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With one week left to go in the 2023 regular season, there are a number of storylines to watch, as quite a few teams still have something to play for.

Will the Baltimore Orioles or Tampa Bay Rays win the American League East? Which of the four teams battling for the final two National League wild-card spots will win out? Are there any players to pay special attention to before the postseason?

The season ends Oct. 1, with the postseason to begin two days later. What should you be watching? We asked ESPN MLB experts what they’re following most closely over the final week of the season. Let’s get to it.


AL playoff races

There’s a four-team scrum for three playoff spots in the AL — two wild-card slots and the AL West title — and, almost miraculously, they’re all pretty good teams. It’s as close to an old-fashioned pennant race as we can get in the “generous” contemporary format.

Among the Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers or Seattle Mariners, one will be starting the offseason in a week. It’s a battle that, despite the erratic new scheduling formula, manages to feature two head-to-head clashes over the final week (Rangers-Mariners and Astros-Mariners). Plus, the Blue Jays finish the season with the New York Yankees (who are battling to avoid a losing season) and Rays (who are in a dogfight for the AL East title and top AL seed), while the Astros finish up at the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are also fighting for their postseason lives.

All of this would be enough as is, but what elevates the drama is the precarious place of the Astros, who would be on cruise control if not for a sudden inability to beat the AL’s worst teams. If Houston’s run of six straight ALCS appearances ends in a week because of that​, it will be one of the defining stories of the season.

And if Houston does end up as the odd team out, the AL playoff bracket would consist entirely of clubs with historical chips on their shoulders: the Blue Jays (no titles in 30 years), Orioles (no titles in 40 years), Rays (no titles ever), Rangers (also no titles), Minnesota Twins (18-game playoff losing streak) and Mariners (last extant franchise to never win a pennant). It’s going to be a fun week. — Bradford Doolittle


NL wild card

Note to teams playing an “easy” final week schedule: Beware.

Just ask the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs how they feel about that, after the Pittsburgh Pirates took a series from them both over the past several days. It’s happened all over baseball in September, meaning the Miami Marlins‘ final six games against the New York Mets and Pirates won’t be a cakewalk, not with all six coming on the road.

The Cubs also have six road games to close their season, but their challenge is a different one, as they play two division leaders in the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers. Both have nothing to play for in the standings. Does that make them vulnerable, or does being an ultra-talented team who can play loose make them more dangerous? Meanwhile, Arizona has been impacted by the weather on the East Coast, meaning it’ll play eight straight days to finish the season while the other wild-card contenders get a day off in between series. As for the Reds, they might be cooked after blowing a big lead to the Pirates on Saturday.

It could very well mean Arizona, Chicago and Miami are playing for the final two wild-card spots with Philadelphia in control of the No. 4 seed. With the Marlins sporting a 35-40 record on the road this season — and sitting outside the final wild-card spot as the week begins — they’ll be the odd man out in the NL wild-card race. — Jesse Rogers


Yankees’ historic streak in jeopardy

It’s the greatest streak in modern sports: 30 consecutive winning seasons. The Yankees last finished under .500 in 1992 when Danny Tartabull led the team in home runs, Melido Perez led in wins and the team used its first-round draft pick on a high school shortstop from Michigan named Derek Jeter. Yes, the Yankees have always had the money to invest in large payrolls, but as we’ve seen this year with the New York Mets and San Diego Padres, that doesn’t ensure anything. And Jeter? That was the last time the Yankees picked in the top 10 of the draft — in a sport where even the first pick isn’t always a sure thing.

The streak appeared over in late August when the Yankees were 62-68 and had lost 12 of 14 games. They couldn’t hit, the rotation was ravaged by injuries and they had become irrelevant in the playoff race. They somehow rebounded, including a crucial sweep of the Astros in early September, and they now head into the final week one game over .500.

“I acknowledge the streak as impressive, especially when you frame it in American sports history and all that,” manager Aaron Boone said recently. “It is remarkable, but we go into certainly every season since I’ve been here with loftier goals than that.”

