Yahoo Sports AM: The WNBA Finals are a clash of the titans

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🚨 Headlines

🌪️ Milton does damage in Tampa: The roof of the Rays’ Tropicana Field was destroyed when Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday, while the field at the Buccaneers’ Raymond James Stadium is completely submerged in water.

⚽️ NWSL lawsuit: Five former San Diego Wave employees have sued the NWSL and Wave over claims of harassment and discrimination. This comes two months after allegations of a toxic workplace first surfaced.

🏈 WR injury news: Texans WR Nico Collins, the NFL’s leading receiver through five weeks, was placed on the IR with a hamstring injury and Colts WR Michael Pittman is expected to miss multiple weeks with a back injury.

🎾 Wimbledon ditches line judges: The All England Club will adopt electronic line calling beginning next year, ending a 147-year run of using line judges. That leaves the French Open as the only major yet to make the switch.

⛳️ “The Showdown”: The previously-announced match pitting the PGA Tour’s duo of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against LIV’s Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau now has a name (“The Showdown”), a date (Dec. 17) and a site (Las Vegas’ Shadow Creek Golf Course).

🏀 WNBA Finals preview: Clash of the titans

Championships sometimes feature a David vs. Goliath narrative, but the 2024 WNBA Finals will be a battle of juggernauts seeking a legacy-defining title.

No. 1 vs. No. 2: The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, the WNBA’s top two teams, begin their best-of-five finals clash tonight in Brooklyn (8pm ET, ESPN).

• The Liberty (32-8), who defeated the two-time defending champion Aces to get back to the finals for a second straight year, have the league’s No. 2 offense, No. 3 defense and hit a WNBA-best 10.1 threes per game this season.

• The Lynx (30-10), who won 14 of their final 16 games for their first 30-win season, have the league’s No. 2 defense and led the WNBA in both assists and three-point percentage.

Head-to-head: Minnesota won the season series, 3-1, including the final of the Commissioner’s Cup, the in-season tournament with a $500,000 prize.

Roster breakdown: The Liberty are a bona fide superteam while the Lynx have surrounded the league’s most unheralded superstar with a perfect complementary cast.

• New York’s Breanna Stewart could go down as a top-five all-time player, Sabrina Ionescu is arguably the league’s best shooter (save maybe for Caitlin Clark), Jonquel Jones is a former MVP and Courtney Vandersloot is the all-time leader in assists per game. Plus there’s Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, a two-time WNBA All-Defensive player.

• Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, the Defensive POY and second-place MVP finisher, is flanked by Courtney Williams — the straw that stirs the Lynx’s drink — and a trio of sharpshooters in Kayla McBride, Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith.

Coaching matchup: Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve is a four-time coach of the year (including this season) and four-time champion, all with the Lynx. New York’s Sandy Brondello was the coach of the year in 2014 when she won the title in Phoenix, where she coached until 2021.

What’s at stake: No matter who wins, history will be made as the Lynx seek a record-breaking fifth* championship and the Liberty — the only still-active original WNBA franchise without a title — seek their first.

• Minnesota built a dynasty last decade behind Reeve and superstar Maya Moore, winning four titles from 2011-17, but this is their first trip back to the finals since then.

• The Liberty have played in five WNBA Finals, more than every team except the Lynx, but have yet to win it all.

Pre-game reading: Three things to know

*Tied at the top: The Lynx (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017), Storm (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020) and Comets (1997-2000) are tied with four titles each.

⚾️ Mets advance, Dodgers stay alive

For the first time since 2015, the Mets are back in the NLCS.

ICYMI: The Mets beat the Phillies, 4-1, on Wednesday night in Queens to clinch a spot in MLB’s final four.

Wild stat: The 6-seed has now upset the 2-seed in the NLDS all three years since the playoffs expanded (Phillies over Braves in 2022, D-Backs over Dodgers in 2023, Mets over Phillies in 2024).

Storybook season: New York still has plenty of work left to do, but the fact they just booked a trip to the NLCS would have been almost unthinkable a few months ago, when they were floundering in late May with a 22-33 record, third-worst in the NL.

