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We’ve been here before. It’s September, which is the time of year when we can announce, for a few days at least, that a formerly great program has risen from the ashes to reassert its dominance. In a small sample size, we see visions of better days.

Miami has been back before. It never lasts.

Texas is back nearly every September, and that hope ends quicker than the average Matthew McConaughey nude bongo solo.

For more than a decade, the “they’re back” moment has been less a proclamation than the setup to a joke, with fans all too certain the punchline will come soon enough.

But on this September Saturday, it doesn’t feel like a joke.

Texas didn’t simply beat Alabama 34-24 in Tuscaloosa. The Longhorns threw haymakers, following each Tide touchdown with their own, getting up off the mat to stare down Nick Saban like Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania. This wasn’t a fluke. Texas was the more talented team with the far better quarterback.

A year ago, Quinn Ewers starred as the frontman for Austin’s top Molly Hatchet cover band (Prolly Hatchet) but was, at best, a case in mediocrity at QB. Then he got a haircut and returned to the Horns for 2023 as a genuine star. Ewers threw for 349 yards and three touchdowns, torching the Alabama secondary — including routinely attacking All-American Kool-Aid McKinstry. Not since Hi-C released Ecto Cooler in 1989 has anyone delivered such a blow to Kool-Aid.

Just as Texas and Alabama kicked off, Miami was putting the finishing touches on its own impressive win over an SEC power. The Hurricanes spotted Texas A&M 10 points to start the game, but then turned the screws on Jimbo Fisher, with QB Tyler Van Dyke tossing five touchdown passes in a 48-33 win.

It was, at long last, proof of concept for coach Mario Cristobal’s promised revival of the Canes, a defining win against a team that, just a year ago, had utterly stifled Miami’s offense.

That the teams on the wrong end of these momentous wins both belonged to the mighty SEC was its own unlikely statement.

For Alabama, all the concerns about an offense without a clear identity and a defense that had softened in recent years were on display against the Longhorns.

For the Aggies, the loss to Miami was so decisive that Bobby Petrino likely offered to interview for Jimbo Fisher’s job on the plane ride home.

The SEC has six nonconference losses in two weeks already, including four to the ACC. (Though, if commissioner Greg Sankey just wants to expand and add North Carolina, Florida State, Miami and, um, Wake Forest, we can chalk it all up to the grind of a tough SEC schedule.) According to ESPN Stats and Information, this marks the first season since 2002 in which Alabama, LSU and Florida have an L by the end of Week 2.

What a brave new world this could be.

There are 12 weeks remaining, of course, and the story of a college football season never plays out just as we’d expect. September foreshadowing is as likely to be a red herring as it is honest data on a trend line.

Still, for this week at least, 2023 felt something more akin to the glory days of decades past.

Texas looks to be back.

Miami looks to be back.

It’s either the start of a genuinely fun season or the sign that precedes the horsemen’s arrival in the Book of Revelation.


Colorado’s instant turnaround and Nebraska’s never-ending rebuild

Sequels so rarely live up to the original, but Colorado‘s second act against Nebraska was, if anything, a more emphatic performance for coach Deion Sanders’ team.

Colorado demolished Nebraska 36-14 on Saturday, as Travis Hunter again made an impact on both sides of the ball with three catches for 73 yards and four tackles, Xavier Weaver looked like an emerging superstar with 10 catches for 170 yards, and Shedeur Sanders followed up his 500-yard passing performance against TCU with another 393 yards and three touchdowns. And while Week 1’s win over the Horned Frogs hardly showcased an elite defense, the Buffaloes held Nebraska to just 11 completions and had four takeaways.

But as with most genuinely good sequels, the real entertainment is less in what we learned of an already established hero but more in the complexity of the antagonist.

And in this case, Nebraska offered no complexity. The story of the Cornhuskers is simple: They’re bad.

Saturday’s loss was the 18th in Nebraska’s past 23 games. Jeff Sims, the quarterback coach Matt Rhule handpicked to lead the Huskers’ resurgence, was dreadful for the second straight week, turning the ball over three times. The defense, which held up well early, fell apart down the stretch.

The only thing that looked much different from past Nebraska misery on Saturday is that the game was never actually all that close.

There are still nits to pick with the Buffaloes. In their two otherwise impressive wins, they’ve allowed 12 sacks and rushed for just 1.7 yards per carry. And it’s certainly possible Colorado has yet to see a truly challenging opponent.