Yes, a mere winning season is far from what the Yankees — and their fans — desired. As painful as it’s been to not play in a World Series since 2009, Yankees fans are dreading something they deem even worse: being a losing team. — David Schoenfield


Saying goodbye to legends

The last days of this season will be about goodbyes for some big names, folks who have served the game well over the years. Miguel Cabrera has been honored throughout baseball in his last season in the big leagues. This week, he’ll hear cheers — perhaps responding with a final home run, a final hit among his 3,000-plus, a final curtain call. Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told ESPN that he intends to play Cabrera in each of the Tigers’ last three home games, so that Cabrera has a chance to get “the ovation that he deserves.”

Terry Francona has tried to downplay the end of a managerial career that will eventually be capped by a speech in Cooperstown. The Cleveland Guardians will honor him before his final home game Wednesday, and with a “Tito” T-shirt giveaway. Francona’s final game, coincidentally, will be in Detroit, where he’ll share the stage with Cabrera.

It’s unclear whether Brandon Crawford will play in 2024, but he’ll always be remembered by the San Francisco Giants for his role in their championships. Crawford will be eligible to come off the injured list the last day of the regular season, allowing manager Gabe Kapler the opportunity to perhaps give Giants’ fans one last moment with him on the field. Regardless, with the Giants playing their last week of the regular season at home, you’d assume the Oracle Park crowd will summon him from the dugout at some point as they have in the past with Buster Posey and Hunter Pence.

Zack Greinke will have a chance to say goodbye next weekend, when the Royals host the Yankees — and Greinke is currently in line to start that last game. Given his personality, you’d expect that Greinke’s goodbye will be a little different than anybody else’s. Joey Votto hasn’t announced whether he’s going to retire, but with his contract expiring, it’s possible that the career of the former MVP is in its final days, too. — Buster Olney


NL MVP race

There is no better story, no gnarlier debate, than Ronald Acuna Jr. vs. Mookie Betts for the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

Their OPS+ is identical at 167. Acuña has one more home run than Betts, who has four more RBIs. It’s true: Acuña is far ahead in runs (143 to 125) and stolen bases (68 to 13). But the biggest number in Acuña’s favor — bigger than the first 40/60 (and probably 40/70) season in MLB history — should be his total base lead: 372-333. The best argument for Acuña: In a race where their slash lines are practically identical, he just did it more: eight more games, 50 more plate appearances and almost 40 more total bases. It’s not based on achievements we think are cool because of our obsession with round numbers. It’s the embodiment of Acuña’s superiority.

The case for Betts isn’t nearly as in your face as the ceaseless recitation of “40/70.” Both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference, the two versions of Wins Above Replacement we accept as meaningful, agree: By a thin margin, Betts is having the better season. Defensive metrics do not like Acuña’s glove in right field, while Betts’ has been solid and makes up for the offensive deficiency. Beyond WAR, the argument for Betts is clear: His ability to play second base, too, allowed the Los Angeles Dodgers to stack their outfield with left-handed hitters against right-handed pitchers, bringing tangible, direct benefit to the team via a very rare skill. That is the definition of valuable, is it not?

Regardless of who’s ahead now, the last week can win and lose races. It’s a ridiculous conceit. One week out of 24 is more important because of when it happens to fall on the calendar? Of course not — especially with two teams that have wrapped up their divisions. But it does come when voters are looking for every little difference. Because in reality, there are so few. — Jeff Passan


Recent wave of top prospect promotions

Rays third baseman Junior Caminero is my most-anticipated player of this group of recently called-up top prospects that I’m watching, and he’s also the most recently promoted. I mentioned in my prospect rankings from last month that he’s similar to an NFL pass rusher, with explosive bat speed and 40-homer upside but also the baseball skills to make enough contact and play third base. He just needs to swing at the right pitches.