Elsewhere: The Dodgers routed the Padres, 8-0, to force a winner-take-all Game 5, while the Tigers (3-0 over the Guardians) and Yankees (3-2 over the Royals) took 2-1 series leads.

🏈 NFL power rankings: Chiefs still on top

The undefeated Chiefs and Vikings remain atop our Week 6 power rankings, courtesy of Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab.

Best division in football? Three of our top 10 teams (and four of our top 15) play in the NFC North, which is the only division to have all four teams above .500. Unsurprisingly, their 14 wins lead all divisions.

• NFC North (14 wins): Vikings (5-0), Lions (3-1), Packers (3-2), Bears (3-2).

• AFC West (12): Chiefs (5-0), Broncos (3-2), Chargers (2-2), Raiders (2-3).

• NFC East (11): Commanders (4-1), Cowboys (3-2), Eagles (2-2), Giants (2-3).

• NFC South (9): Falcons (3-2), Buccaneers (3-2), Saints (2-3), Panthers (1-4).

• AFC East (8): Bills (3-2), Jets (2-3), Dolphins (2-3), Patriots (1-4).

• AFC North (8): Ravens (3-2), Steelers (3-2), Browns (1-4), Bengals (1-4).

• AFC South (8): Texans (4-1), Colts (2-3), Titans (1-3), Jaguars (1-4).

• NFC West (8): Seahawks (3-2), Cardinals (2-3), 49ers (2-3), Rams (1-4).

Yahoo Fantasy: Players to trade away/target ahead of Week 6

📆 Oct. 10, 2004: 19 straight wins

20 years ago today, the Patriots beat the Dolphins for their 19th straight victory (including playoffs), breaking the record for the longest winning streak in NFL history.

What a run: The streak began in Week 5 of 2003, included a Super Bowl victory and ultimately ended in Week 8 of 2004 after 21 consecutive wins. Following that Week 8 defeat they’d lose only one more game all season en route to a second straight Super Bowl.

• Their 21-game streak remains the longest in league history, two ahead of the 2010-11 Packers, who won 19 straight.

• The longest active streak belongs to the Chiefs, who’ve won 11 straight. To pass the Patriots, they’d need to win every week from now until Christmas.

Fun fact: The Pats’ record-breaking win came on one of the least productive days of Tom Brady’s career. While he did throw two touchdowns (which, yes, is productive), he also went just 7-19 with 76 yards and a pick. That’s the lowest completion percentage (36.84%) and second-fewest yards across his 333 career starts.

📺 Watchlist: ALDS elimination games

The ALDS resumes tonight in Detroit and Kansas City, where the Tigers and Yankees are a win away from the ALCS.

• Guardians (down 2-1) at Tigers (6:08pm ET, TNT/Max)

• Yankees (up 2-1) at Royals (8:08pm, TNT/Max)

More to watch:

• 🏀 WNBA Finals: Lynx at Liberty (8pm, ESPN)

• 🏈 NFL: 49ers at Seahawks* (8:15pm, Prime)

• 🏈 NCAAF: Coastal Carolina at JMU (7:30pm, ESPN2); Middle Tennessee at Louisiana Tech (8pm, CBSSN); UTEP at Western Kentucky (8pm, ESPNU)

*One-sided rivalry: The 49ers have won five straight over their NFC West rivals and it hasn’t been particularly close, winning by an average of 15 points per game during the streak.

⚾️ MLB trivia

Just one player in MLB history has won a batting title in three different decades. Can you name him?

Hint: ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

Answer at the bottom.

⛳️🏒 Utah’s having a moment

The Beehive State has had quite a week. On Tuesday, the Utah Hockey Club won its inaugural game in front of a sellout crowd in Salt Lake City. Today, the PGA Tour returns to Utah for the first time since 1963 when the Black Desert Championship tees off 30 miles west of Zion National Park.

Trivia answer: George Brett (1976, 1980, 1990)

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