PHILADELPHIA — Trea Turner shouted for his booze-soaked Philadelphia Phillies teammates to clear a path — the clouds of smoke formed from puffs of his celebratory cigar certainly opened a hole — as he rode into the clubhouse on a platform truck also stacked with cases of beer.
Hoodie up, googles on, Turner jumped and splashed into the swill of beer and bubbly that sopped the clubhouse floor, the All-Star shortstop ready to crash the bash that had circled him.
The Phillies are used to the party, though this one came with a twist — for the first time in 13 years, they are headed to the postseason as National League East champs.
Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto went deep. Phillies fans went wild. And pitcher Aaron Nola provided a taste of just how great it would feel for the entire franchise if Philly went all the way.
The Phillies won the NL East for the first time since 2011, clinching the division title with a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.
“That was our main goal in spring training, to win the division and get that first-round bye,” slugger Bryce Harper said. “Do all the things we can to kind of set us up for the postseason. The division was the first thing.”
The Phillies had rolled tarp pinned above clubhouse locker stalls before the game, a familiar protective sight for the bottle-popping ahead for a team that has made the playoffs each of the past three seasons under manager Rob Thomson.
They went wild moments after Carlos Estevez retired Michael Busch on a fly ball to end the game. Phillies players swarmed each other in excitement on the infield. The Phillie Phanatic stormed the celebration waving a 2024 flag as fans stood and filmed it all.
“We know there’s a really big picture ahead of us,” Schwarber said before the game. “Winning the division is a big thing. If we go out there and do our thing tonight, it’s going to be well deserved. It’s not an easy division to win. It’s never been an easy division to win. It definitely will be a cool thing.”
Oh, it was cool in Philly for an announced sellout crowd of 42,386, with temperatures in the 60s — a sneak peek of October weather.
That suits this squad just fine.
With a postseason berth already clinched last week, Schwarber, Harper, Turner & Co. earned the franchise’s 12th division championship— and have their sights set on the top seed in the NL playoffs.
The Phillies (93-64) hold the No. 2 spot just behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (93-63) and would earn a first-round bye should the standings hold.
“The biggest things for me, really, are winning the division and getting the bye,” Thomson said. “If we get home field throughout, that’s a bonus. But I won’t put our players in danger to get there.”
The Phillies have two games left against the Cubs and close the season with a three-game set in Washington.
With playoff appearances now the norm for these Phillies, perhaps the inevitability of it all kept some fans home. After selling out game after game during a sensational season, there were pockets of empty seats at Citizens Bank Park, which topped 3.2 million in attendance.
Thomson once said a rival coach told him a playoff game in Philly was “four hours of hell.”
“I feel like it’s the best atmosphere in sports,” All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman said. “It feels like it’s 50,000 vs. nine. It’s always a good feeling when you step on the field.”
Phillies fans were greeted by “CLINCHED” on the videoboard outside Citizens Bank Park, while the main entrance featured Harper and Nola as the anchor photos on a “Make More HISTORY” banner.
“Being able to come home and do it here, in front of the best fans of baseball, in front of a fan base that showed out for us each night, it was just a lot of fun,” Harper said.
Philadelphia ended Atlanta‘s run of six consecutive NL East titles and is trying to finish with the major leagues’ best record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Seeking their third World Series championship following titles in 1980 and 2008, the Phillies overtook Atlanta for the division lead on May 3 and haven’t trailed since.
Philadelphia won five straight NL East titles from 2007 to ’11, then went 10 years without making the playoffs. A wild-card entry each of the past two postseasons, the Phillies put together consecutive October runs that ended in heartbreak.
They reached the 2022 World Series, losing to Houston in six games, and dropped a seven-game NL Championship Series to Arizona last year after leading the underdog Diamondbacks 2-0 and 3-2.
The path to this division title was a bit messy after the team raced to the best 50-game start in the majors since Seattle in 2001. The Phillies slumped in the summer and returned home this week from a 2-5 trip against Milwaukee and the New York Mets.
Both are teams the Phillies could face in October.