Beyond Caminero, some other top-100 types that are somewhat fresh in the big leagues (likely with an eye toward a 2024 ROY campaign) with clear everyday roles include Texas Rangers CF Evan Carter (14th on my most recent ranking), St. Louis Cardinals SS Masyn Winn (16th), San Francisco Giants SS Marco Luciano (29th), San Francisco Giants LHP Kyle Harrison (36th), Cincinnati Reds SS Noelvi Marte (37th) and Baltimore Orioles RF Heston Kjerstad (49th). In the 51st to 80th tier that just missed the top 50 includes New York Mets SS Ronny Mauricio, Cincinnati Reds RHP Connor Phillips and Oakland Athletics RHP Mason Miller.

Lastly, keep an eye on Atlanta Braves RHP Hurston Waldrep and Toronto Blue Jays LHP Ricky Tiedemann as potential late season or playoff call-ups for specific relief roles. His season will likely end on Sunday, but my top 2023 draft prospect, Texas Rangers LF Wyatt Langford, has blitzed to Triple-A in his pro debut with eye-popping numbers, especially for being young for each level: 194 PA, .360/.480/.677, 29 XBH, 10 HR, 36 BB, 34 K, 12/15 SB. — Kiley McDaniel


Dodgers’ pursuit of 100 wins

It might not ultimately impact the playoff field, but it would be an incredible achievement — both historically and within the context of their season. If the Dodgers can win four games over this last week, they’ll tie a major league record with their third consecutive 100-win campaign (also done by the 2017-2019 Astros, 2002-2004 Yankees, 1997-1999 Braves, 1969-1971 Orioles, 1942-1944 Cardinals and 1929-1931 A’s, according to ESPN Stats & Information).

If you exclude the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, it’s an unprecedented four straight. If you include the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season — when they rode a 116-win pace through the summer, then won the World Series in a bubble — it’s five straight. And if you consider that: (1) their rotation has been decimated like no team other than the Rays, (2) their bullpen held the fifth-worst ERA in the majors by the end of June and (3) their lineup heading into the season was largely composed of journeyman veterans and unproven young players, it’s practically unbelievable.

You can knock the Dodgers’ constant failures in October all you want, and that’s totally fair. But the substantive sample of the regular season is the true measure of a team’s ability, and no team — ever, perhaps — does it like these Dodgers. — Alden Gonzalez

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The changes that led to a year Boise State won’t forget

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The changes that led to a year Boise State won't forget

EVERY SUNDAY DURING the football season, Spencer Danielson logs onto a Zoom call.

Danielson, like many coaches, has crafted a life built around routines. It is the way the 36-year-old Boise State head coach is able to make sense of his job and still find time for himself, his family and important people in his life. This call, however, holds a special place in Danielson’s busy week. It has become an essential part of his routine and journey in his first season as the Broncos’ head football coach.

On the other end of those calls is Chris Petersen, who retired from coaching following the 2019 college football season.

“We Zoom for an hour, no matter what,” Danielson said. “He’s my mentor.”

Life changed quickly for Danielson last year. One minute he was the defensive coordinator, and the next he was being ushered into a room with Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey and named the Broncos’ interim head coach after they fired Andy Avalos.

One of the first people Danielson turned to was Petersen, the former Broncos head coach who went 92-12 from 2006 to 2013 and had two undefeated seasons. Having started his career at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California and joined Boise as a graduate assistant in 2017, Danielson knew he needed help and wanted to get it from the individual responsible for the program’s greatest years.

“I called him and was like, ‘Coach, I want your help. I want to make this something consistent,'” Danielson said. “I knew that when I became a head coach, this is how I want it to be.”

After reenergizing the team and leading it to its fourth Mountain West title last season, Danielson officially got the job, but he knew that the task at hand went beyond a single season. One of the Mountain West’s premier programs had lost some of its luster and failed to secure a major bowl victory since beating Oregon in 2017. Danielson wanted to build something that would last, and Petersen became the ideal sounding board.

