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So much has changed across college football over the past three years. There have been seismic coaching moves. Realignment has eliminated a power conference and forced us to reconsider how much geography actually matters. And the introduction of name, image and likeness combined with the freedom of movement provided by the transfer portal has thrown all prior convictions about roster management to the wind.

With all of these changes, we thought it was a perfect time to revisit this question we posed three years ago: What are the top five jobs in the sport?

The Athletic polled 50 people working in college football — from head coaches to general managers to assistant coaches, analysts and recruiting staffers — to determine which programs are now at the top of the food chain.

Some jobs might be attractive to one person but viewed completely differently by others. For example, one assistant coach’s ballot included Florida Atlantic (“great location, not as much pressure”) and Liberty (“they pay well, have really good facilities and that schedule”) among his top five. And the general manager of a Power 4 program said: “All that matters anymore is NIL and support.”

Even with all of the changes, a great job in 2021 is still a great job in 2024. The order of the top five has changed, but it’s composed of the usual suspects.

Note: First-place votes received 5 points, second-place received 4 points and so on. Several voters had a tie for fifth place; each school received 1 point for that vote. All voters were granted anonymity so they could speak candidly.

1. Georgia

Points: 173
First-place votes: 16
Total ballots: 43
Ranking in 2021: 3rd

Georgia might have lost to Alabama on the field last weekend, but that doesn’t change how this job is viewed in the industry.

The list of reasons this program sits in the top spot is long. As one Big Ten assistant put it: “Georgia is No. 1 because of the pool of (money) they have to pay, donor support, the facilities, the ability to consistently compete for a national championship, the tradition, the recruiting base they have in the South and the NFL pedigree that they can sell to recruits.”

Georgia is operating at peak efficiency right now. The university is committed to winning. The donors and fans are, too.

And the talent pool is immense. At one time, Texas, Florida and California were viewed as the big three states in recruiting circles, but that’s changed dramatically. The state of Georgia has produced 152 blue-chip prospects over the past three recruiting cycles (2023-25), far outpacing California (104 blue-chippers) in terms of talent production.

Georgia Tech is another in-state P4 program, but it’s not a true threat to the Bulldogs’ recruiting efforts. And though out-of-state programs such as Alabama, Tennessee and Clemson, among many others, have scored some nice recruiting wins in the state, Georgia still eats first.

The Bulldogs had all of these advantages three years ago, too, but had yet to break through and win their first national title since 1980. They won it in 2021 and followed up with another in 2022.

We’re supposed to separate coaches from the program for this exercise, but it’s difficult when Kirby Smart has Georgia functioning like the closest thing we’ve seen to Nick Saban’s Alabama.

“Kirby is the new Saban,” an AAC assistant said, “They’re ahead of the curve on everything.”

Kirby Smart has won two national titles at Georgia. (Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)

2. Texas

Points: 155
First-place votes: 12
Total ballots: 45
Ranking in 2021: 3rd

The potential is limitless. It’s the flagship university in a state that produces an abundance of talent with everything you could ask for in terms of NIL, facilities and staffing.

“It’s the absolutely unlimited resources that you have to do whatever you need,” said a Group of 5 offensive coordinator who voted Texas No. 1. “That is a place that has zero excuses (not) to win.”

The Longhorns have been strong in the NIL space from the very beginning. One of Steve Sarkisian’s most pressing priorities when he took the job was to beef up the trenches. So what did some alumni and supporters do? They created an NIL initiative that provided $50,000 annually to every scholarship offensive lineman. That total seems like nothing years later, but the thought process is what matters.

The move to the SEC will pour even more money into a program and an athletic department that was already among the richest in the nation.

Texas has had these sorts of advantages even before realignment and NIL drastically changed the sport. But internal alignment and politics are key components of this job and are reasons that have prevented the Longhorns from reaching their potential in the past.

“Texas has such a great recruiting pool. That recruiting base is just so vibrant,” an SEC coordinator said. “You just gotta know how to deal with the politics with the Texas high school coaches. They’ll screw your ass in a heartbeat. Those coaches want to be recruited like they’re the five-star. It’s totally different than anywhere else.”

An AAC assistant said: “Has everything but you have to have the personality to handle all the boosters (like Mack Brown and Sark do).”

Texas has a quality athletic director, Chris Del Conte, in place now. Sarkisian has done an outstanding job building the roster, mainly through high school recruiting but also with some key transfers. He won the Big 12 in the program’s final year in the league and is a contender for an SEC and national championship this year. And it seems like everyone is pulling in the same direction, which is why an already great job is viewed more favorably than it was in the previous iteration of this poll.

Points: 143
First-place votes: 8
Total ballots: 45
Ranking in 2021: 2nd

The Ohio State job is essentially recession-proof. The Buckeyes have avoided the sustained stretch of mediocrity that Alabama, Texas and other elite programs have experienced. The past three coaches, including Ryan Day, have won at least 82 percent of their games. The last six coaches have posted a winning percentage of .715 or better.

Ohio State has always been a power, but Urban Meyer changed the way the program recruited upon his arrival in 2012. Previous coaches relied on the best players in Ohio and the Midwest. Meyer went national and began signing top-five classes, and now the Buckeyes are one of the sport’s biggest brands. In the 2025 recruiting cycle, Ohio State holds commitments from blue-chip prospects out of Texas, Alabama, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Oklahoma, California and North Carolina. There has been a considerable talent gap between Ohio State and most of the teams in the Big Ten over the last decade.

But Michigan’s national championship served as a wake-up call for Ohio State and its supporters from an NIL perspective. The program was much more aggressive on that front this offseason and it led to significant player retention and crucial transfer portal additions.

“They can recruit nationally better than anyone else up there,” an AAC head coach said. “They can get SEC-caliber players and then they’re playing against slower teams. It’s also pretty evident that their NIL is pretty legit. And I think in this day and age, I think you judge the jobs off NIL. It starts with that, and then facilities and tradition. Like Ole Miss is a better job than it’s ever been because they’re throwing around tons of money.”

Of course, with all these advantages comes expectations. Day has yet to deliver a national championship to Columbus, and he’s lost to Michigan in three consecutive seasons. The pressure is on to beat the Wolverines and contend for the national championship this season. There are no excuses.

4. Alabama

Points: 123
First-place votes: 6
Total ballots: 43
Ranking in 2021: 1st

No program has won at a higher level for a longer period than what Alabama did under Saban. But, naturally, there’s the curiosity of what this job will be like without the greatest college coach of all time in charge.

The commitment, support and alignment are there. The recruiting appeal is strong. So is the brand power and whatever else you can think of.

But it’s tough to follow the man who just put together the greatest dynasty the sport has ever seen. Matching that success will be virtually impossible. Expectations are high, but how realistic or patient will the fans be?

“Has all (the positives) but sneaky hard (job) given expectations,” an AAC assistant coach said. “All Bama guys I worked with said UGA and LSU were a better job than Bama.”

“Saban set the standard,” a Big Ten receivers coach said, “but Saban also set the standard.”

All that might be true, but Kalen DeBoer has done all the right things since he took over in January. The Crimson Tide are recruiting at a high level — they have the No. 2 class in the country — and they just beat Georgia in a thriller to move up to No. 1 in the AP poll this week. So things are going as well as one could reasonably expect on and off the field.

“The network and the system is set,” an SEC coordinator said.