It seemed fitting the 31-year-old Nola was on the mound for the clincher. Nola was a first-round draft pick by the Phillies in 2014, debuted the next year and has been with them his entire career. He’s been one of baseball’s most dependable pitchers — a valuable commodity with the modern stress on big league bullpens.
Nola helped Philadelphia secure a wild-card spot last year, then went 3-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four playoff starts. He made five postseason starts in 2022, going 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA.
Nola only briefly tested the free-agent market last offseason before signing a $172 million, seven-year deal to stick with the Phillies.
His reward is another postseason opportunity to bring home a World Series title now 16 years in the making.
“I think that says a lot about our club. We stayed hungry after the losses in the World Series and the CS last year,” Nola said. “We hope we can keep that going.”
A civil lawsuit accusing BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff of rape has been dismissed, according to court records.
The parties jointly agreed to dismiss with prejudice, ending the case which was filed last month. None of the parties was immediately available for comment.
Retzlaff now plans to transfer from BYU as he faces a possible seven-game suspension for violating the school’s honor code by admitting to premarital sex during the legal proceedings, sources told ESPN. He has begun informing staff and teammates of his intention to leave, sources said.
Retzlaff had been working out with the squad and participating in summer workouts and practices. The team is on break until July 7.
The BYU staff has been ramping up the preparation of the three backup quarterbacks — McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet and Bear Bachmeier — in anticipation that Retzlaff might not be available.
The woman alleged Retzlaff raped, strangled and bit her in November 2023. In a response to that lawsuit filed Friday, a lawyer representing Retzlaff denied those allegations but said Retzlaff had consensual sex with the woman.
The response indicated Retzlaff and the woman traded lighthearted text messages for months after the encounter and characterized the lawsuit as an extortion attempt based on the idea that Retzlaff developed into an NFL prospect roughly a year later.
The lawsuit described the encounter much differently.
Both the complaint and the response agree that Retzlaff and the woman connected through social media, which led to her visiting Retzlaff’s apartment to play video games on or around Nov. 22, 2023. The woman arrived with a friend, and friends and teammates of Retzlaff also were present.
Later that evening, the woman’s friend left, after which Retzlaff and the woman started watching a movie and began to kiss, the lawsuit states. While “Retzlaff began escalating the situation,” the suit says, “Jane Doe A.G. tried to de-escalate the situation and attempted to slow things down, trying to pull away, and saying ‘wait.’ She did not want to do anything sexual with him.”
The lawsuit says the woman told Retzlaff “no” and “wait, stop,” but he continued to force himself on her. After she tried to get up out of the bed, the lawsuit alleges, in graphic detail, that Retzlaff put his hands around her neck and proceeded to rape her.
A few days later, the woman visited a hospital, where a rape kit was performed and pictures of her injuries were taken. The lawsuit says she was connected with Provo, Utah, police but did not initially share Retzlaff’s name.
No criminal charges have been filed against Retzlaff.
After the lawsuit was filed, BYU issued a statement, saying: “The university takes any allegation very seriously, following all processes and guidelines mandated by Title IX. Due to federal and university privacy laws and practices for students, the university will not be able to provide additional comment.”
Retzlaff is not the first high-profile BYU athlete who faced a lengthy suspension for an honor code violation related to premarital sex. In 2011, basketball player Brandon Davies was dismissed from the team — which at the time was 27-2 and ranked No. 3 in the country — and suspended from school. He was reinstated that fall. In 1999, running back Reno Mahe was suspended from school and forced to leave the football team. He transferred to a junior college and later reenrolled at BYU.
Retzlaff, who has graduated from BYU, is expected to enter his name in the transfer portal in the coming days. He started 13 games for the Cougars in 2024, his first year as the starter, leading the team to an 11-2 record. He passed for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.
Texas State has officially joined the Pac-12, the conference announced Monday, becoming the league’s ninth member ahead of its relaunch in 2026.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Texas State as a foundational member of the new Pac-12,” commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement. “It is a new day in college sports and the most opportune time to launch a new league that is positioned to succeed in today’s landscape with student-athletes in mind.”