“I don’t see my role as solving his problems. My role is helping him think about his problems, maybe even in a different way and asking him questions so he can get to the solutions.” Petersen said. “It works pretty good because he’s so wide open to really everything and getting the best answers for his team and his program.”

The thread between Petersen and Danielson is a reflection of what Dickey and those now leading the program knew it needed: a return to the kind of cohesion Petersen fostered that made Boise State great, with an eye toward what will position it to be even better in the future.

Danielson, who is now 15-2 as head coach, has continued the program’s winning tradition while taking the team beyond where it has been before. This season, the Broncos produced a Heisman Trophy finalist in running back Ashton Jeanty, won the Mountain West for a fifth time and earned a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. They lost only once — to Oregon, the undefeated No. 1 team in the country — and grabbed an improbable first-round bye in the process.

“We were going to be prepared for that success when it happened,” Dickey said. “Now, there’s a momentum that’s contagious.”

But even though the Cinderella of the late aughts is ready to embrace the underdog role yet again against No. 3 Penn State in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl tonight, the Broncos don’t want to be satisfied with just having a long-awaited seat at the table.


THERE IS SOMETHING in the Arizona air that seems to attract Boise blue.

Over the past 17 years, the Fiesta Bowl has become as much a part of the school’s lore as the bright blue field on which its football team practices and plays. It has been the site of some of the program’s greatest moments, a place where legends have been made and trick plays have been embossed in the sport’s history.

Despite hundreds of players and a handful of coaches cycling through Boise over the years, the destination in the desert keeps beckoning the Broncos back for more.

“There’s definitely some good energy there,” said Jared Zabransky, Boise State’s quarterback during its 2006 season.

Even after all these years, it doesn’t take much to unearth the chip on Zabransky’s shoulder. He recalls how the rhetoric surrounding Boise State was that its undefeated season was a farce and a product of a weak schedule.

“No one gave us a shot in that game against Oklahoma,” Zabransky said of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl against the Sooners. “But we knew what we had.”

The Broncos shocked the world, taking down a Big 12 champion despite being 7.5-point underdogs. Petersen and then-offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin called three crucial trick plays: a hook-and-ladder touchdown that tied the game in regulation, a direct snap touchdown thrown by a wide receiver in overtime and the famous “Statue of Liberty” play where Zabransky faked a pass and handed the ball to running back Ian Johnson behind his back for the winning 2-point conversion.

“Every year, they start playing clips of that play,” Zabransky said. “If it’s not the most memorable game of all time, it’s definitely in the top three.”

Three years later, Boise State made it back to the Fiesta Bowl and beat No. 3 TCU by a touchdown. Five years later, it returned to the bowl and won again, taking down No. 12 Arizona by 8 points.

As Zabransky watched the final College Football Playoff ranking come out a few weeks ago, he could only smile and accept a familiar fate. It was fitting that the inaugural 12-team playoff would not just include Boise State, but that it would send it, improbably, to yet another Fiesta Bowl as the underdog with a chance to do something the Broncos could not back in the BCS days: play for a national title.

“I never got hung up in the old days about not getting an opportunity. To me, the opportunity was could we get into BCS games,” Petersen said. “But now that the system’s changed a little bit, I think it’s great that they have struck when they’re hot. It’s tremendous.”

Zabransky knows what they did in 2007 helped showcase the foundation the program had built, centered around an identity of relentless work ethic and a quest for perfection that Petersen preached.

“It was a special time,” he said. “And I see some of that in this [year’s] squad. There’s a connection and a complete unity going in the right direction.”

Tonight, Zabransky will walk back into State Farm Stadium, this time as a fan. With Boise State set to wear the same uniform combination of white jerseys, orange pants and blue helmets it has in each Fiesta Bowl appearance, Zabransky will allow his mind to wander into the past, in hopes of trying to will the future to bend in favor of the Broncos again.


JERAMIAH DICKEY KNEW that Boise State had plateaued. It was 2021, and he had just taken the job as the Broncos’ athletic director. As he surveyed both what the Broncos had internally and the landscape of the sport beyond Idaho, Dickey knew he had to push the program forward.