5. LSU

Points: 53
First-place votes: 3
Total ballots: 24
Ranking in 2021: 5th

There was a wide gap between the top four jobs and No. 5, but LSU is still a program with all the advantages needed to win championships.

The Tigers are the only power-conference program in Louisiana and have traditionally done an outstanding job keeping top talent from leaving the state. In the 2024 cycle, LSU signed 10 of the 11 blue-chip prospects in the state. In the current cycle, the Tigers have commitments from eight of the 12 blue-chippers from Louisiana.

“The entire state is rooting for you and they have such a great recruiting footprint,” an SEC coordinator said. “Houston is so close by and so many people there are big LSU fans. They can beat both Mississippi schools for whoever they want there, and they have that stadium and the culture. LSU is very unique. You don’t even have to recruit — you just have to evaluate, especially now that Saban is out of the game.”

It’s important to note that LSU’s previous three coaches — Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron — won a national championship. That is the expectation, and things haven’t ended well when coaches start to slip from the standard.

Miles and Orgeron were fired. Kelly reached the SEC title game in his first year but hasn’t been close to making a College Football Playoff appearance or competing for a national championship. The pressure will soon mount if this doesn’t change.

“It’s a unique job,” a Big Ten assistant said. “They can always get the top players out of that state, but if you have one bad year there, (oh), man.”

The best of the rest

Only four other programs received first-place votes: Oregon (two), USC (one), Michigan (one) and Texas A&M (one).

The Ducks ranked No. 6 with 28 points, followed by Michigan (19) and USC (16)

Three years ago, Oregon received just 10 points and ranked 14th. NIL has changed the game for the Ducks, who were a solid recruiting program before but are elite now and are a viable contender for almost any prospect they pursue.

“I think it’s gone from being a top-15 to a top six-seven job because of NIL,” a Big Ten assistant coach said.

A Power 4 head coach said: “Oregon is playing a different sport than the rest of the West Coast.”

As far as USC, a G5 coordinator said: “You have the market on the West Coast and the ability where, no matter what, you should be able to get guys. It is the West Coast school and there are not a whole lot of other big programs out there. No matter what people might say, I still think it’s an unbelievable job.”

Notably, Oregon and USC were the only two West Coast programs that received any votes. “Great places,” said an SEC assistant who considered putting those programs in his top five. “Recruiting is harder. I’ve lived it (out there.)”

Meanwhile, the allure of Texas A&M for some is still very real.

“Haven’t cashed in yet but it’s a gold mine,” a Power 4 coordinator said. “Best facilities. Most money. Most resources. NIL elite. Football state. One of the best followings. No limitations. Most don’t agree (but) just my opinion.”

Florida and Miami both received 8 points. The Florida job seems bound to open soon considering Billy Napier’s struggles. There were a couple of voters who placed the Gators just outside of the top five.

“Should be (top five),” one P4 recruiting staffer said, “but everyone keeps messing it up.”

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Bruce Yeung, Tim Warner, Kevin Liles / Sports Illustrated; John Korduner / Icon Sportswire)

Aaron Judge pounded the old-school scoreboard in left-center field with such ferocity that 18-year-old Luke Weaver feared for the safety of everyone.

Each time a ball struck the scoreboard, it echoed like a sonic boom, reverberating off the three poles that held it up. The Brewster Whitecaps’ stadium in the Cape Cod League is enveloped by dense trees on three sides, allowing the sound of a baseball striking metal repeatedly in the summer of 2012 to echo even 12 years later.

“You could hear it almost rocking,” New York Yankees reliever Luke Weaver said. “There was this feeling that if he kept hitting it, he would knock it over on one of them.”

Weaver and Judge were teammates in the Cape Cod League during the summer of 2012: Weaver, a freshman at Florida State, and Judge, a junior at Fresno State. At that time, Weaver generated more buzz than Judge; the wiry, unassuming athlete was one of FSU’s most celebrated signings. Meanwhile, Judge, standing 6-foot-7, naturally drew attention on any baseball field, his towering presence reminiscent of an NBA forward.

Now, Judge has established himself as MLB’s best hitter. Judge’s 218 wRC+ this season is the highest for a right-handed batter in MLB history. The Yankees’ superstar is a virtual lock to win his second American League MVP Award after leading the league in home runs (58), RBI (144), walks (133), on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.701) and OPS (1.159). Judge’s slugging percentage alone ranked higher than 11 teams’ combined OPS this season.

In 2012, Judge wasn’t seen as a can’t-miss prospect; there were weaknesses in his game that opponents could exploit, primarily due to his size. At the time, Weaver had no inkling that they would both emerge as key figures on a World Series contender, standing in this position today.

“There wasn’t the kind of status around him that there is now,” Weaver said. “You’re sitting there thinking he’s got all the tools to be one of the best players. But if the media isn’t circulating around that player and hyping him up, you don’t really think about it more than it needs to be.”

Even when Judge debuted for the Yankees in 2016, his performance was lackluster. With a .609 OPS and a staggering 50 percent strikeout rate, he struggled to make an impact when the Yankees called him up that August, ushering in the Baby Bombers era.

However, that offseason altered the trajectory of his career.

In early November 2016, one of Judge’s agents, David Matranga, called Richard Schenck, a hitting instructor, to see if his client could work with him. Although Judge had the talent to make the majors that year, it was clear he needed to refine his swing to achieve his long-term goals.

Schenck met Judge at a D-BAT hitting facility in Peoria, Ariz., and spent a week with the Yankees prospect, hitting twice a day.

“I didn’t know who the heck he was when I was asked to work with him,” Schenck said. “I’m from St. Louis. I’m a Cardinals fan. I didn’t follow the Yankees or their draft picks.”

The first drill Schenck introduced to Judge was the command drill, in which he instructs hitters to get ready to swing. When he says “go,” they must swing. They’re then timed. The faster the better, because it emulates the speed at which pitchers are throwing the baseball. The goal of this drill is to ensure hitters are prepared to swing immediately when prompted, without loading or shifting in the box first. Judge attempted the drill but struggled.

“I put the ball on a tee for me and a ball on the tee for him. David said ‘Load up, go,’” Schenck said. “I was 62, Aaron was 24 and he could not hit the ball before me. That got his attention. He still talks about it to this day. He is way bigger, way better and way stronger and yet I hit the ball and squared it before him. That got his attention.

“His swing was terrible. He had an amateur swing. He was a good athlete but couldn’t get his barrel up to speed quickly. That’s what you need to do in order to hit. That’s what we worked on. Initially, I wasn’t impressed with his swing.”

Judge pushed back on his personal hitting coach’s assessment of his swing in 2016.

“I wouldn’t say it was terrible, but I just got done hitting .179 in the big leagues,” Judge said. “I didn’t want to do that again. If this is what got me .179, I think me making a change would hopefully get me better than .179. I was open to anything. It’s about taking a risk and taking a chance. If I was going to get out of this game and fail and never play again, I’d rather it be on my terms than anybody else’s.”

Before the 2017 season began, Judge and Schenck held 23 sessions, each lasting between 40 minutes to an hour. About halfway through their training, Schenck noticed significant progress in Judge’s swing. He observed that Judge was beginning to snap the barrel backward instead of pushing it forward, a fundamental principle of Schenck’s teaching. This adjustment leads to a powerful stretch between the snap of the barrel and a hitter’s rear leg, marking the point where their hard work began to translate onto the field.