Texas State’s board of regents voted to authorize a $5 million buyout to the Sun Belt Conference early Monday. The Bobcats will remain in the Sun Belt through the 2025-26 season before joining the Pac-12 in all sports for the 2026-27 school year.
The Pac-12 needed to reach eight football-playing schools to meet the NCAA minimum for an FBS conference prior to the 2026 season.
Texas State president Kelly Damphousse called the move “a historic moment” for the university.
“Joining the Pac-12 is more than an athletic move — it is a declaration of our rising national profile, our commitment to excellence, and our readiness to compete and collaborate with some of the most respected institutions in the country,” Damphousse said.
Athletic director Don Coryell echoed that sentiment, calling the opportunity “a new era” for Texas State, which has been in the Sun Belt since 2013 after making its FBS debut with one season in the WAC in 2012.
“This historic moment belongs to our coaches, staff, student-athletes, fans, alumni and students,” Coryell said. “As the Pac-12’s flagship school in Texas, we proudly embrace the opportunity and responsibility that comes with it.”
The long-awaited announcement comes on the heels of the Pac-12’s announcement last week that it had finalized a five-year agreement with CBS for a portion of the conference’s football and men’s basketball media rights, including both sports’ championship game. Additional media partners are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Texas State is located in San Marcos, which is only about 35 miles south of the University of Texas in Austin. Texas State has more than 40,000 students, with one of the 25 largest undergraduate enrollments among public universities in the U.S.
Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.
Alabama’s 2026 recruiting class landed another significant late-June recruiting boost Saturday when four-star defender Xavier Griffin, ESPN’s No. 3 outside linebacker, announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide over Florida State, Ohio State and Texas.
Griffin, a versatile, 6-foot-4, 205-pound prospect from Gainesville, Georgia, is the No. 30 overall recruit in the 2026 ESPN 300. A former longtime USC commit, Griffin took official visits with each of his finalists in June. He now stands as the top-ranked prospect among 14 commits in Alabama’s incoming class, joining days after the program secured top 300 pledges from running back Ezavier Crowell (No. 31 overall) and tight end Mack Sutter (No. 138) on Thursday night.
Griffin told ESPN that the Crimson Tide’s pedigree and vision laid out by Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer and outside linebackers coach Christian Robinson were driving factors in his decision.
“Growing up, just seeing them, all the draft picks and stuff that they’ve had — all the guys they’ve put in the league — it speaks for itself,” Griffin said. “They have history and they’re really clear about what they’re trying to build with this new staff.”
A physical defender capable of dropping into coverage, Griffin has cemented his status as one the nation’s top linebackers at Gainesville (Georgia) High School, where he’s recorded 97 total tackles and 21 sacks across his sophomore and junior seasons.
He initially committed to USC last July and remained one of the Trojans’ top prospects over next 10 months before Griffin pulled his pledge from the program on May 14. Sources told ESPN at the time that Griffin’s decommitment stemmed from his intention to schedule official visits with programs this spring, bucking against USC’s policy against committed players taking official trips to other campuses.
Upon reopening his recruitment, Griffin locked in official visits with Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and Texas for this month, closing with a trip to the Crimson Tide from June 20-22. Despite his lengthy USC pledge, Griffin told ESPN that no program recruited him more actively than Alabama across the past two years, led by Robinson, the program’s second-year assistant.
“He’s been one of the most consistent with me throughout my whole process,” Griffin said. “He’s just a really, really good guy.”
The highest-ranked of seven ESPN 300 pledges bound for Alabama in 2026, Griffin now leads an increasingly talented Crimson Tide defensive class forming in the current cycle.
Alongside Griffin, Alabama holds commitments from top-10 cornerbacks Jorden Edmonds (No. 38 overall) and Zyan Gibson (No. 65) in 2026. Defensive end Jamarion Matthews, Griffin’s teammate at Gainesville High School and ESPN’s No. 92 overall recruit, has been pledged to the Crimson Tide since February, and Alabama’s latest defensive class could get even deeper over the next month as priority targets including top-60 prospects Jireh Edwards, Anthony Jones and Nolan Wilson approach the final stages of their recruiting processes.