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ST. LOUIS — The Milwaukee Brewers placed pitcher Brandon Woodruff on the 15-day injured list Sunday with a right lat strain, putting his availability for the playoffs in jeopardy.

Woodruff, who returned this season after October 2023 shoulder surgery, felt something amiss in his triceps during a bullpen session Saturday, and an initial evaluation traced the issue to the lat in his upper back.

“This is a side effect of getting back into doing this at a high level, and that’s it. Is this career-ending? No, it’s nothing like that,” Woodruff said while sitting in the Brewers’ dugout. “It’s nothing even compared to the surgery, but it’s just one of those things that it’ll heal, it’ll get better. It’s just [bad] timing.”

The news comes four days after left-hander José Quintana went on the 15-day injured list with a left calf strain.

Those two moves leave the Brewers, who have the best record in baseball, with plenty of uncertainty in how they could arrange their playoff rotation beyond Freddy Peralta and Quinn Priester.

Since coming off the injured list in mid-August, rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski had allowed 21 runs in 30⅓ innings, and manager Pat Murphy spoke Friday about the possibility of giving him a relief role in the postseason.

“Everybody that’s pitched well is a factor, you know what I mean?” Murphy said Sunday. “How we line it up and how we end up going with it won’t be too, too much of a surprise to anybody.”

The Brewers recalled left-hander Robert Gasser to start the series finale Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals. The move with Woodruff was retroactive to Thursday.

Murphy said closer Trevor Megill, who has been out since late August with a right flexor strain, could return for the season finale if his bullpen sessions Tuesday and Friday go well. Quintana has been able to continue his throwing program while working on running to get his calf healthy again.

Woodruff, 32, missed all of last season following surgery to repair an anterior capsule tear and has gone 7-2 in 12 starts since returning in July.

Despite his current injury, he said he has exceeded his expectations in terms of limits on his innings pitched this year between his activity in spring training and the season.

“The biggest goal of mine was to finish the year healthy,” Woodruff said. “Hopefully we win the World Series, and now it’s a month away.

“But I knew, I knew deep down, the longer I kept going, that’s kind of the side effect [of the shoulder surgery]. … The longer you keep going, things like this can happen.”

Woodruff held off on setting any expectations for his short-term status, noting he had not yet been able to visit with Dr. Keith Meister, who performed the surgery.

“The biggest thing is just kind of being here where my feet are and then take it a step at a time,” Woodruff said, “but I can’t comment on whether it’s going to end the season or not.”

Woodruff was expected to visit with a specialist in St. Louis on Sunday before consulting with Meister.

“All indication is it’s not the shoulder, and that’s a good thing, but this is the kind of thing that happens when you’re coming back from injury — you injure something else,” Murphy said. “So it’s devastating for the person, for Woody and how hard he’s worked to get here, and devastating for our team.”

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Source: Florida fires Napier after 3-4 start in ’25

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Source: Florida fires Napier after 3-4 start in '25

Florida has fired coach Billy Napier with the Gators off to a 3-4 start this season, a source told ESPN amid multiple reports.

Napier, 46, finishes his time at Florida with a 22-23 record in four seasons.

The Gators have a bye this week before playing Georgia on Nov. 1.

Votes of confidence, which Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin gave to Napier at midseason last year, are often bad signs for coaches. But Napier validated his with how Florida finished last season, one that once appeared like his last in Gainesville. Napier navigated a brutal schedule, ending with wins over LSU, Ole Miss, Florida State and Tulane in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. And with a top 10 recruiting class in tow, the Gators opened 2025 with a Top 25 ranking and a swamp full of optimism.

But a disheartening loss to South Florida in Gainesville in Week 2 quickly thrust Napier right back onto the hot seat, with Florida’s athletic department and boosters knowing full well that opponents — much tougher than the in-state Bulls — were ahead on the SEC trail for Florida. Most around college football thought Florida would lose some games this season. What they didn’t think was the South Florida game might be one of them.

The Gators struggled to bounce back from that home defeat. A week later, in the SEC opener vs. LSU, penalties and turnovers ruled the day, as the Gators fell, 20-10, to the Tigers in Baton Rouge. The following week, Florida was limited to just seven first downs in a 26-7 loss at Miami, a game that included an 0-13 effort on third downs.

A rousing 29-21 win over Texas at home on Oct. 4 quieted the critics for a week in Gainesville, but last week, that momentum floated away when the Gators were handled by Texas A&M 34-17 in College Station in front of a primetime audience. And on Saturday, in front of a grouchy home crowd at The Swamp, where fans loudly chanted “Fire Billy!,” Florida narrowly squeaked by Mississippi State, 23-21.

“I think I’m built for it; I’m made for it,” Napier said Saturday when asked about his job status. “I chose the coaching profession; I was called to coach. The good comes with the bad. The bad comes with the good. The game’s about the players, and I’m proud of the way they played.”

“I love the game of football,” he added, choking back tears. “I love the game.”

There was a thought that — with a top-tier quarterback in DJ Lagway and some success in the transfer portal — Napier had some additional runway this season as the Gators chased their first bid into the College Football Playoff. There was also the matter of whopping buyout total — an eye-popping at $20.4 million — with no offset or mitigation on the deal. But as the losses piled up, and with rivals like Georgia and Miami having top-10 seasons, the breaking point was reached in Gainesville.