The Petersen era was well in the rearview mirror. The game was changing with name, image and likeness. The Broncos’ last Fiesta Bowl win and appearance had been 10 years ago. And the sport’s most storied programs were shape-shifting via conference realignment.

“We set the bar really high with three Fiesta Bowls, and maybe the perception is we hadn’t done enough from the last Fiesta Bowl to present day,” Dickey said. “But Boise State is, in the grand scheme of things, in the infant stages of being a university and being an FBS program. So what I saw was opportunity.”

Dickey quickly identified what he referred to as “low-hanging fruit” and implemented a plan to address the issues. Boise had to pay its coaches and coordinators more, and it had to improve the fan experience, the stadium and the team’s facilities, too. It had to set up an infrastructure for large donations and create a vision that Broncos fans could buy in to, literally and figuratively.

“We were living too much in the past and not enough in the present and future,” Dickey said. “And this is an industry, as soon as you stop, you die a slow death. So we had to mature as a program and grow up really quickly.”

The former Baylor administrator quickly instituted a new mentality among his staff and turned it into the department’s mantra: “What’s next?” It’s also the name of the fundraising initiative Dickey started.

“The job that has been done by Jeremiah has been amazing,” Petersen said. “I think sometimes people don’t understand really how hard that is to do at a place like Boise, to be able to then compete on a national stage.”

For Dickey, this has been a year of reaping. Not only are the Broncos competing in the CFP, but they are set to break ground Saturday on a north end zone renovation. They have added new video boards as well as a ticket sales team that has broken program revenue and attendance records. The capital campaign is ongoing with a $150 million goal for athletics, and in October, Boise State announced it would be moving to the new Pac-12 conference in 2026.

“If I can make a decision that is going to drastically impact my resources and revenues that I can then invest back into the department, to me it was a no-brainer,” Dickey said of the move. “Now, time will tell and ultimately I’ll be judged off that, but I’m always going to bet on myself. I’m always going to bet on our team and I’m going to bet on our community.”

Since the move to the Pac-12 was announced, Dickey has seen the response materialize in sold-out season tickets for basketball and six sold-out football games this season. It helps, of course, that the Broncos are in the playoff, but Dickey is adamant that the results are secondary.

“A lot of the success you’re seeing in the present day started four years ago,” Dickey said. “It all started before we knew what this season would be. So whether the CFP changed or not, we were always looking forward to how to better position ourselves. And sometimes you get lucky.”


DANIELSON HAD 45 minutes to prepare his speech. He had just been named the Broncos’ interim coach and had to deliver a message to the team. He knew that Avalos’ firing meant players could enter the portal at will. He knew coaches on the staff were thinking about where they’d end up once a new coach was hired.

So, he simply asked for two weeks.

“At that point, everything is telling you to look out for yourself,” Danielson said. “So I told them, I don’t know what’s after these two weeks. I don’t know what my future looks like, your future, but I do know we got a great group of seniors that have been through a lot: COVID, multiple head coaches, tough seasons. We owe it to each other, and we owe it to our team to finish these next two weeks.”

With the football team staring at its first losing season since 1997 (a year after the program moved up to Division I), former players such as Zabransky could tell, even from the outside, that something was wrong.

“I love Andy, but when you get to a place where things just aren’t working and you press and press again, there has to be a change,” Zabransky said.

Dickey took the temperature of the situation and made what he believed was a necessary move: firing Avalos and installing Danielson as interim coach. In retrospect, Dickey’s move now looks like a stroke of genius, but even he admits that he didn’t go into the process expecting to make Danielson the permanent head coach.

But players and coaches bought into Danielson’s message, won their remaining two games and turned what was a slim chance into another conference title. Over the course of those two weeks, Dickey saw how Danielson’s approach had, even in such short order, reinjected Boise with the kind of energy the program had been missing.