A year ago, however, the Buffs were an embarrassment, hardly capable of taking the field without tripping over their own shoe laces. Now, you have to squint to find any flaws in their game.

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0:31

Colorado forces big interception, celebrates on turnover throne

Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig snags the interception as Colorado takes over with good field position.

The problems at Nebraska are so much bigger — bigger, perhaps, than they were even a year ago, amid embarrassing losses to Northwestern and Georgia Southern and, well, Huskers fans don’t need reminders.

Two games isn’t enough to judge a rebuild, of course. Rhule has a long history of winning college football games, and life gets at least marginally easier in the next couple of weeks.

But Sims is now 7-18 as a starting QB with 39 touchdowns and 37 turnovers. Is there a reason to think that résumé changes in the months to come?

Those Blackshirts on defense, once the soul of one of the great programs in the country, have been beaten down by one showing of offensive ineptitude after another.

And while the party in Boulder is just getting started, hope for Nebraska still feels like it’s a long ways off.


Pac-12 keeps humming

No league stays perfect forever, even if “forever” for that league is about eight more months.

So it was that the Pac-12’s undefeated start to the season came to a halt in Week 2, when Arizona fell to Mississippi State 31-24 in overtime.

And yet, Week 2 was another reminder that, in what sure seems like its last season of existence, the Pac-12 isn’t going out without some fireworks.

Oregon overcame a 27-18 deficit and picked off its former QB Tyler Shough three times, including a 45-yard pick six with 45 seconds left to seal a 38-30 win over Texas Tech.

Washington State knocked off No. 19 Wisconsin.

UCLA dominated San Diego State.

Utah escaped Baylor, Colorado was exceptional again, and the Washington Huskies are tossing touchdown passes like Oprah giving away cars.

USC‘s game ops even get credit for being way cooler than the officials. Listen, Stanford had no chance to win this game, and the people just wanted to listen to “Free Bird.”

Michael Penix Jr. has now thrown for 400 or more yards in four of his past six games. At Rutgers, that’s called “a good century.”

Dante Moore looks like an emerging star at UCLA, throwing for 290 yards and three touchdowns against San Diego State on Saturday.

USC is already a video game on offense. This kind of stuff is just terrifying.

Even with Saturday’s losses, the Pac-12 figures to have six teams ranked in the top 20, which gives the league a good case as the nation’s best.

And sure, Stanford looked awful and Cal lost. But that’s the ACC’s problem.


Heisman Five

We’re two weeks in and, honestly, the hardest part is deciding how many Colorado players to include among the Heisman favorites.

1. Colorado do-it-all star Travis Hunter

Hunter had three catches for 73 yards on offense, four tackles and a PBU on defense, and singlehandedly swayed the international markets to send corn futures plummeting. It was a thorough beating of Nebraska.

2. USC QB Caleb Williams

Williams threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns against Stanford. Oh, that was just in the first half. If he keeps doing this to teams he’s going to ruin his Heisman chances by never playing in the second half.

3. Florida State QB Jordan Travis

Travis had just two touchdowns against Southern Miss, but only one of them was to Keon Coleman, so the degree of difficulty was higher. Regardless, Florida State rolled 66-13.

4. Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders

Sanders has 903 passing yards and six passing TDs through two games. Last year, Colorado as a team had 2,075 passing yards and 10 passing TDs. That puts Sanders on pace to top the Buffs’ season totals from 2022 before the end of this month.

5. Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman

Hartman’s Notre Dame career so far: Three wins, 10 touchdowns, no picks, one rib necklace. Your move, Caleb Williams.


Big Ten vibe check

It was another dull week atop the Big Ten, as Michigan and Ohio State were favored by a combined 83 points. So the results were less about wins and more about vibes.

After all, just a week ago, Ohio State’s offense scuffled against Indiana and, while the Buckeyes won easily, there were some reasonable concerns. So, what did we learn in Week 2? Maybe not much more than we did in Week 1. It was an easy 35-7 win over Youngstown State, and Kyle McCord threw for three touchdowns, but really, Ohio State spent the bulk of the second half on cruise control.

The Buckeyes have scored 58 points so far, which is their fewest through two games since 2014.

Oh, they also won the national title in 2014. Ryan Day really is playing chess when the rest of us are playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos.

As for Michigan, the Wolverines topped UNLV 35-7 in their second of three games without head coach Jim Harbaugh, who spent the afternoon running the chain gang of a high school football game and then, we assume, sifting through his collection of old MAD Magazines so he could do all the fold-ins.

