Scherzer ‘ready’ after pen session, aims for ALCS
ARLINGTON, Texas — Max Scherzer declared himself “ready to go” after throwing another bullpen session and doing fielding drills Friday, two days before the Texas Rangers open the American League Championship Series.
The Rangers haven’t said whether the three-time Cy Young Award winner will be on their ALCS roster, and that decision doesn’t have to be made until Sunday before Game 1 at Houston. Scherzer hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 12 because of a muscle strain in his injured shoulder.
“I feel good. Recovered, checked all of the boxes I possibly can,” Scherzer said during a workout at Globe Life Field before the team traveled to Houston. “So I’m ready to go.”
Texas manager Bruce Bochy, who didn’t speak with reporters on Friday, and pitching coach Mike Maddux have expressed being encouraged by the progress of Scherzer, who was a trade-deadline acquisition from the New York Mets.
The Rangers did announce left-hander Jordan Montgomery, another deadline acquisition, as their probable Game 1 starter against the Astros. Montgomery is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA in his two starts this postseason, including Game 2 of the AL Division Series at Baltimore last Sunday.
After a bullpen session in full uniform, Scherzer fielded grounders up both lines at Globe Life Field and covered first base for a few plays.
“I do two days of PFP in the year, one day in spring training and one day before postseason,” he said with a grin, referring to pitchers’ fielding practice.
Scherzer said he is confident he can get batters out and knows he would have to bring his A-game against the Astros. But he doesn’t know how long he could go in a game.
“I can’t answer that question. It’s just going to be play it by ear,” Scherzer said. “I’ll just be in communication with Boch and Mad Dog [Maddux], and we’ll see how this shakes out. … We’ve had conversations: If I do feel something, I’ve got to come out of the game.”
His latest bullpen session followed a simulated game Wednesday, when Scherzer threw 68 pitches against hitters and had several up-and-down segments.
“Very encouraged, the fact that he threw 68 against hitters, maintained his stuff throughout all 68,” Maddux said Friday of Scherzer’s pitch count, speaking before the workouts. “He didn’t skip a beat from 1 to 68. That was the encouraging part. Need to sharpen up a little bit.”
“That was my first time on the mound facing hitters in a few weeks — you’re breaking through some cobwebs,” Scherzer added. “I got through those, got my arm in the right position. So then this sim game [Wednesday], that was kind of more like a rehab start and got stronger throughout my pitches. I felt like I was almost stronger at the end than I was at the beginning, so that’s kind of what you want to feel before you get into a start.”
Asked if he felt like he had more life on his fastball when facing hitters this week than last, Scherzer said he wasn’t sure.
“That was actually kind of a weird sim game,” he said. “I usually don’t pitch hungover.”
That was the day after the Rangers had wrapped up the AL Division Series with a 7-1 win over Baltimore.
Scherzer, whose 3,367 strikeouts are the most among active pitchers, was 13-6 with a 3.77 ERA in 27 starts for the Mets and Rangers. He struck out 174 in 152⅔ innings.
As part of the trade to Texas, Scherzer exercised his 2024 option at $43.33 million, most of which will be covered by Mets’ payments to the Rangers.
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Shwetha Surendran
The NCAA sent a letter to Kalshi, a company that offers prediction markets on college basketball and football, expressing its concern about the company’s “commitment to contest integrity and the protection of contest participants,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by ESPN.
In the letter, dated Oct. 30, NCAA chief legal officer Scott Bearby asked Kalshi how it monitors collegiate sports markets for integrity concerns and activity by prohibited customers, who it considers a prohibited customer, whether it will report integrity concerns to the NCAA and whether the company will cooperate with NCAA investigations.
“We welcome Kalshi’s stance on its efforts to protect the integrity of NCAA competitions and to reduce instances of abuse and harassment directed at student-athletes and other participants,” Bearby wrote.
The NCAA also asked if Kalshi would ban prediction markets similar to prop bets, which the company began offering this fall.
Prop betting markets, Bearby noted in the letter, heighten “the risk of integrity and harassment concerns.” In March last year, NCAA president Charlie Baker called for a ban on prop bets on college athletes in states with legal sports wagering.
The NCAA also asked Kalshi in the letter to review language on its website that the NCAA says implies a relationship between them.
“Kalshi has robust market integrity provisions required by our status as a federally licensed financial exchange,” a Kalshi spokesperson said in a statement to ESPN. “We value the NCAA’s feedback and are working on adjusting the language on our site. We are currently reviewing and addressing their additional requests.”
Prediction markets like Kalshi have emerged over the past year and are competing with traditional sportsbooks in the betting market. Kalshi is battling multiple lawsuits by state gambling regulators, who allege that the company is violating state laws by offering event contracts that mimic sports bets. Kalshi argues that it does not fall under state jurisdiction and is instead regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency.
In March, Kalshi announced a partnership with IC360, an integrity monitor used by many collegiate and professional leagues.
The NCAA has faced an increasing number of alleged betting violations by players in recent years. In September, the NCAA announced that a Fresno State men’s basketball player had manipulated his performance for gambling purposes and conspired with two other players in a prop betting scheme. In total, the association has opened investigations into potential betting violations by approximately 30 current or former men’s basketball players.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami has asked the Atlantic Coast Conference for clarity on a number of officiating decisions made in its loss this past weekend to SMU, including a critical 15-yard penalty in the final moments of regulation.
Miami lost the game, 26-20. The Hurricanes, who were as high as No. 2 in the AP Top 25 last month, have dropped two of their last three games and are now ranked No. 18.
Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said Miami has not gotten an answer from the ACC. It’s unclear if any explanations will be coming.
“Certainly, we’re waiting what the response is, as well as on the roughing the passer one which we certainly don’t agree with,” Cristobal said Monday. “But at this point in time, the best we can do is turn it in and hope for a better result next time.”
The Hurricanes’ Marquise Lightfoot was called for unnecessary roughness against SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings with about a minute left in the fourth quarter, giving the Mustangs 15 yards and a first down. Miami had called time out just before the fourth-and-9 play was snapped, and the Hurricanes argued to no avail that Lightfoot did not hear the whistle.
Replays showed that Lightfoot, who did make contact with Jennings, tried to hold the SMU quarterback up after apparently realizing the play was dead.
That penalty gave SMU the ball on the Miami 37, and the Mustangs went on to kick an overtime-forcing field goal.
Miami also was incensed about how a pass interference flag that would have aided the Hurricanes was picked up, and how officials missed a Hurricanes receiver getting tackled in the end zone on a play that wound up as a Miami interception in overtime.
Miami was called for 12 penalties in the game for 96 yards, compared with four by SMU for 40 yards. The eight-penalty differential tied Miami’s biggest of the season; it had 13 penalties compared with five by Florida State when those teams played in Tallahassee last month.
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