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CLEVELAND — The New York Yankees signed Gerrit Cole for games like this.

With the Yankees’ 99-win season on the brink, Cole spun seven sparkling innings, propelling New York to a 4-2 win over the upstart Cleveland Guardians on Sunday as the Bombers knotted the American League Division Series at two games apiece.

Starting for the 16th time in his postseason career, Cole gave the Yankees exactly what they needed, not just in staving off elimination but also in saving further wear and tear on a bullpen worn down by injuries.

“He just kept making pitches all night long,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he was just really in command of the moment, and it was obviously a huge start for us and for him. And to get us that deep in the game set us up real nice.”

Cole allowed the Cleveland leadoff hitter to reach base in each of the first four innings, but every time it appeared he might be teetering on the edge of trouble, he was able to dial it up and escape with little to no damage on the scoreboard. He managed to pull off that trick while also keeping his pitch count under control so that he could work deep.

“For most of the night, in order to pitch around somebody, and overall, just stuff was pretty good,” Cole said. “But we just executed a lot of good pitches and mixed well. Well enough to get away with a couple of mistakes.”

One of those mistakes came in the fourth inning, when Guardians designated hitter Josh Naylor led off with a ringing line-drive homer to right center. As he circled the bases, Naylor went into an exaggerated celebratory gesture, rocking his arms back and forth.

If the intent was to put Cole off his game, it didn’t work — and couldn’t have worked, because Cole said he was unaware of Naylor’s antics until after the game.

“Whatever,” Cole said. “It’s cute. I didn’t see it in the moment, and it wouldn’t have bothered me in the moment. It just is kind of funny.”

Nothing could put Cole off his game in Game 4, as he held Cleveland to two runs over seven innings, struck out eight and, perhaps most important of all, threw 110 pitches.

The last of those pitches was a 98 mph fastball that struck out Guardians pinch hitter Will Brennan. As he stalked off the mound, Cole pumped his arms and screamed, the intensity on his face suggesting a person who knew he had done the job he was asked to do.

He had emptied the tank for his team.

“I do that every time I pitch,” Cole said.

The big blow for the Yankees’ offense was struck by emergent postseason hero Harrison Bader, who clubbed a two-run homer off Cleveland starter Cal Quantrill in the second to give New York an early 3-0 advantage.

Bader was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals at the trade deadline while he was on the injured list with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. By the time he was able to work his way back and begin his Yankees career, the season was dwindling, and he played in just 14 games for New York during the regular season, hitting .217 with no homers.

He’s making up for lost time. Bader’s homer on Sunday was his third of the postseason. Bader, who grew up a Yankees fan, joined quite a list. In the storied history of the franchise, the only other Yankees center fielders to homer at least three times in a single postseason were Bernie Williams (three times) and Mickey Mantle (twice).

“I’m grateful and fortunate for the opportunity,” Bader said. “And every day I wake up, it feels good to be a Yankee. I carry that in the field, carry that in my preparation.”

With Cole reducing the workload of the New York bullpen to six batters, Boone was able to use closer Clay Holmes for three outs in the eighth and lefty Wandy Peralta to finish it off in the ninth. Both hurlers faced the segment of the Guardians’ order with which they best matched up, just as Boone would have scripted it.

“It lined up pretty well for us tonight,” Boone said. “You start looking back, it is like, man, every little out that sets up somebody in a little bit better position moving forward is always big.”

While Holmes’ availability or lack thereof has become a hot topic in the series, before Sunday’s game, Boone said that he could pitch in back-to-back games if he responds well to the first outing. Finding out whether that happened will surely be a topic during Boone’s pregame news conference Monday at Yankee Stadium ahead of Game 5.

Meanwhile, Peralta set down Cleveland in order in the ninth on just seven pitches. While the outing made it three appearances in three days for the veteran lefty, Boone said the efficiency of the outing made it possible that Peralta could be available for the series finale.

And because of Cole’s outing, the rest of the New York bullpen will be fully rested. Jameson Taillon will draw the Game 5 assignment for New York, going against Cleveland righty Aaron Civale.

“There is definitely going to be some added adrenaline and stuff when you step foot in Yankee Stadium,” Taillon said. “I will keep my day as normal as possible.”

While the Yankees’ beleaguered bullpen appears to be in good shape for the finale, so too will be Cleveland’s bullpen after manager Terry Francona avoided using any of his big three relievers — Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak and Trevor Stephan — during the two games in Cleveland.

In other words, it’s going to be all hands on deck as the $68 million Guardians try to knock off the $246 million Yankees.

“If you would have told me back in March we just signed up to play Game 5 in New York, to go to the ALCS,” Francona said, “I would have jogged to New York. I mean, this is … I’m excited.”