J.J. McCarthy tossed two touchdown passes and Michigan had 300 passing yards for the second time in its past three games — something it had done just twice in its prior 16.

Meanwhile, the Michigan defense has allowed 10 total points so far this season, and with Bowling Green and Rutgers on deck, that number might not move much anytime soon.


Historic win for Iowa

It wasn’t easy, but anything else wouldn’t have felt fitting, as Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz picked up career win No. 200 with a 20-13 victory over rival Iowa State.

During the course of Ferentz’s 200 wins, Iowa has scored upward of 600 total points on offense, including 13 on Saturday. The defense added a pick-six, which for reasons we cannot fathom still counts toward Brian Ferentz’s quest for 25 points per game — the number Iowa has to hit for the younger Ferentz to keep his job.

Cade McNamara, the QB brought in from Michigan to invigorate the passing game, threw for 123 yards and a pick. Iowa averaged nearly 4 yards per rush. It was truly a fireworks display.

The Hawkeyes nearly blew a 20-3 lead, which actually might have been a brilliant turn for its offensive coordinator. Overtime would’ve given OC Brian Ferentz a chance to pad an extra three, maybe six points to his total. Alas, it was not to be.

Instead, his quest for 300 — 25 points over 12 games — stands at 44. Since Oct. 1 of last year, Iowa has hit that magical 25-point mark just once.

Still, the Ferentz family has lots to celebrate after such a historic win, and we assume Kirk & Co. will all have a blast at Applebee’s, while Brian naps in the backseat of the car.


Under-the-radar play of the week

The race for the best big-guy touchdown of the season is already over. Colorado Mesa’s Cooper Mumford recovered a fumble on a trick play, scrambled outside, then tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass.

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An O-lineman tossing a TD? That’s not something you see every day

Colorado Mesa OL Cooper Mumford picks up a loose ball behind the line of scrimmage and recovers by throwing a touchdown pass.


Under-the-radar game of the week

Once upon a time, Luke McCaffrey was a QB prospect for Nebraska. A lot has happened since then. McCaffrey ultimately transferred to the Rice Owls, lost a QB competition, and moved to wide receiver. Nebraska also gave up on playing a quarterback.

On Saturday, McCaffrey reminded the college football world that he may not have been an elite QB, but he’s a heck of a player.

McCaffrey hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass with one hand, giving Rice a 21-0 lead.

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Rice’s Luke McCaffrey makes ridiculous one-handed TD grab

Luke McCaffrey, brother of 49ers running back Christian, hauls in a jaw-dropping catch to increase Rice’s lead over Houston.

Rice appeared to have the game in hand, up 28-0 at the half, but Houston had other ideas.

The Cougars roared back, scoring the final 28 points of regulation, including two touchdowns in the last four minutes, to send the game to overtime.

The two teams traded touchdowns in each of the first two frames of OT, but while Rice connected on its 2-point try, Houston failed to, giving the win to the Owls.

McCaffrey finished the game with 99 yards and two touchdown grabs, and Rice nabbed its first win in the intra-city rivalry with Houston since 2010.


Four downs

Maryland was nearly doomed by a slow start against Charlotte, falling behind 14-0 and trailing 14-9 at the half. Could Charlotte coach Biff Poggi have caused this by, say, pulling the fire alarm in the Terps’ hotel, forcing an evacuation, then changing the AM/PM setting on all their alarm clocks? Did he possibly do this while wearing a Speedo and drinking Olde English out of a foam dome helmet? No, it’s not likely, but with Poggi, we’re ruling nothing out. Either way, Maryland came back and won 38-20.

A year ago, North Carolina and Appalachian State played in a shootout for the ages, with the Heels prevailing 63-61 after the two teams combined for 62 fourth-quarter points. Saturday’s rematch wasn’t quite as explosive, but the Heels and Mountaineers did rack up more than 1,000 total yards as UNC missed a late field goal that would’ve won the game, but held on to prevail in double OT.

Tulane was without star QB Michael Pratt for its matchup with Ole Miss. Typically when things go bad in New Orleans, we recommend having a few hurricanes at Pat O’Brien’s and hoping it’ll all work out, but the Green Wave foolishly shrugged off that option and instead sent Kai Horton out for the start instead. He held his own for a half, but things fell apart after the break, with Jaxson Dart (267 yards, 2 TDs) leading Ole Miss to a 37-20 win.