“The guy just didn’t have bad days,” Dickey said of Danielson. “I just saw [him] embrace the challenge and show up differently than I had seen a coach show up, and I saw a team respond at a level I had not seen.”

Initially, Petersen delivered a blunt message to Danielson: “You’re not going to get the job.” But Petersen noticed that instead of focusing on securing the position, Danielson turned the focus toward the players. Once he secured the job, Danielson, with Petersen’s help, knew he wanted his approach to be unique. He knew Boise State’s competitive advantage couldn’t be found inside a playbook or a checkbook.

“We’ve got to be different, we’ve got to be efficient and specific,” Danielson said. “Maybe we can’t pay this or that. Let’s capitalize on what we do better than anybody else, which is development, which is taking care of our players. We’re involved in every part of our players’ lives.”

In some ways, it’s hard to view this season as a proof of concept. The Broncos had a once-in-a-lifetime player in Jeanty who had a once-in-a-lifetime season. But Dickey and Danielson are focused on ensuring that Boise is able to not just recruit and develop the next Jeanty, but that it’s able to keep him. Danielson isn’t naive; he wants players who want to be at Boise State, or as Petersen used to call them, “OKGs — our kind of guys.” But he knows the right infrastructure has to be in place, too.

“Jeramiah asks me, ‘What do you need to be one of the best teams in the country consistently and not just a flash in the pan? How do we do this consistently?'” Danielson said. “And that’s funding. There is support here. This is one of the top growing cities in the country. There is money here bringing it in to support our players, not only financially, but in all facets of their life as college football becomes even more professionalized.”

Over the past 12 months, Danielson’s message to his staff has been a consistent one that has bore out in the 12 wins the team has compiled this season.

“We have more than enough to succeed here,” Danielson tells them. “We have enough at Boise State.”


On Dec. 6, Boise’s blue field was swarmed by a tsunami of fans wearing blue. The chants of “Heisman” for Jeanty filled the stadium. A portion of the goal posts even ended up in the nearby Boise River.

As the clock hit zero and the program won its second straight Mountain West Championship over UNLV, punching its ticket to the College Football Playoff, a smiling Petersen, wearing a Broncos hat, stood on the field and soaked it all in. He doesn’t get to many college football games these days, working as an in-studio analyst for Fox Sports, and he doesn’t remember the last time he was in Boise for a game on “the blue” either.

“In some ways it felt like, boy, that was a long time ago that I was there, but on the other hand, it felt like it was just yesterday,” Petersen said. “Just being in that stadium with those awesome fans … that place is underrated.”

Few know that sentiment better than Dirk Koetter. The current offensive coordinator for the Broncos left Oregon in 1998 to become Boise’s head coach before Petersen. It was the beginning of what would be the program’s golden era, but Koetter remembers how he felt one particular day during that year as he stood inside a room at the local hotel and watched snow blanket the city while handling an off-the-field situation in which one of his players stole books from a bookstore.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘Why did I leave Eugene, Oregon, to come to this?'” Koetter said. “That press box wasn’t there. This theater wasn’t here. That indoor [field] wasn’t there. Boise State was probably averaging about 19,000 fans a game.”

Koetter kept at it. The next season, the Broncos went 9-3, won their conference title and beat Louisville in their bowl game. They went on to win four bowl games in a row and lose no more than three times in a season through the 2004 season under Dan Hawkins (53-11), a year before Petersen became the head coach and took the team to another level. When Petersen left for Washington, his offensive coordinator, Bryan Harsin, ensured the winning continued, going 69-19 over the next seven seasons.

“I’m very proud of where this program has gone and how we’ve been able to keep the chain of coaches and of the culture in this program,” Koetter said. “To be in this playoff, I think it speaks volumes about the administration here, the fans here, the players here and the coaches here.”

Koetter has come full circle by ushering this season’s offense to success. After 42 years of coaching at the college level and in the NFL, this might be Koetter’s last run. At his pre-Fiesta Bowl news conference last week, Koetter acknowledged that it could be his last news conference ever.