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Which current NHL players will make the Hockey Hall of Fame? Sorting the candidates into eight tiers

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Which current NHL players will make the Hockey Hall of Fame? Sorting the candidates into eight tiers

The Hockey Hall of Fame is going to swing open its doors to some impressive former NHL stars in the next few years. Legends such as Zdeno Chara, Joe Thornton, Duncan Keith and Patrice Bergeron. Eventually Jaromir Jagr will be inducted. Probably in his 80s, when he’s done playing.

The Hall can welcome up to four men’s players in every annual class. Given how many current NHL players have a legitimate case for immortality, the selection committee will not suffer for a lack of choices.

Here is a tiered ranking of active NHL players based on their current Hall of Fame cases. We’ve picked the brain of Hockey Hall of Fame expert Paul Pidutti of Adjusted Hockey to help figure out the locks, the maybes, “the Hall of Very Good” and which young stars are on the path to greatness.

Let’s begin with the two players who have defined this century of hockey, and another player whose legend has grown to the point where he’s a sure-thing Hall of Famer.

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Bottom 10: Lost weekend in Florida

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Bottom 10: Lost weekend in Florida

Inspirational thought of the week:

“Honestly, when we lose, I don’t even get in the shower until early this morning. I’ll just be mad. I just brush my teeth. It’s like, I don’t deserve soap.”
Syracuse head coach Fran Brown

Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located behind the “sorry, not sorry” bouquet of water hemlocks sent to the Big 12 officiating office from Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, we know all too well the sting of losing football games. We see it every week in every game we watch.

Yeah, yeah, we know what you’re thinking. “Come on, dummy, someone loses every game that anyone watches.” That’s true. At least now it is. We are also old enough to remember when games ended in ties. That was way worse.

But here in the Bottom 10 Cinematic Universe, losses are worse because that’s all you experience. You’d think we’d get used to it, numb from the pain like when you keep accidentally biting that same spot on your tongue to the point that it just becomes sensory free. But instead, it’s like Bruce Banner explained about being the Hulk: “You see, I don’t get a suit of armor. I’m exposed. Like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.”

However, as we learned in “Age of Ultron,” even after one of his worst losses, Bruce Banner does take a shower. So, Coach Brown, take it from us, in a world where every team has a helluva lot more losses than Syracuse … dude, wash up. Seriously. We can smell you from here. And we’re in Kent, Ohio.

With apologies to Mr. Clean, former Miami (Ohio) quarterback Mike Bath, former Southern Illinois running back Wash Henry and Steve Harvey, here are the post-Week 11 Bottom 10 rankings.


The Golden(plated) Flashes are still America’s last winless FBS team, losing their 18th straight game when they were edged by Ohio 41-0. Now they travel to My Hammy of Ohio, where they are given a 2.8% chance to win by the ESPN Analytics Ouija board, er, I mean Matchup Predictor. But honestly, that game will only be the appetizer ahead of the, yes, Week 13 main course that is the Wagon Wheel showdown with Akronmonious. And by appetizer we mean way-past-the-expiration-date freezer-burned mini-pizza bagels.


The New Owls not only used their talons to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at UTEP, losing in double overtime, they earned Bottom 10 Bonus Points for firing their head coach — and during their first year as an FBS team, no less. Though the AD issued a statement that Brian Bohannon had “stepped down,” Bohannon himself responded on social media: “Contrary to what’s been reported, I want to be clear that I did not step down.” But there is no confusion as to whether the Owls have stepped up or down in these rankings, where every move up is also a move down.


Brett Favre Funding U. lost to We Are Marshall 37-3, meaning all eight of their defeats this season have been by double digits. In related news, I also received double digit political texts on Election Day — and one of those was from Favre. No, for real. I wonder, did he cover the data charges himself or did he steal change from the donation jar at his grocery store checkout?


Sometimes in this life we are asked to do things that go against the fiber of our being. Like taking your daughter to the concert of an artist you’ve never heard of. Or me having to use Earth’s most annoying instrument, the leaf blower. This weekend this team of Minutemen will be asked to try to defeat Liberty.


5. The Sunshine State

The Coveted Fifth Spot has never been more crowded. The FBS, FCS and NFL teams of Florida posted a 1-11 record over the weekend, salvaged only by the Miami Dolphins’ win over the Los Angeles Rams on “Monday Night Football.” UC(not S)F, US(not C)F, FA(not I)U, Stetson, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman all lost, led in misery by the Wildcats’ five-overtime loss to Southern. The Flori-duh Gate Doors celebrated the announced retaining of coach Billy Napier by losing to Texas in a squeaker 49-17. And My Hammy of Florida finally spotted an opponent a lead too large for a Cam Ward comeback and took its first loss of the season, falling to unranked Georgia Tech. If only someone else in the state could relate to that …


The Semi-No’s are continuing to work around the Coveted Fifth Spot by earning their Bottom 10 keep the old-fashioned way, not only losing to semi/sorta/kinda ACC member Notre Dame by a scant 52-3, but also earning a pile of their own Bottom 10 Bonus Points not by firing head coach Mike Norvell, but because Norvell fired both his offensive and defensive coordinators and a wide receivers coach. In related news, over the weekend a friend of mine steered his bass boat into a giant pile of sharp rocks and reacted by throwing his shirt and hat overboard.