“All of a sudden, you get this little smirk like holy s—, what did I just do?” Schenck said. “At that point, they’re hooked. It’s an addiction.”

In 2017, Judge hit 52 home runs and won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Eight years after their initial meeting, Judge and Schenck now schedule hitting sessions every two weeks at a private facility, both at home and on the road. Occasionally, Judge cancels their sessions, feeling his swing is in such a good place that there isn’t much to work on.

That deep barrel, that ‘short to’ path…..is why their numbers are so much better than others. pic.twitter.com/kkjSNyYJAg

— Richard Schenck, JFD PPP LQC TTE 🙂 (@Teacherman1986) September 30, 2024

Even when the pair don’t meet, Schenck frequently sends video clips of himself discussing and demonstrating Judge’s swing, providing a visual of what his coach observes during his at-bats. He shares side-by-side comparisons of when Judge’s swing was nearly perfect and what he’s doing in the moments when he’s struggling at the plate. Judge has fully embraced Schenck’s hitting philosophy, where his mistakes are now so subtle that it can sometimes be nearly impossible to pinpoint what’s going wrong. Sometimes, it’s an issue of timing; other times, Judge struggles to maintain control in his launch position when he needs to decide whether to swing.

It’s during these moments of failure that Judge finds motivation. He often tells reporters that he doesn’t feel truly locked in at the plate unless he’s hitting 1.000 — a feat that is impossible throughout a season. No matter how well his numbers indicate he’s performing, Judge is always searching for improvement.

“Anything I did growing up, whether it was basketball or football, I wanted to be the best,” Judge said. “I probably got that from my dad, who always worked with me and always pushed me. He wanted perfection. He wanted the best for me. I think I took that trait from him.”

In recent years, Judge has sharpened his ability to detect even the slightest flaws in his swing. During their sessions in the batting cage, Schenck might praise his form, but Judge will often correct him, noting that he missed the barrel.

In 2022, as Judge approached the single-season American League home run record, he sensed something was amiss. He sent Schenck a video from his batting practice, believing his swing path was slightly off. Schenck confirmed that Judge’s intuition was spot on. The very next day, he hit his 62nd home run.

“He can feel things that I can’t see,” Schenck said. “He’s always been a perfectionist, but he’s just more perfect now than he was then.

“I don’t want to say the game is easy, but the game is easier for him than it is for everyone else.”

Inside the American League clubhouse at this year’s All-Star Game, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. exchanged tips with Judge. The presumptive runner-up in the MVP race was struck by Judge’s remarkable ability to consistently be on time for any pitch, regardless of what’s coming.

“It’s incredible to see what he’s doing with how consistent he is,” Witt said. “That’s the biggest thing because a lot of times with power hitters, they go through things. But with him each and every week, he’s chucking away and putting up numbers to help his team win. This game comes down to how well you can prepare, the work you put in and the mindset. The game is evolving with the pitching and everything. It means you have to evolve. That’s what everyone is doing.”

Being ready to swing at pitch release gives Judge the maximum time to decide whether to unload or not. Judge’s mastery of his mechanics also allows him to be in position to hit regardless of whether the opposing pitcher is throwing 100 mph fastballs or 75 mph curveballs.

This year, Judge led MLB in run value against four-seam fastballs, sinkers and sweepers. Despite facing the highest volume of sweepers among all hitters, he slugged an astounding .816 against the frisbee-like slider. Over the past two seasons, opposing pitchers have frequently relied on sliders while attacking Judge, hoping he would chase pitches off the plate. This year, Judge faced the most sliders of his career, and he responded with a remarkable .984 OPS against all types of sliders.

Judge’s mechanics allows him to render any pitch type irrelevant when he’s in the batter’s box. Schenck noted that Judge has remarked that if he had practiced this technique as a teenager, he likely would have been the No. 1 overall pick.

“When you deeply understand this, it’s like you’re cheating,” Schenck said of his teaching. “It’s like you’re a varsity player on JV.”

For most of 2024, Judge resembled Bronx Little League legend Danny Almonte. It was as though Judge was playing a different game than everyone else. His 218 wRC+, the seventh-highest in MLB history, was 37 percentage points better than Shohei Ohtani’s 181. Judge’s 11.2 fWAR ranks as the 19th highest in MLB history, surpassed only by legends such as Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Pedro Martinez, Mickey Mantle, and Jimmie Foxx.

Even after smashing 62 homers in 2022, Judge leveled up in 2024. Beyond his home run total, he excelled in nearly every counting category this season.

“The best version we’ve ever seen,” Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Judge this year. “And he’s had some great seasons before, right?”

“I believe that Judge is the most amazing hitter that I’ve ever watched,” Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said.

One of Judge’s primary objectives heading into the 2024 season was to improve his control of the strike zone, and he achieved that goal. He swung at fewer pitches outside the strike zone than ever before in his career. Aside from the shortened 2020 season, Judge also made contact with more pitches inside the strike zone than at any previous point.

Additionally, there has been a noticeable shift in his approach to each at-bat. Over the past three seasons, nearly half of his at-bats have ended in a fly ball — an ideal outcome given his strength. While he and Schenck didn’t alter his swing path, Judge noted that he is now focused on hitting line drives rather than simply elevating the ball.

“I try to hit it out toward the batter’s eye and hit it into our bullpen,” Judge said of his approach. “If I can hit a line drive out there and if I can get a little under it, it’s going to be a higher chance of a home run. I think it’s just some of the swing changes I made all the way back in ’17 about just kind of cleaning up my path a little bit to try to help me get the ball in the air more.

“I’m not really trying to hit home runs, which people think I do. I really don’t. I’m trying to hit line drives, and my line drives like (Giancarlo) Stanton, Yordan Alvarez and some of those guys, they just happen to go out.”

Judge led MLB with a 32.2 percent home run-to-fly ball ratio, surpassing any HR/FB ratio that Bonds achieved. As a lifelong fan of the San Francisco Giants, Judge has often cited Bonds as an influence and considers him the greatest player in MLB history.

What Schenck didn’t foresee when they first met in 2016 was that Judge would evolve into a right-handed version of Bonds. If a pitcher fails to execute their pitches, beware.

“You make a mistake, you’re getting a new ball,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Schenck doesn’t hold back his training secrets when working with Judge; he often posts videos of their sessions and the drills they perform. He feels validated when reviewing footage of players outside of his own clients, noting that regardless of who fans consider the best in the game, they all snap the barrel backward, consciously or not. In contrast, those who struggle typically fail to load properly.

While every player has a unique batting stance, Schenck asserts that the mechanics from load to contact are fundamentally the same. Some players execute these mechanics more consistently than others, but the best, including Judge, all share this common approach.

Judge (pictured in September 2016) struggled in his first month and a half in the majors. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

In Schenck’s view, what truly sets Judge apart is the combination of his exceptional technique and athleticism.

“When Aaron decides to swing, he swings,” Schenck said. “When the ball comes at you at 100 mph or 78 mph, you can’t afford any slop moves. You have to just swing. You can’t move to a new position then swing after you’ve decided to swing. You have to be able to instantly swing.”

Judge was never worried about his rough start in April; he recognized it was merely a timing issue. He was healthy and making solid contact, but just a tick off. He knew that once his mechanics fell into sync, he would start delivering damage. With a .674 OPS in his first 123 plate appearances and only four home runs — just one more than Alex Verdugo — Judge appeared to be struggling. He then exploded for the rest of the season, hitting a home run every 8.48 at-bats.