Clemson got off to a miserable start against Charleston Southern, with a pick-six by Cade Klubnik putting the Tigers in an early 14-7 hole. Klubnik & Co. figured things out in the second half, however, and outscored the Buccaneers 42-0 to close out the game. Klubnik finished with 315 yards and four touchdowns, and afterward Dabo Swinney passed around to each media member a beautifully designed note card with the words “I told you so” in hand-written calligraphy.


A minor victory

In life, great success begins with a small step forward. Perhaps that will be true, too, for the NAIA’s Texas College Steers.

In Week 1 of the season, Texas College was walloped 90-0 against Texas-Permian Basin (which, in fairness, is among Texas’ finest basins).

In Week 2, a similar result seemed in the offing. At the end of the third quarter, Central Arkansas (an inherently middling Arkansas direction) led 70-0, but our beloved Steers wouldn’t go down without a fight.

After a Texas College interception, Central Arkansas started a drive pinned deep in its own territory. That’s when Steers legend Dylan DuBois delivered a play for the ages. On a handoff to the tailback, Dubois delivered a hit in the end zone for a safety.

And thanks to Dubois’ patented last-second magic, the final score was Central Arkansas 70, Texas College 2.


Did you say ‘Utes’?

No Cam Rising? No problem. Well, OK, a few problems. But Utah‘s offensive woes against Baylor on Saturday weren’t enough to keep the Utes from moving to 2-0 on the season.

Baylor led 13-3 midway through the third quarter, but coach Kyle Whittingham pulled his starting QB, Bryson Barnes, and went with freshman Nate Johnson, who engineered a late comeback. Johnson completed 6 of 7 throws for 82 yards and added another 32 yards on the ground, including a touchdown — one of two Utah scores in the game’s final two minutes.

Still, Baylor nearly stole the win.

After Jaylon Glover scored to give Utah a 20-13 lead with 17 seconds to play, Baylor connected on a 47-yard throw to Hal Presley, setting up one final heave to the end zone with one second left on the clock.

Technically, the pass fell incomplete. But that’s not how Baylor fans will remember it.

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1:52

Baylor’s last-ditch drive cut short by controversial no-call

Sawyer Robertson connects with Hal Presley to set up one last chance for Baylor, but it comes up short in the end zone.

After years of enduring Pac-12 officiating, this must have felt like an early welcome into the Big 12 for the Utes. What looked like a clear defensive pass interference didn’t earn a flag, and the Utes escaped 20-13.


Irish keep ACC streak alive

Notre Dame is not going to join the ACC. Oh, sure, it’s technically a full voting member and spent a portion of this summer nudging the league to add Cal and Stanford, ostensibly for the good of college football, but make no mistake, the Irish are only here to bring the ACC down from the inside.

On Saturday, the Irish toppled NC State 45-24, with Sam Hartman — the ACC’s all-time leading passer whom the Irish swiped from Wake Forest this offseason — throwing for four touchdowns.

It was the first time in 17 games NC State has allowed more than 30 points. The last QB to do it? That’d be Sam Hartman.

Notre Dame has now won 29 straight regular-season games vs. the ACC. Syracuse, which joined the ACC full time in 2013, has just 26 total wins against the conference since then.

Indeed, since the Irish joined the ACC in all sports but football — they typically play five games per year against the conference — in 2014, they’ve racked up 42 ACC wins. Only Clemson, Pitt and Miami have more. The other 11 full-time ACC members have been left in Notre Dame’s dust.

If the ACC were the cast of “Succession,” Notre Dame is Tom Wambsgans. He was welcomed into the family, pushed for a big merger to go through, then stole all the power for himself. (Side note: Miami is definitely Cousin Greg, right?)

This is all incredibly problematic for the ACC, but it’s worth remembering that, starting next year, SMU, Stanford and Cal can also lose games to Notre Dame.

You know, for the good of the league.


Bad day in the First State

Delaware was the first state to ratify the U.S. constitution on Dec. 7, 1787. It’s been mostly downhill since then, save Elena Delle Donne and a few good shows at the Bottle & Cork. But Saturday might have been the state’s nadir.

The Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens visited Penn State, and it didn’t go well. The Nittany Lions won 63-7.

The Delaware State Hornets visited Army, and it didn’t go well either. The Black Knights won 57-0.

If you’re keeping track, that means the two Division I teams from Delaware lost by a combined score of 120-7.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, however. All the big name, image and likeness money in Delaware is being funneled through its famous chicken farms right to Florida State, keying that program’s return to greatness.

We knew once they started opening Wawa locations in Florida, it was only a matter of time before this happened.