It was three weekends ago that the Buttermakers lost to then-second-ranked Oregon 35-0. On Saturday, they lost to then-second-ranked Ohio State 45-0. Now they play sixth-ranked Penn State, and in two weeks end their season playing currently eighth-ranked Indiana. We have to assume that a team of professors from Purdue’s legendary mechanical engineering department is studying this experience as a way to assess the stress put on a school bus that is attempting to drive over a lava field covered in landmines.


The Minors have a weekend off to continue their post-Kennesaw victory party. And what’s the best way to snap yourself out of a two-week hangover? Hair of the dog? A cold bucket of water over the head? How about the hair of a coontick hound and a bucket of water from the river during a Week 13 trip to Neyland Stadium to play Tennessee?


Whatever is left of UTEP after Knoxville will then play whatever is left of the Other Aggies after their Week 12 trip to face the OG Aggies of Texas A&M. If there’s any justice in this world, then the loser and/or winner of that Aggie Bowl would go on to play …


The Other Other Aggies lost to the one-loss team the nation forgot about, Warshington State. But if you consider the week before that, we find a Bottom 10 conundrum. Utah State beat WhyOMGing? but the week before that lost to Whew Mexico by five points. Meanwhile, Wyoming, who lost to Utah State two weeks ago, spent last weekend beating New Mexico by five points. Perhaps we will be given some clarity when Wyoming ends the year at Washington State. Or perhaps we will have already given up. As so many here in the Bottom 10 seem to do.

Waiting list: Miss Sus Hippie State, Georgia State Not Southern, FA(not I)U, Akronmonious, Meh-dle Tennessee, WhyOMGing?, Temple of Doom, Living on Tulsa Time, You A Bee?, Standfird, people who put all those election signs up but now won’t take them down.

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Bans remain for Bad Bunny agency execs, agent

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Bans remain for Bad Bunny agency execs, agent

NEW YORK — An arbitrator upheld five-year suspensions of the chief executives of Bad Bunny’s sports representation firm for making improper inducements to players and cut the ban of the company’s only certified baseball agent to three years.

Ruth M. Moscovitch issued the ruling Oct. 30 in a case involving Noah Assad, Jonathan Miranda and William Arroyo of Rimas Sports. The ruling become public Tuesday when the Major League Baseball Players Association filed a petition to confirm the 80-page decision in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The union issued a notice of discipline on April 10 revoking Arroyo’s agent certification and denying certification to Assad and Miranda, citing a $200,000 interest-free loan and a $19,500 gift. It barred them from reapplying for five years and prohibited certified agents from associating with any of the three of their affiliated companies. Assad, Miranda and Arroyo then appealed the decision, and Moscovitch was jointly appointed as the arbitrator on June 17.

Moscovitch said the union presented unchallenged evidence of “use of non-certified personnel to talk with and recruit players; use of uncertified staff to negotiate terms of players’ employment; giving things of value – concert tickets, gifts, money – to non-client players; providing loans, money, or other things of value to non-clients as inducements; providing or facilitating loans without seeking prior approval or reporting the loans.”

“I find MLBPA has met its burden to prove the alleged violations of regulations with substantial evidence on the record as a whole,” she wrote. “There can be no doubt that these are serious violations, both in the number of violations and the range of misconduct. As MLBPA executive director Anthony Clark testified, he has never seen so many violations of so many different regulations over a significant period of time.”

María de Lourdes Martínez, a spokeswoman for Rimas Sports, said she was checking to see whether the company had any comment on the decision. Arroyo did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.

Moscovitch held four in-person hearings from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7 and three on video from Oct. 10-16.

“While these kinds of gifts are standard in the entertainment business, under the MLBPA regulations, agents and agencies simply are not permitted to give them to non-clients,” she said.

Arroyo’s clients included New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and teammate Ronny Mauricio.

“While it is true, as MLBPA alleges, that Mr. Arroyo violated the rules by not supervising uncertified personnel as they recruited players, he was put in that position by his employers,” Moscovitch wrote. “The regulations hold him vicariously liable for the actions of uncertified personnel at the agency. The reality is that he was put in an impossible position: the regulations impose on him supervisory authority over all of the uncertified operatives at Rimas, but in reality, he was their underling, with no authority over anyone.”

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