But home run records aren’t what Judge is chasing; he wants a title. Judge has already accomplished every meaningful individual accolade a player can earn, but the glaring gap on his resume is a World Series championship.

Fair or not, Yankees greats are evaluated by the rings they possess. He could retire now and still be celebrated for the rest of time in Yankees lore like Don Mattingly, a former captain who never won a title. Mattingly was, and still is, a fan favorite, but he’s not in the same conversation as legends like Jeter, Rivera, Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio and Berra.

Given how Judge’s career is trending and how he has mastered the art of hitting, a championship could firmly establish him in the pantheon of the most storied franchise in baseball.

“I think there’s no question he’s one of the franchise’s greatest players, but he’s playing for that,” Boone said. “That’s why he does this, not to rack up the personal accolades. He embodies that. He lives that. And that’s what we’re all working to get to. And I’m sure winning it all would certainly add a level to his legacy.”

(Top photo of Aaron Judge: Al Bello/Getty Images)

MILWAUKEE — As the New York Mets pinballed between the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers over the past week, they’d banished any thoughts of fatigue. The adrenaline of their postseason push, the momentum of their late-season magic, could carry them deeper into October.

Late Wednesday, six outs away from their first postseason series win in nine years, the limitations imposed by their schedule caught up with them.

Jackson Chourio and Garrett Mitchell each took setup man Phil Maton deep in a three-run eighth inning, and the Brewers came back to stun the Mets 5-3 in Game 2 of this best-of-three Wild Card Series. Jose Quintana will face Tobias Myers in the decisive Game 3 on Thursday evening.

“We got punched today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’ll get right back.”

So much of the night had gone according to plan for Mendoza and the Mets. They’d scored early with one in the first and two in the second, and they’d consistently applied pressure to Milwaukee’s pitching staff. Sean Manaea rebounded from Chourio’s leadoff home run in the first to hold the lead. And the first two pitchers out of the bullpen were sharp, with Reed Garrett and Ryne Stanek facing the minimum in scoreless frames.

That got the Mets to the bottom of the eighth with a one-run advantage and the top of the Brewers’ order coming up, starting with Chourio.

Two factors influenced the Mets’ decision to turn to Maton for the eighth even though he’d be pitching for the fourth time in five days. First, though closer Edwin Díaz was available, the Mets didn’t want to use him for more than three outs, given Díaz’s heavy usage of late. (Mendoza said, “We were just going to keep it at one inning today,” and Díaz said he was told to be ready to secure four outs if necessary.)

Second, they liked Maton’s cutter against Chourio’s swing. Chourio’s expected numbers against cutters were worse than those against fastballs and sliders: Of the 22 home runs he’d hit up to that point this season, nine had been on fastballs, four on sliders and none on cutters.

That’s why they went with Maton over keeping Stanek and his hard four-seam fastball in the game, and that’s why they preferred to hold Díaz for the middle of the order in the ninth.

“The whole time we were going through the situation, we wanted a Maton-Chourio matchup,” Mendoza said. “It just didn’t work.”

Maton had earned his way into the primary setup role by pitching lights out since coming over from the Tampa Bay Rays midway through the season. New York has leaned on him heavily this week. He got five outs Saturday and three more Sunday, and he was back out to protect the lead in the eighth Monday, eventually giving up two runs.

He felt ready to pitch Wednesday, even if it meant a fourth appearance in five days.

“I feel great. It’s playoff baseball,” he said. “Adrenaline flowing, everything is feeling good.”

Chourio took a 1-1 cutter up in the zone out to right field for his second opposite-field homer of the night. At the time, Maton had not surrendered a homer in his last 108 batters.

He’d serve up another four batters later to Mitchell, who had entered as a pinch runner two innings prior. That came on a curveball up.

“He left a lot of pitches in the middle of the zone,” Mendoza said. “The overall stuff was OK, even though we asked a lot out of him.”

The Mets’ lack of a reliable lefty bit them against Mitchell, who hit a walk-off homer against them last season. New York has shied away from Danny Young in key spots of late because of his control issues, and while Mendoza said pregame that starter David Peterson would be available out of the pen, he changed course postgame.“He was not available,” he said. “He was not even in the conversation.”

Milwaukee’s eighth-inning rally put a spotlight on all the runs the Mets left on the bases. They could have pushed across a second run in the opening frame if Pete Alonso hadn’t tripped over his bat on the way to first, permitting the Brewers an easy double play. The Mets had a runner on second with nobody out in the fourth and with two outs in the fifth. They didn’t score. They had the first two men on in the sixth and a leadoff man on in the eighth. They didn’t score.

“I thought we had really good at-bats,” Mendoza said. “We just didn’t get the big hit today.”

The Mets have talked of playing playoff baseball for weeks now, of playing with the urgency the postseason demands over the final stretch of September just to arrive there. Thursday presents that challenge in the starkest terms possible: Win or go home.

“We’ve been responding to adversity all year,” Alonso said. “I’m really excited for this challenge. This is what the playoffs are all about.”

(Photo of Phil Maton: John Fisher / Getty Images)

The Eastern Conference may not be the stronger of the two NBA conferences, but its intrigue level rises above the West going into the season.

The Boston Celtics are the defending NBA champions. The New York Knicks had a loud offseason following their best season in quite some time. The Philadelphia 76ers added Paul George to help Joel Embiid capture that elusive trip to the NBA Finals. What does Year 2 of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard look like? The young Orlando Magic feel primed to turn another corner. We could go on and on.

Here to discuss how the East might shake out this season, The Athletic’s Celtics writer Jay King and Knicks writer James L. Edwards III give their thoughts and predictions on the offseasons and what things could look like.

Which top-six seed from a season ago improved the most this offseason?

Edwards: Whether or not you believe New York’s recent trade for Karl-Anthony Towns made the franchise better, the Knicks — and Sixers— are the only teams at the top of the East who made significant changes in hopes of reaching the NBA Finals. The defending champs didn’t make any big upgrades. Neither did Milwaukee, Cleveland or Indiana.

Orlando signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and that was one of my favorite moves of the summer. However, given that the Knicks added Towns and Mikal Bridges, even at the expense of depth, they feel like the safest choice.

I believe New York and Boston have the two best starting lineups in the NBA. The Celtics’ depth is a bit more proven, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that ends up being the difference between the two teams at the end of the season.

King: I would put the 76ers into the mix of improved teams atop the East. Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Joel Embiid should fit together on paper. If Embiid lost as much weight over the offseason as he claims, he will have a chance to hold up physically through the playoffs in a manner he has never achieved before. And if he can do that, Philadelphia will be as dangerous a challenger to Boston as any other team in the East.

New York wins the most improved award, though. I wouldn’t have said that a week before the Towns trade, but the Knicks eliminated a potential Julius Randle problem (would he really fit with this roster?) by turning him and Donte DiVincenzo into an answer to their glaring hole at center. As well as DiVincenzo played last season, New York, with a surplus of guards, could stand to lose him. Towns will open the court for Jalen Brunson, whose herky-jerky game doesn’t need much space anyway, and give the Knicks some much-needed size. I’m curious to see how they will morph whenever Mitchell Robinson returns from a foot injury, but their five-out attack should keep the scoreboard operator busy. Before sliding over to power forward to make way for Rudy Gobert, Towns regularly ranked as one of the league’s most effective offensive players at the center position. Not many big men can shoot like he does.