Florida hired Napier in 2021 after he went 40-12 in four seasons as Louisiana’s coach.

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Dabo touts ‘credibility’ after Clemson’s latest loss

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Dabo touts 'credibility' after Clemson's latest loss

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, trying to salvage what’s left of this season after Saturday’s loss to SMU, said there is “no quit” in his team and touted his “credibility” after 18 years at the school.

The Tigers, who started the season with a No. 4 ranking and national championship aspirations, fell to 3-4 with their 35-24 home loss to the Mustangs.

“We hopefully have earned a lot of credibility around here,” said Swinney, who has won two national championships and nine ACC titles in his time at Clemson. “There’s been a lot of great years, a lot of great years. But this is a tough one.

“We’re going to try to fight our way and finish this thing the very best that we can. And then we’ll start over just like we do every year. You know, that’s what we do every year. We have a great year, we have a tough year, you know, we start over and then you go back to work.”

Clemson has had only one losing season since 1998, when the Tigers were 3-8 under Tommy West. That came in 2010, when Swinney and the Tigers finished 6-7 after losing in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

The loss to SMU on Saturday was the Tigers’ fifth straight against power conference teams — the first time that’s happened at Clemson since the 1970-71 seasons.

“I take the good with the bad,” Swinney said. “I don’t like it, but that’s just my perspective. And I know something good will come from it. I promise you, though, I’ve never worked harder. And I’m going to continue to do everything I can, and we’ll be back.

“We’ll win more championships. We’ll win more championships. All right? I promise you that. May not happen this year, but we’re going to win more championships. That’s all I can say. And I think we have a track record that demonstrates that.”

Swinney, who has an 183-51 overall record, is in the midst of a 10-year, $115 million extension and would command a $60 million buyout if the program were to make a change. He understands fans’ frustrations and wants to fix it.

“I don’t blame them [fans]. I’m disappointed too. We’re all disappointed. We’re incredibly frustrated,” Swinney said. “But that’s where we are, and I take full responsibility for that. But all I can do is keep working and see if we can find a way to win the next game.

“… We got to pick ourselves up and keep going. That’s what we’re going to do. There ain’t no quit in this bunch. That’s one thing I’ll say about this team. It hurts, but there’s no quit. We’re going to fight our butts off to the end. And then we’ll count them all up, and then we’ll — you know, it’s a season. And right now it’s not been anywhere near the season that we want.”

Clemson, which played SMU without first-team preseason All-America quarterback Cade Klubnik (ankle), was outgained 139-35 on the ground by the Mustangs. Christopher Vizzina made his first start Saturday, but Swinney expects Klubnik to return after the bye week.

“It’s jarring, and it’s disappointing,” Swinney said. “We have to get better.

“… Me personally, I feel like I’m kind of living 2010 all over again. That’s what I feel like. We just can’t seem to quite put it together and get out of our way. But it’s football. It’s football. But we’ll keep going, we’ll bounce up, we’ll pick ourselves up.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Miami, CFP mulling plans for Hard Rock conflict

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Miami, CFP mulling plans for Hard Rock conflict

The University of Miami and the College Football Playoff are working on a contingency plan to account for a possible Hard Rock Stadium scheduling conflict if the Hurricanes make the playoff and earn a first-round home game.

LaLiga, Spain’s top-flight soccer league, officially announced its plans last week to hold the Barcelona-Villarreal game in Miami on Dec. 20 — the same day as the first round of the CFP.

The CFP’s top four seeds earn a first-round bye, and the Nos. 5-8 seeds host a first-round home game. With Miami’s loss to Louisville on Friday night, the Hurricanes’ chances of earning a bye dropped significantly, while the possibility of hosting a home game increased.

Miami provided a statement to ESPN on Sunday about the ongoing conversations.

“Hard Rock Stadium developed an operational plan should the stadium host both a LaLiga game and a University of Miami CFP first-round game the weekend of December 19th and 20th,” the school said. “We will continue to refine and review the plan and ultimately meet the needs and objectives of the CFP pending final scheduling of both events.”

With the soccer game scheduled for a potential 10:15 a.m. ET kickoff, the Hurricanes could host the CFP game at Hard Rock Stadium later that night. The playoff game also could move to a different day, but both of those options would require some assistance from ESPN to find a television window that works.

The CFP management committee, which is composed of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, has to approve the final plan, but that’s not expected for a few weeks.

CFP officials are expecting Miami to provide them with an alternate location this week, and sources told ESPN the university is considering Orlando, Florida — but that would be the worst-case scenario.

“We are aware of reports regarding a La Liga match and the potential for a University of Miami CFP First-Round playoff game to be scheduled on the same weekend at Hard Rock Stadium,” the CFP said in a statement. “We will continue to review operational plans with all parties involved, pending final scheduling of both events.”

There are still more questions than answers. LaLiga players have recently protested the league’s decision to hold a regular-season game in Miami, and of course, the Hurricanes have yet to make the playoff.

This isn’t the first time a school has had to come up with a playoff contingency plan. In 2024, the first year of the 12-team field, Kansas athletic director Travis Goff said that if the Jayhawks earned a first-round home game, it would have to be played at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium because of construction at the school’s on-campus stadium.

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