ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — Four wins shy of their first World Series appearance since 2009, the New York Yankees included veterans Anthony Rizzo and Marcus Stroman on their roster for the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians.
Rizzo hasn’t played since fracturing his right hand’s fourth and fifth fingers when he was hit by a pitch on Sept. 28, the penultimate day of the regular season. He later said the typical recovery timetable is three to four weeks, but after ramping up baseball activities over the weekend, Rizzo will be active for Monday’s Game 1 — just 16 days after suffering the injury.
Rizzo on Sunday faced live pitching during the team’s workout at Yankee Stadium. Whether he starts Game 1 is unclear; the Yankees could decide to give him more time to recover before using him later in the series. The team used a combination of Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera at first base in the AL Division Series against the Kansas City Royals.
Rizzo, 35, had the worst offensive season of his career, batting .228 with a .637 OPS in 92 games, but the four-time Gold Glove winner is a defensive upgrade at first base over Berti, who had never played the position professionally before the postseason, and Cabrera, who had just five career starts at first base before October.
Stroman is expected serve as a long man out of the Yankees’ bullpen after being left off the ALDS roster. The Yankees decided a long reliever wasn’t necessary for a five-game series with off-days after Game 1 and Game 2. The ALCS, however, is a seven-game series with fewer off-days, potentially placing more stress on bullpens, and Stroman gives the Yankees an option to eat innings in a blowout or extra-inning game.
Stroman, 33, hasn’t pitched since giving up six runs over 3 1/3 innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 25. He’s pitched just twice — logging 6 1/3 total innings — over the last month and he has just one relief appearance this season. He finished the regular season with a 4.31 ERA over 154 2/3 innings.
The two veterans replaced rookie first baseman Ben Rice and pinch-running specialist Duke Ellis from the ALDS roster, giving the Yankees 12 pitchers and 14 position players for the ALCS. Rice didn’t appear in any of the four ALDS games. Ellis entered Game 4 as a pinch-runner.
The Guardians made one change from their ALDS roster for the ALCS, replacing infielder Angel Martinez with right-hander Pedro Avila to give them 13 pitchers and 13 position players.
Martinez had one pinch-hit appearance in the Guardians’ five-game NLDS against the Detroit Tigers. Avila posted a 3.25 ERA in 50 relief appearances during the regular season.
LOS ANGELES — A flare-up of the wildfire on the west side of Los Angeles that prompted new evacuations has caused Santa Anita to cancel horse racing this weekend.
The track in Arcadia, near the smoldering Eaton fire that decimated Altadena, had said Friday that it would go ahead with Saturday racing, pending air quality conditions.
However, track officials said early Saturday that given the Friday night developments involving the Palisades fire, there will be no racing this weekend.
They said air quality standards at the track remain well within the limits set by the California Horse Racing Board and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, but cited the growing impact of the fires throughout Los Angeles County.
The sprawling 90-year-old track is being used to support several relief efforts.
The charity drop-off that was set up at the Rose Bowl was relocated to Santa Anita’s south parking lot on Friday. Southern California Edison is using the entire north parking lot as its base camp to restore power to those in the affected areas. The track is working with other organizations requesting space.
Morning training will continue as scheduled Saturday and Sunday. The track has its own security staff and does not use local first responders for normal events.
Rescheduled dates for the postponed races will be announced later.
The first 12-team College Football Playoff is down to the final two contenders: Notre Dame and Ohio State.
The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish and eighth-seeded Buckeyes will meet Jan. 20 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T. Whichever team wins will end a championship drought. Notre Dame aims for its first title since 1988. Ohio State’s lull isn’t nearly as long, as the Buckeyes won the first CFP championship a decade ago, but given how consistently elite they are, it seems like a while.
Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Ohio State’s Ryan Day are also aiming for their first championships as head coaches, and Freeman’s past will be in the spotlight. Freeman and the Irish lost to the Buckeyes and Day in each of the past two seasons. But after a masterful coaching job this season, Freeman now will face his alma mater — he was an All-Big Ten linebacker for Ohio State under coach Jim Tressel — with everything on the line. Day, meanwhile, can secure the loftiest goal for a team that fell short of earlier ones, but never stopped swinging.