Can a slimmed-down Joel Embiid make a difference for the new-look 76ers? (Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)

Who are the Celtics’ biggest threat to dethroning them as the best team in the East?

Edwards: It’s between the Knicks and 76ers for me.

As I said previously, New York might — I said “might,” Boston fans — have the best starting lineup in basketball. Jalen Brunson averaged 28.7 points last season with, at times, inadequate spacing around him. Now, the Most Valuable Player candidate has the best spacing unit around him that he’s ever had. Bridges and OG Anunoby are possibly the two best wings in the NBA who have never made an All-Star game. Towns is the best shooting big man in basketball. And Josh Hart is the ultimate glue guy.

Philadelphia, though, does still have, arguably, the most dominant player in basketball when healthy in Embiid. Paul George will be a good complement to Embiid and, as last season showed, he’s still playing at a very high level. And, oh, Tyrese Maxey continues to get better and better.

Both teams have key players with not-great injury histories, and I’m not sure which team is better suited to withstand a significant injury or two.

If you’re making me pick one, I’ll go with New York not only due to what I think Brunson will do this season, but also because Bridges, Anunoby and Hart are as good of a wing rotation as you can get in the NBA.

King: It’s the 76ers. As great as the Celtics’ starting lineup is, one potential vulnerability is the lack of a bruising big-man defender. That’s why, when they played Philadelphia early last season, they used Jrue Holiday on Embiid. The bizarre matchup worked for a small stretch but couldn’t be trusted to last throughout a seven-game series.

The Celtics’ potential weakness was never tested because they didn’t run into Embiid, Nikola Jokić or Antetokounmpo during the playoffs. But that weakness is there, lurking, and I’d love to see how they would strategize against one of those guys. Towns wouldn’t lean on them in the same manner. The Knicks are built more like Boston and, if the Celtics are healthy, I’m not convinced any team will beat them at their own game. I’m still not ready to write off the Bucks, but their core is old, their supporting cast is flawed and they need a lot to go right to reestablish themselves as a chief contender.

Let’s go to the bottom of the East. Which Play-In team do you think is most likely to grab a top-six seed?

Edwards: I answered this in a roundabout way already by saying the 76ers are as big of a threat as the Knicks to take down Boston. So, they’re my pick.

Philadelphia, despite finishing with the same record as Indiana last season, ended up with the No. 7 seed. The 76ers only got 39 regular-season games out of Embiid and still finished 12 games above .500. I do think George and Caleb Martin are upgrades over Tobias Harris and Buddy Hield. Another year of Maxey should do everyone some good. Also, Andre Drummond backing up Embiid was a nice move around the margins.

I think Philadelphia will be better than both the Pacers and Cavaliers this season and end up with a top-four seed at worst.

King: I feel confident saying it won’t be the Bulls, who have embraced a rebuilding process at last. The obvious answer here is the 76ers, who should leap out of the Play-In Tournament if they can stay reasonably healthy. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Heat also vault out of the Play-In and into the top six. They would need Jimmy Butler on the court consistently, but could get a boost from promising youngsters Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jović.

Which bottom-seven team in the East improved the most?

Edwards: I mean, it’s Detroit, right? The Pistons should be at least 10 games better than the 14 wins they got a season ago. However, I also thought last season couldn’t be worse after winning just 17 games during the 2022-23 campaign. Somehow, I was very wrong.

And before you go and say, Oh, here goes the old Pistons writer, John Hollinger agrees with me, too! Everyone thinks he hates Detroit.

Why did I pick the Pistons, you ask? Well, the bar is very low with 14 wins. Also, Cade Cunningham came off of what was essentially a lost second season due to a shin injury that required surgery (he only played in 12 games) to put up All-Star-ish numbers in Year 3. He grew his game in the worst situation possible. He’s a real player. This offseason, the Pistons added solid veterans who rarely miss games in Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. — injuries have plagued the Pistons in recent seasons. Cunningham now has shooters around him with the addition of those vets, Simone Fontecchio and Isaiah Stewart. Fontecchio was a sneaky-good addition at last year’s trade deadline. He only was able to play in 16 games after coming over from Utah due to a foot injury, but he averaged 15.4 points while shooting 42.6 percent from 3 when he did play. The defense was solid, too.

Detroit has decent depth this season, should be pissed off after last year and, in Cunningham, a potential star player.

Also, the bottom of the East is really, really bad.

King: Am I delusional to think the Charlotte Hornets won’t be totally hopeless? A starting lineup of LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, Grant Williams and Mark Williams isn’t horrible! They will have a new energy with the addition of head coach Charles Lee. I’m almost into the idea of a significant Charlotte improvement?

The right answer is the Pistons, though. Partly because of how bad they were last season. Partly because they added some legitimate rotation players. They won’t be good, but they won’t chase the wrong type of history either. Cunningham should remind everyone why he was such a highly-regarded prospect.

Who will be the worst team in the East?

Edwards: Brooklyn.

The Nets are the only Eastern team that appears to be playing “Capture The Flagg” from the start of the season. No one has a clue what Ben Simmons will look like or if he’ll play more than 20 games. I like Nic Claxton, but he’s not saving this thing. I like Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith, too, but I wouldn’t be surprised if neither is on the roster after the trade deadline. Cam Thomas is an experience. The 35-year-old Bojan Bogdanović is a bucket, but he’s been dealing with injuries as of late and just had offseason surgery that has lingered into the start of camp.

Maybe Brooklyn will be OK defensively with Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, Johnson and Simmons – assuming he can stay healthy to start the season – for 30 games or so, but it feels like the Nets are going to shut this whole operation down early.

King: The Wizards.

As dreadful as the bottom of the conference is, the Wizards are in a class of their own. Jordan Poole was a walking lowlight during his first season away from Golden State. Teenager Alexandre Sarr, the second pick in the draft, shot 19.1 percent from the field during summer league. I can’t imagine he’ll walk into the NBA as a helpful player, but his draft status will ensure he receives consistent minutes anyway. Malcolm Brogdon is probably wondering what he did to deserve a season in Washington following a campaign in Portland. In Brogdon, Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valančiūnas, the Wizards do have a few veterans worthy of an NBA rotation spot, but an accumulation of youthful mistakes is forming around them.

Shout out to Toronto, though. You know a team is headed for a long year when its starting center openly admits winning is no longer the priority. Salute to Jakob Poeltl the truth-teller.

Call your shot: What will the Eastern Conference standings be by the end of the regular season?

Edwards: 1. Celtics, 2. Knicks, 3. 76ers, 4. Bucks, 5. Magic, 6. Cavaliers, 7. Heat, 8. Pacers, 9. Hawks, 10. Pistons, 11. Raptors, 12. Hornets, 13. Bulls, 14. Wizards, 15. Nets

King: Before giving my standings prediction, I just want to mention the Magic who we have ignored. They’re going to be good! Maybe really good! Especially if Paolo Banchero and/or Franz Wagner learn how to shoot.

Sorry for failing to hype you up earlier, Orlando. You deserve better from us.

Anyway…

1. Celtics, 2. Knicks, 3. 76ers, 4. Magic, 5. Pacers, 6. Bucks, 7. Cavaliers, 8. Heat, 9. Hawks, 10. Pistons, 11. Hornets, 12. Raptors, 13. Bulls, 14. Nets, 15. Wizards

Required reading

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(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: Stephen Maturen, Sarah Stier, Adam Glanzman / Getty Images) 

The future King of England, William, Prince of Wales did not leave quietly into the night.