“I hope it’s not,” Koetter said. “I hope we keep playing.”

Boise State’s season isn’t over; another Fiesta Bowl where the odds (Penn State is favored by 10.5 points on ESPN BET) are against its favor awaits. And as Koetter and every other coach and player who has worn the Boise blue since the turn of the century knows, it would be foolish to count the Broncos out in the desert.

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Bagpipes and a train commute: Scenes from the 2025 Winter Classic

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Bagpipes and a train commute: Scenes from the 2025 Winter Classic

The NHL’s annual Winter Classic takes place on Tuesday as the Chicago Blackhawks face the St. Louis Blues at Wrigley Field.

The home of the Chicago Cubs and second-oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball has been transformed with an ice rink in the center. Wrigley also hosted the second-ever Winter Classic, when the Blackhawks faced the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.

It is the fourth Winter Classic and seventh outdoor game for Chicago, the most all-time. St. Louis played in the 2022 game against the Minnesota Wild at Target Field.

The Blackhawks got the day started with a special commute to Wrigley. Players took the CTA Train, similar to how fans arrive, while wearing “Team Chicago” gear. The look pays homage to first responders and includes Chicago Fire, Police and Emergency Management and Communications patches down their sleeves and pants.

Here are the top sights and sounds from the 2025 Winter Classic.

Stage is set


Bagpipes in full effect


Blues make their arrival


Each team’s threads


Bedard’s stick has all the details


Drone tour through Wrigley

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ASU’s Dillingham defends players’ brash comments

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ASU's Dillingham defends players' brash comments

ATLANTA — Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham defended the brash comments of players Cam Skattebo and Sam Leavitt heading into the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

During the final news conference Tuesday prior to the game against Texas, Dillingham was asked how he felt about his players coming across as confident and loose in the days before the matchup. He gave an impassioned response.

“Our players are just being themselves,” Dillingham said. “A lot of times there’s a lot of, ‘How are you supposed to talk to the media?’ What are you supposed to say?’ I just firmly believe in say what you believe. I’m not going to try to prevent our players from saying what they believe.”

Skattebo, who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting, was asked repeatedly about facing the No. 1 Longhorns defense in Wednesday’s game and said, “They continue to keep saying that people are going to try to stop me. There’s nobody out there that can stop me.”

Leavitt recently said he was looking forward to squaring off against Quinn Ewers and proving “why I’m the better quarterback.”

Dillingham pointed out both players had an uphill climb to get to where they are, and at times were the only ones who believed they could make it this far. This is especially true for Skattebo, who started out taking the FCS route at Sacramento State before getting an opportunity with the Sun Devils. He had a breakthrough season this year, rushing for 1,568 yards and 19 touchdowns while catching 37 passes for 506 yards and three touchdowns.

“Nobody thought he was on an NFL draft board going into the year. If he didn’t have that own self-belief in himself that he believes he’s the best, then who else would have his entire life?” Dillingham said. “So when people ask him a question, and he gives you the truth of what he believes, because his belief is what got him here, and then people twist it on him as if he’s being cocky or confident, that’s not the nature of what he’s trying to say.

“What he’s trying to say is, ‘My entire life I was the only one who believed in me.’ I’m not changing that.”

Leavitt was the 2022 Gatorade Oregon Football Player of the Year but rated a three-star recruit with a handful of power-conference offers. He transferred to Arizona State this season after one year at Michigan State.

“Those guys have a lot of self-belief because there was a point with the chip on their shoulder that they were one of the only people that believed in themselves,” Dillingham said. “If you’re a competitor and you don’t believe you’re the best, are you really a competitor?

“Those are just two really, really competitive people. It’s nothing about the opponent. It’s about their own self-belief. Sam probably thinks he could beat Michael Jordan in basketball. Skatt thinks he’s probably the great running back of all time. Sometimes when you verbalize those things, it gets twisted in a negative light. But I’m happy that we have those guys on our team because they’re ultra-competitors, and I have their back.”

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