Big bets and bad beats

Well, we think it’s safe to say Georgia has lost its edge. The Bulldogs allowed Ball State to drive down the field and boot a meaningless 27-yard field goal with 9 minutes, 5 seconds to play, making the score 45-3. That’s how it ended, which meant UGA (-42) hit the spread right on the nose.

Wake Forest opened its win over Vanderbilt with an interception that set the Deacons up with a first-and-goal at the 10. They settled for a field goal. Wake got the ball with seven seconds left in the first half and moved into field goal range, but it missed a 44-yarder. Vandy had four plays inside Wake’s 3 but turned the ball over on downs. Wake had a first-and-goal at the Vandy 2 but fumbled. None of that made much difference in the Deacons’ impressive enough 36-20 win, but all those miscues were worth noting if you bet the over, which came up a half-point shy (56.5).

Syracuse led Western Michigan 45-7 at the half, having scored on its first seven drives of the game. With 52 points already on the board, it was fair to say the game was trending pretty heavily toward hitting the over of 56. So, what happened in the second half? One stinking field goal. Syracuse punted four times (and kicked the aforementioned field goal), while Western Michigan turned the ball over on downs on both of its final two drives deep into Orange territory.

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‘Reason he’s here’: Crochet delivers for Red Sox

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'Reason he's here': Crochet delivers for Red Sox

BALTIMORE — Garrett Crochet gave the Boston Red Sox an immediate return on their investment.

In his first start since agreeing to a $170 million, six-year contract, the left-hander pitched a career-best eight innings as the Red Sox shut out the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 on Wednesday night. Crochet also threw 102 pitches, one shy of his career high.

“My first start in college I went eight, and I haven’t sniffed it since,” Crochet said.

Crochet (1-0) gave up four hits and a walk while striking out eight in his first victory since the offseason trade that sent him from the Chicago White Sox to Boston.

“That’s the reason he’s here,” manager Alex Cora said after the game. “That’s the reason we committed to him.”

Crochet went 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA last season, a bright spot on a Chicago team that lost 121 games. He threw 146 innings, which was double his previous career total since his debut in 2020.

Then Crochet was dealt to the Red Sox, and they made their long-term commitment to the 25-year-old earlier this week.

“Going back to when the trade went through, we knew Boston was a place where we would love to be long term,” Crochet said. “Credit to the front office for staying diligent, and my agency as well.”

Now the question is less about where he’ll pitch and more about how well. He’s off to a nice start in that regard.

“I can’t think of the last time I played baseball for pride. In college, you’re playing to get drafted, and once you’re in the big leagues, you’re playing to stay in the big leagues,” Crochet said. “So to have this security and feel like I’m playing to truly just win ballgames, it takes a lot of the riff-raff out of it.”

The news all around was good for Boston on Wednesday.

It reached a $60 million, eight-year deal with young infielder Kristian Campbell, and he went out and doubled twice against the Orioles.

And Rafael Devers ended a 21-at-bat hitless streak to start the season with an RBI double in the fifth inning. He finished with two hits and no strikeouts.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Ohtani’s walk-off pushes Dodgers to historic 8-0

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Ohtani's walk-off pushes Dodgers to historic 8-0

LOS ANGELES — Aside from his ability to pitch and hit and stretch the boundaries of imagination, Shohei Ohtani has displayed another singular trait in his time in the major leagues: an ability to meet the moment. Or, perhaps, for the moment to meet him.

And so on Wednesday night, with his Los Angeles Dodgers looking to stay unbeaten, the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and more than 50,000 fans standing and clenching the Ohtani bobbleheads they lined up hours in advance for, Ohtani approached the batter’s box — and his teammates expected greatness.

“He’s going to end this right here,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said he thought to himself.

“We knew,” starting pitcher Blake Snell said. “It’s just what he does.”

Validation came instantly. Ohtani stayed back on a first-pitch changeup from Raisel Iglesias near the outside corner and shot it toward straightaway center field, 399 feet away, for a walk-off home run, sending the Dodgers to a 6-5, come-from-behind victory over the reeling Atlanta Braves.

“I don’t think anybody didn’t expect him to hit a walk-off home run there,” Dodgers utility man Tommy Edman said. “It’s just a question of where he’d hit it.”

The Dodgers are now 8-0, topping the 1933 New York Yankees of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth for the longest winning streak to begin a season for a reigning champion. The Braves, meanwhile, are 0-7, the type of record no team has ever recovered from to make the playoffs. And Ohtani, with three home runs and a 1.126 OPS this season, just keeps meeting moments.