“I’ve lost my voice,” he said. “I can’t quite believe it — 42 years…”

Aston Villa supporters had started to filter out of the stadium even if no one wanted to move. Villa Park was still drinking in Jhon Duran’s magnificent finish, demonstrably a moment in time that gave the club, arguably, its greatest night in 42 years — following the European Cup final triumph against the same opposition in Bayern Munich, and with the same 1-0 scoreline.

“Villa till I die” bellowed. The flags, now famous memorabilia, were being joyously waved. Emiliano Martinez, having pulled off his own acts of heroism with time-stopping saves at the end, kissed the badge. The roars that grew in decibels as Duran’s lob sailed over Manuel Neuer were guttural and piercing. It was almost a disbelieving noise and a realisation that an astonishing goal had marked Villa’s astonishing rise under manager Unai Emery.

Prince William pumps his fists after Villa’s victory (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)

Less than two years ago, Villa were outside the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference. Now they had just beaten Bayern in a home Champions League fixture. Emery had spoken about making memories “like that great generation did in 1982” and, under his leadership, Villa continue to break new ground. The sense of occasion was marked, but Emery had long preached Villa needed to show they belonged on the biggest stage. And they did.

“The whole night was special,” Morgan Rogers told The Athletic after. “Walking out to that atmosphere, I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”

“It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard Villa Park,” said Martinez to TNT Sports. “It was hurting my ears at times.”

Walk down Holte Road and you will see a newly painted mural. Emery, rightly so, is at the forefront but there is reference to the 82 triumph and Peter Withe, clad in white and the goalscorer that night in Rotterdam, his hands in the air and feet off the ground. In years to come, Duran clenching both fists and roaring will be synonymous with the second Bayern victory.

Villa Park was raucous all evening, apart from the moments leading up to Duran’s goal. Supporters, perhaps subconsciously, had started to become nervous, knowing the clock was ticking and their team could earn a draw. The only other time the atmosphere lulled was when the stadium fell quiet for the Champions League anthem before kick-off as if it gave time for every fan to absorb the grandiosity of it all. Fireworks were set off and a large Tifo hung from the Holte End. A thirty-metre banner was unfurled at the bottom of the stand and read ‘All heroes are Villans’.

GO DEEPER

Understanding Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran – ‘Nothing he was given was free’

Duran has been described as “a bit nuts” by team-mates, but few doubt his immense talent. His goal, his fifth as a substitute this season, was a crystallisation of all those traits, from having the sheer conviction to lob one of modern football’s most eminent goalkeepers, to having the actual skill to pull it off. He was introduced in the 70th minute after Ollie Watkins’ running battle with Dayot Upamecano and Emery recognised that Duran’s pace, power and natural dare could serve as a point of difference.

Martinez had started off the move, with Pau Torres playing a whipped left-footed pass into the channel where Duran was on the shoulder of Upamecano.

WHAT HAVE WE JUST WITNESSED 🔥

Has Jhon Durán just delivered the moment of the night?! 😮‍💨

📺 Watch @tntsports and @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/laAj5FwErX

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 2, 2024

SUPER-SUB JHON DURÁN PUTS VILLA AHEAD AGAINST BAYERN FROM DISTANCE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Dn53Tsg55Y

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 2, 2024

Curiously, just as the teams came out for the second half, Villa’s individual performance coach, Antonio Rodriguez Saravia, was deep in conversation with Watkins and motioned the precise move that Duran would end up making.

Saravia tapped Watkins to get his full attention before giving an example of a curved run, from right to left, arching his body as if he was sprinting on the outside of a central defender.

Duran had little time to set himself, but went for it anyway. The Colombia striker told U.S. broadcaster CBS Sports after that he did not see Neuer off his line, a sign of his instinctive nature or recalling some of the observations made to him in the morning’s analysis sessions.

“Jhon’s been on fire,” Martinez told TNT. “He’s a super sub. With his first touch, he lobbed Neuer, one of the best keepers in history. We know Neuer plays high and we watched a lot of movies with the manager — an hour and a half this morning.”

Martinez blew kisses to Villa fans after his late heroics (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

“In the analysis, we were speaking about the positioning of Neuer — always high,” said Emery. “I spoke to my assistant coaches about how he (Duran) shoots. Because he had in his mind this possibility. He scored a goal similar last year against Hibernian. Pau Torres made a similar pass and at that moment, he drove at the keeper and shot. This time, he just shot.”

A day earlier, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany was asked about Villa’s key strengths. Kompany identified their compact defensive structure and threat on transition.

Rogers was a threat on the counter throughout (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

It was therefore peculiar that Bayern seemed happy to allow Watkins and then Duran a constant one-v-one battle against Upamecano and push so many players into high areas. Villa knew they would have limited possession but were content to stay in shape, closing the distances between the lines and, upon regains, make a couple of short, quick passes before driving into the oceans of space left on transition.

“We knew they were going to have more of the ball so it was about trying to hit them on the counter,” Rogers said to TNT. “It was about allowing them to have the ball in certain areas but when it’s in midfield we had to be at it.”

The only surprise in Villa’s lineup was Jaden Philogene coming in for his first start since rejoining this summer. Players had trained at 5pm the previous evening but most were not told the team until the afternoon of the game, with some excitedly calling family and agents. But given the magnitude of the task, Philogene, who was playing for Hull City in the Championship last season, was told early.

“I found out I was starting yesterday,” he said. “Leon Bailey got injured in training and he (Emery) pulled me into the office. He asked how I was feeling. I said, ‘Yeah, I feel fine’ and he said, ‘Good, because you’re starting tomorrow’. There were no nerves. I just wanted to play football. Unai just told me to play my game and gave me instructions.”

Villa’s analysis sessions are exhaustive and often long. They are admittedly tedious, yet the breadth of detail Emery imparts on his players requires full concentration and buy-in. Duran’s finish was an example of why players remain so enamoured of Emery — because there is continuous evidence his coaching and analysis bring success.

“There were two meetings today. We are used to it. That’s why we win games,” Rogers said. “We go through everything. We know what every player’s traits are.”

“He’s very demanding, focused and knows what he wants,” said Watkins. “You hear about professionals putting in hard work and doing extras, but it’s the same for him. He arrives early and leaves late.”

The explosion of noise that met Duran’s finish and then at the final whistle was a spine-tingling sound that will stick with Villa supporters. A night and a goal fitting of Villa’s extraordinary transformation.

(Top photo: Duran and Lucas Digne celebrate against Bayern. David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

MONTREAL – RJ Barrett isn’t concerned the hometown limelight will wear him down.

The Toronto Raptors guard/forward is instead choosing to embrace the attention.

With the Raptors in Montreal for his first training camp with the team, the 24-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., is looking forward to donning the red, white and purple jerseys he grew up watching for an entire NBA season.

“It’s crazy to me to even be in this interview. I used to watch this on TV,” Barrett said at the Université du Québec à Montréal on Wednesday. “I have a little bit more pride for it, so I’m going out there, just give my whole heart to this, give everything.

“This is my home. I have an extra desire, extra passion for it every single day. Just me being me I’m going to wake up and compete every day. So this is perfect for me.”