Here’s your first look at the championship matchup and what to expect in the ATL. — Adam Rittenberg
When: Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN
What we learned in the semifinal: Notre Dame’s resilience and situational awareness/execution are undeniably its signature traits and could propel the team to a title. The Irish have overcome injuries all season and did so again against Penn State. They also erased two deficits and continued to hold the edge in the “middle eight” — the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half — while dominating third down on both sides of the ball. Notre Dame can rely on front men such as quarterback Riley Leonard, running back Jeremiyah Love and linebacker Jack Kiser, but also on backup QB Steve Angeli, wide receiver Jaden Greathouse and kicker Mitch Jeter. These Irish fight, and they’re very hard to knock out.
X factor: Greathouse entered Thursday with moderate numbers — 29 receptions, 359 yards, one touchdown — and had only three total catches for 14 yards in the first two CFP games. But he recorded career highs in both receptions (7) and receiving yards (105) and tied the score on a 54-yard touchdown with 4:38 to play. A Notre Dame offense looking for more from its wide receivers, especially downfield, could lean more on Greathouse, who exceeded his receptions total from the previous five games but might be finding his groove at the perfect time. He also came up huge in the clutch, recording all but six of his receiving yards in the second half.
How Notre Dame wins: The Irish won’t have the talent edge in Atlanta, partly because they’ve lost several stars to season-ending injuries, but they have the right traits to hang with any opponent. Notre Dame needs contributions in all three phases and must continue to sprinkle in downfield passes, an element offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has pushed. And they finally did start seeing results against Penn State. The Irish likely can’t afford to lose the turnover margin, although they can help themselves by replicating their third-down brilliance — 11 of 17 conversions on offense, 3 of 11 conversions allowed on defense — from the Penn State win. — Rittenberg
What we learned in the semifinal: The Buckeyes have a defense with championship mettle, headlined by senior defensive end Jack Sawyer, who delivered one of the biggest defensive plays in Ohio State history. On fourth-and-goal with just over two minutes remaining, Sawyer sacked Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, forcing a fumble that he scooped up and raced 83 yards for a game-clinching touchdown, propelling Ohio State to the national title game. The Buckeyes weren’t perfect in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, and they struggled offensively for much of the night against a talented Texas defense. But Ohio State showed late why its defense is arguably the best in college football, too.
X factor: The play two snaps before the Sawyer scoop-and-score set the table. On second-and-goal from the Ohio State 1-yard line, unheralded senior safety Lathan Ransom dashed past incoming blockers and dropped Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner for a 7-yard loss. After an incomplete pass, the Longhorns were forced into desperation mode on fourth-and-goal down a touchdown with just over two minutes remaining. All-American safety Caleb Downs, who had an interception on Texas’ ensuing drive, rightfully gets all the headlines for the Ohio State secondary. But the Buckeyes have other veteran standouts such as Ransom throughout their defense.
How Ohio State wins: Texas took away Ohio State’s top offensive playmaker, true freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who had only one reception for 3 yards on three targets. As the first two playoff games underscored, the Buckeyes offense is at its best when Smith gets the ball early and often. Notre Dame is sure to emulate the Texas blueprint, positioning the defensive backs to challenge Smith. Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has to counter with a plan that finds ways to get the ball into Smith’s hands, no matter what the Fighting Irish do. — Jake Trotter
Ohio State opened as a 9.5-point favorite over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T, per ESPN BET odds.
If that line holds, it would be tied for the second-largest spread in a CFP national championship game and the fourth largest in the CFP/BCS era. Georgia was -13.5 against TCU in the 2022 national championship, while Alabama showed -9.5 against none other than Ohio State to decide the 2020 campaign. Both favorites covered the spread in blowout fashion, combining for a cover margin of 63.
Notre Dame is 12-3 against the spread this season, tied with Arizona State (12-2) and Marshall (12-1) for the most covers in the nation. The Irish are 7-0 ATS against ranked teams and 2-0 ATS as underdogs, with both covers going down as outright victories, including their win over Penn State (-1.5) in the CFP national semifinal.
However, Notre Dame was also on the losing end of the largest outright upset of the college football season when it fell as a 28.5-point favorite to Northern Illinois.
Ohio State is 9-6 against the spread and has been a favorite in every game it has played this season; it has covered the favorite spread in every CFP game thus far, including in its semifinal win against Texas when it covered -6 with overwhelming public support.
The Buckeyes also have been an extremely popular pick in the futures market all season. At BetMGM as of Friday morning, OSU had garnered a leading 28.2% of money and 16.8% of bets to win the national title, checking in as the sportsbook’s greatest liability.
Ohio State opened at +700 to win it all this season and is now -350 with just one game to play.