“He’s pretty good, huh?” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “It’s Shohei. He’s going to do that. He’s going to do things better than that.”

On Aug. 23 last year, Ohtani reached the 40/40 club with a walk-off grand slam. Five days later, the Dodgers staged a second giveaway of his bobblehead — one that saw his now-famous dog, Decoy, handle the ceremonial first pitch — and Ohtani led off with a home run. On Sept. 19, Ohtani clinched his first postseason berth and ascended into the unprecedented 50/50 club with one of the greatest single-game performances in baseball history — six hits, three homers, two steals and 10 RBIs. Barely two weeks later, he homered in his first playoff game.

When Ohtani came up on Wednesday, he had what he described as a simple approach.

“I was looking for a really good pitch to hit,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “If I didn’t get a good pitch to hit, I was willing to walk.”

Of course, though, he got a good pitch.

And, of course, he sent it out.

“You just feel that he’s going to do something special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And I just like the way he’s not pressing. He’s in the strike zone, and when he does that, there’s just no one better.”

The Dodgers began their much-anticipated season with a couple of breezy wins over the Chicago Cubs from Japan, even though Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman did not play in them. They returned home, brought iconic rapper Ice Cube out to present the World Series trophy on one afternoon, received their rings on another and swept a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Then came the Braves, and the Dodgers swept them, too — even though Freeman, nursing an ankle injury caused from slipping in the shower, didn’t participate.

The Dodgers already have two walk-offs and six comeback wins this season.

Wednesday’s effort left Roberts “a little dumbfounded.”

A nightmarish start defensively, highlighted by two errant throws from Muncy, spoiled Snell’s start and put them behind 5-0 after the first inning and a half. But the Dodgers kept inching closer. They trailed by just two in the eighth and put runners on second and third with two out. Muncy came to bat with his batting average at just .083. He had used the ballyhooed “Torpedo” bat for his first three plate appearances, didn’t like how it altered his swing plane, grabbed his usual bat for a showdown against Iglesias and laced a game-tying double into the right-center-field gap.

An inning later, Ohtani ended it.

“Overall, not just tonight, there is a really good vibe within the team,” Ohtani said after recording his fourth career walk-off hit. “I just think that’s allowing us to come back in these games to win.”

The Dodgers’ 8-0 start has allowed them to stay just ahead of the 7-0 San Diego Padres and the 5-1 San Francisco Giants in the National League West. Tack on the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2) and the Colorado Rockies (1-4), and this marks the first time in the divisional era that an entire division has combined for at least 25 wins and no more than seven losses, according to ESPN Research. The Dodgers’ and Padres’ starts mark just the fifth season in major league history with multiple teams starting 7-0 or better, and the first time since 2003.

The Dodgers famously overcame a 2-1 series deficit to vanquish the Padres in the NL Division Series last year, then rode that fight to their first full-season championship since 1988.

That fight hasn’t let up.

“It feels like this clubhouse is carrying a little bit of the attitude we had last year that we’re never out of a game and we’re resilient, and we’ve been carrying it into this season,” Muncy said. “It’s been fun to watch. The guys don’t give up. Bad things have happened, and no one’s really been down or out on themselves. Everyone’s just, ‘All right, here we go, next inning, let’s get after it.’ The whole team, top to bottom, has been doing that. It’s been making it really, really fun to play.”

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Death of Gardner’s son pinned to carbon monoxide

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Death of Gardner's son pinned to carbon monoxide

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death of the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, authorities in Costa Rica said Wednesday night.

Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency, said 14-year-old Miller Gardner was tested for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood.

When carboxyhemoglobin saturation exceeds 50%, it is considered lethal. In Gardner’s case, the test showed a saturation of 64%.

“It’s important to note that adjacent to this room is a dedicated machine room, where it’s believed there may be some type of contamination toward these rooms,” Zúñiga said.

The head of the Costa Rican judicial police added that, during the autopsy, a “layer” was detected on the boy’s organs, which forms when there is a high presence of the poisonous gas.

Gardner died March 21 while staying with his family at a hotel on the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.

Asphyxiation was initially thought to have caused his death. After an autopsy was performed by the Forensic Pathology Section, that theory was ruled out.

Another line of investigation centered around whether the family had suffered food poisoning. Family members had reported feeling ill after dining at a nearby restaurant on the night of March 20 and received treatment from the hotel doctor.

Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire major league career with the organization. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008 to 2021.

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