Toronto’s camp runs through Sunday’s preseason game against the Washington Wizards at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Barrett, whose father Rowan Barrett played professionally in France when he was younger, took the opportunity to practise his second language in a brief scrum with the French media on hand.

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On the court, the Raptors emphasized working on their defence, which ranked 26th in the league last season. Head coach Darko Rajaković expects Barrett to be a big part of the solution.

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“RJ’s defensive effort and importance on defence this year has to rise just because of the needs of our team,” Rajaković said. “We talk a lot. I’m calling him out in a lot of situations that he needs to be better. He’s responded really well.

“It’s great to see him when he gets a stop or does good stuff defensively that he’s celebrating and he feels energy. That’s winning. That’s about winning. So we need him to fall in love with defence, be as good a player as he is offensively.”

Barrett, the third overall draft pick in 2019, is better known for his play at the other end of the floor.

The Raptors acquired Barrett and guard Immanuel Quickley from the New York Knicks in the blockbuster OG Anunoby trade last December.

In a 32-game sample with Toronto, the six-foot-six, 214-pound wing averaged career highs of 21.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

His efficiency also spiked. Barrett shot 55.3 per cent from the floor — more than 10 per cent higher than his career average — and 39.2 per cent from three-point range.

But with Anunoby and Pascal Siakam gone, Barrett will have to take on tough assignments in a position that boasts some of the league’s top players — and he says he’s up for the challenge.

“If you want to win, it starts with defence,” Barrett said. “I’ve been practising it, working on it, especially during the summertime, that was huge for me to just get reps defensively.

“If I’m playing defence, I can get on other guys to play defence too.”

At this summer’s Paris Olympics, Barrett averaged 19.8 points, Canada’s second-highest scorer behind NBA MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (21.0). Barrett was also third on the team in rebounds (3.8) and assists (3.5) as France stunned Canada 82-73 in the quarterfinals.

Despite the crushing loss, Barrett quickly travelled to Spain with fellow Canadian Kelly Olynyk to join a Raptors mini-camp.

His strong summer is paying off early in training camp. On Wednesday, Rajaković highlighted Barrett as one of the players who’s standing out, noting his ambition of succeeding at home.

“I just think that understanding his role on a team, the importance of him to step up this year. I think that he had a great summer with Canada Basketball, staying healthy, getting in good shape, also has helped with all of that.” Rajaković said. “He’s very excited to be home and play in Toronto and playing for the Canadian fans.

“All of that brings extra motivation for him.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2024.

&copy 2024 The Canadian Press

Two NASCAR teams, including one owned by basketball icon Michael Jordan, accused NASCAR of being a monopoly in a joint antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday morning in federal court.

23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, joined with Front Row Motorsports to allege NASCAR and its CEO Jim France have used “anticompetitive and exclusionary practices” to “enrich themselves at the expense of the premier stock car racing teams.”

“I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors and fans,” Jordan said in a statement. “Today’s action shows I’m willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins.”

The disagreement stems from a long dispute related to NASCAR’s so-called “charter system,” which is similar to franchises for race teams. Holding a charter guarantees a starting spot in all 36 NASCAR Cup Series points races, and charter teams earn a share of the $1.1 billion per year in television money NASCAR will collect from a new TV deal starting next year.

Teams have been trying to negotiate an extension of the original 2016 charter agreement for more than two years before it expires Dec. 31, but NASCAR refused to give teams many of the concessions they sought — including making the charters permanent.

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Last month, after meeting with teams individually, NASCAR told owners their offer was final — and the lawsuit alleges if enough teams did not sign it by a midnight deadline, NASCAR threatened to “eliminate the charter system altogether for 2025 and beyond.”

“They made a very serious threat to us, so we had to react seriously,” Hamlin said in an interview.

That reaction included 23XI (pronounced “23-11,” for Jordan’s longtime jersey number and Hamlin’s car number) and Front Row declining to sign the proposed agreement and being the only two holdouts among the current 15 charter organizations.

Front Row owner Bob Jenkins and 23XI stand to lose their four combined charters entirely if the legal situation does not play out in their favor, and the charters have sold for as much as $40 million.

“I don’t know what it’s going to cost me if I lose two charters in my race team, but it’s a lot of money,” Jenkins said in an interview. “But it’s the right thing to do. It’s the right thing for the sport.”

NASCAR did not offer an immediate comment as it is reviewing the filing.

GO DEEPER

Why are 23XI and Front Row suing NASCAR? Here’s what you need to know

The teams claim that while even the winningest organizations struggle to break even, NASCAR has unlawfully blocked the formation or growth of any other series — thus forcing competitors “to accept take-it-or-leave-it economic conditions” in order to participate.

Some of those practices alleged to be illegally monopolistic include purchasing a majority of the country’s top racetracks and giving NASCAR exclusivity to those venues; forcing other NASCAR-sanctioned racetracks to abide by exclusivity agreements; purchasing NASCAR’s “only other recognizable stock car racing series competitor” (ARCA) in 2018; prohibiting Cup teams from participating in any other stock car races; and choosing the exclusive third-party vendors to sell cars and parts to race teams while retaining ownership of all cars and parts.

23XI and Front Row have retained attorney Jeffrey Kessler, whose legal victories include the creation of NFL free agency, the implementation of name, image and likeness deals in college athletics and winning equal pay for the U.S. women’s national soccer team.

Kessler told The Athletic every major sport goes through a transformation — “usually by the application of the antitrust laws, sometimes some other major transformative event.”

And this lawsuit, he said, “is NASCAR’s moment.”

“Someone had to stand up and say, ‘I’m not going to take it anymore,’” he said. “That’s what these two teams have done.”

Curtis Polk, another 23XI co-owner who is Jordan’s longtime business partner, said in an interview the plaintiffs are eager to discover where all the money is actually going within NASCAR (which would be obligated to open its books as part of the legal process unless it settles).

“We just want fairness,” Polk said. “It’s not about a particular issue or five particular issues. When you look at the financial inequality that exists here, how is anybody going to say that’s fair?”

Required reading

(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

As the calendar turns from September to October, the stakes ramp up in conference races for potential College Football Playoff contenders. The season’s first month brought quality nonconference matchups and an SEC classic between Georgia and Alabama. This month establishes separation among the CFP contenders and bowl-caliber squads.

For this week’s CFP breakdown, let’s examine the four types of games that will shape the month. They include those with massive implications, with both teams not only having a shot to reach the CFP but also to host a first-round game or earn a bye. The second category identifies the sneaky-important matchups that have the potential to become pivotal. The third category establishes potential CFP elimination games in which the loser likely falls completely out of the CFP chase. The fourth pits teams with CFP hopes against those who could thwart iconic seasons.

This post highlights eight games — two in each category — while listing 24 games that have the potential to shake up the CFP field.

GO DEEPER

Is Alabama a lock? Who’s rising and falling in the College Football Playoff race

Massive implications

Ohio State at Oregon, Oct. 12

Georgia at Texas, Oct. 19

Both games could reach 10 million viewers, which is a major reason both conferences expanded. But more than just ratings are involved. Not only are CFP ramifications at stake, but these matchups also provide a window into how conference championship chases could unfold. The Big Ten battle royale features No. 3 Ohio State at No. 6 Oregon, while No. 2 Texas hosts No. 5 Georgia.

