Some more looks at the non-fumble on the Eagles tush push due to forward progress being called.@KevinBurkhardt, @TomBrady, and @DeanBlandino discuss: pic.twitter.com/g1leAsahVS

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 26, 2025

I don’t understand how forward progress is stopped when the ball carrier is still moving forward. Since the call of forward progress being stopped isn’t able to be overturned by replay, the Giants couldn’t challenge the ruling (although they did anyway). Barkley caught a touchdown pass from Hurts two plays later to make the score 14-7 Eagles, and they would lead for the rest of the game.

To make matters worse for the Giants, Skattebo suffered a gruesome ankle injury on the ensuring possession, and he is presumed lost for the season. New York continued to battle, but it blew a huge chance to get off the field early in the fourth quarter when a Brian Burns sack for a massive 21-yard loss was immediately undone by a handoff to Tank Bigsby.

2nd & 31: 1st down Eagles pic.twitter.com/3jZC6OGHoM

— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) October 26, 2025

That play led to a Hurt touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert, but the Giants appeared to bounce right back with Dart throwing a 68-yard touchdown pass to Darius Slayton on 4th and 11. Alas, the incredible play was overturned by a dubious offensive pass interference call, and that was pretty much it for the competitive part of the game. The Giants are now 2-6 and without Skattebo as well as Malik Nabers. They will take on the 49ers in New Jersey next Sunday.

As if the Giants game wasn’t sad enough, I got to watch the Knicks shoot 39 percent from the field at Miami and the Rangers lose 5-1 to the 1-7-1 Flames. We’ve got to do better this week.