The Buckeyes (4-0) and Ducks (4-0) last played in 2021, and Oregon ran the ball at will with 269 rushing yards in a 35-28 win. Now, both teams are under the Big Ten umbrella and feature former Big 12 transfer quarterbacks (Ohio State with former Kansas State star Will Howard; Oregon with ex-Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel). It could be the first of two, perhaps even three, meetings between Ohio State and Oregon.

GO DEEPER

Big Ten superlatives: MVP player? Which undefeated team will crack first?

Texas-Georgia carries perhaps even more importance, at least for the Bulldogs (3-1). After falling short in a shootout with Alabama, Georgia likely would miss the SEC championship with another loss. Though that wouldn’t end the Bulldogs’ Playoff hopes, it would prevent them from gaining a bye or perhaps hosting a first-round game. As for Texas (5-0), which plays Oklahoma the previous week, wins in both games would just about lock up a Playoff spot based on the remaining schedule.

Others: Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas, Oct. 12; Penn State at USC, Oct. 12; Alabama at Tennessee, Oct. 19; Missouri at Alabama, Oct. 26

Boise State has high hopes to win the Mountain West behind the nation’s leader in rushing yards and TDs: Ashton Jeanty. (Brian Losness / Imagn Images)

Sneaky important

Nebraska at Indiana, Oct. 19

Boise State at UNLV, Oct. 25

Only once since 2007 has Indiana won at least seven games in a season. Nebraska is the only power-conference program not to qualify for a bowl since 2016. Both facts could crumble in Bloomington. Should Indiana (5-0) take care of Northwestern this week, the Hoosiers will battle Nebraska (4-1) to reach a seventh victory. Likewise, if the Huskers knock off unbeaten Rutgers, they’ll play IU for a bowl berth. In the big picture, the winner stays in strong contention for a CFP spot. Narrowly, it’s a rich contrast in quarterbacking styles between senior transfer Kurtis Rourke (Indiana) and true freshman Dylan Raiola (Nebraska).

The Group of 5’s top two teams clash in Las Vegas with a likely spot in the Mountain West championship at stake. No. 25 UNLV (4-0) won at Big 12 opponents Houston and Kansas and crushed Fresno State 59-14 last week. The Rebels look like a legitimate CFP team and perhaps not a first-round party favor for one of the top at-large squads. Likewise, No. 21 Boise State (3-1) was a field goal away on the game’s final play from taking Oregon to overtime. The Broncos feature the nation’s leading rusher, Ashton Jeanty. This matchup (and perhaps a rematch in the Mountain West title game) will impact the Group of 5 CFP spot more than any other in the regular season.

Others: Iowa at Ohio State, Oct. 5; Missouri at Texas A&M, Oct. 5; Arizona at BYU, Oct. 12; BYU at UCF, Oct. 26

Possible eliminator

Kansas State at Colorado, Oct. 12

Oklahoma at Ole Miss, Oct. 26

Colorado (4-1) and Kansas State (4-1) once were stalwarts of the old Big 12 North Division, with one or the other competing for the championship in six straight seasons from 2000 to 2005. They’ve met 66 times as Big Eight, then Big 12 foes before the Buffaloes left for the Pac-12 in 2011. Now they’ve returned to the Big 12, and this could mark the league’s most exciting matchup. Colorado features Heisman hopeful Travis Hunter and likely first-round quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and Kansas State boasts quarterback Avery Johnson and several quality receivers. Both teams have a loss, and another one could severely dent their at-large potential.

Oklahoma (4-1) and Ole Miss (4-1) each have a loss, and they could have a second one by the time they meet in late October. If that’s the case, this truly is an elimination contest. Kentucky shocked Ole Miss last weekend, and Oklahoma lost two weeks ago to Tennessee. It’s strange to see these teams meet under the SEC banner, and they’ve played each other just once previously, in the 1999 Independence Bowl. This game promises to have fireworks based on OU quarterback Michael Hawkins’ comeback against Auburn and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart’s high-flying numbers.

Others: SMU at Louisville, Oct. 5; Utah at Arizona State, Oct. 12; Michigan at Illinois, Oct. 19; LSU at Texas A&M, Oct. 26

GO DEEPER

Ubben: These 10 college football teams are off to a better start than expected

Upset watch

Iowa State at West Virginia, Oct. 12

Florida State at Miami, Oct. 26

The Big 12 once tried to staple Iowa State and West Virginia together as a season-ending series, but it didn’t take. Last year was the first time they hadn’t played since the Mountaineers (2-2) entered the Big 12, but there’s usually a little sizzle when they face off. This year, the No. 16 Cyclones (4-0) are rolling on defense (7.3 points per game), but they’ve lost three of their last four in Morgantown. West Virginia plays 11 power-conference opponents this year and opened with top-10 Penn State at home. It also lost late in a shootout at Pitt. The battle-tested Mountaineers are no pushover and will knock off some Big 12 contenders in October.

Florida State (1-4) easily is the nation’s most disappointing team. At worst, the Seminoles expected to have one loss right now, not four. But if there’s anything that will give FSU juice, it’s a chance to knock off No. 8 Miami (5-0). The Seminoles have won three straight in the series, and there’s nothing like familiarity to bring out the best in a disappointed competitor. Miami barely eked out a win against Virginia Tech when a Hail Mary pass was ruled incomplete after a long video review. But if we’ve learned anything with this series, anything is possible (wide), right?

Others: Pitt at North Carolina, Oct. 5; Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech in Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium), Oct. 19; Auburn at Missouri, Oct. 19; Michigan State at Michigan, Oct. 26

(Top photo of Texas’ Colin Simmons and David Gbenda: David Buono / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

What’s with all the daytime playoff games?

Sentimentalists longing for bygone eras of Major League Baseball love them, sure. But for fans who reside on the West Coast, the first playoff game on Tuesday is pretty early: Game 2 in the Wild Card round between the Detroit Tigers and the Houston Astros is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.

Meanwhile, fans in Houston, where the game actually takes place, will be tuning to that contest at 1:30 p.m. local time — if they’re not too busy at work or school.

So why doesn’t the commissioner’s office just start the games later? Couldn’t more fans watch that way, even if all the start times are closer together?

“Believe me, this is a debate that I’ve been on every side of over the years,” said Noah Garden, MLB’s deputy commissioner for business and media who oversees MLB’s television decisions. “But the numbers don’t lie. And at the end of the day, you kind of have to use them. The good news for all these debates: it’s water cooler talk to me, and it’s interesting. It’s fun. But there’s empirical evidence here.”

Garden and executives at MLB’s postseason broadcast partners, including ESPN and Fox, all pointed to the same goal: maximizing viewers. And the evidence has shown them that the best way to do that is to minimize overlap in games played.

“So that, if you want, you can watch as many of the games as you want to and not have to choose,” said Ashley O’Connor, vice president of programming and acquisitions for ESPN, which is carrying the Wild Card games across its channels, including ABC and ESPN2. “People do want the ability to watch as much as they can.”

Some amount of overlap is always going to be inevitable, particularly this early in the postseason with so many teams in the running. Still, when one game ends, MLB typically finds viewership for another game that’s ongoing will spike.

“There’s more fans than people realize that want to watch multiple games, and when you’re trying to reach the most fans, that overlap takes away from the reach,” Garden said. “It’s not like we’ve never overlapped. And so you look at the numbers, and you’re like, when you do it, that’s what you sacrifice: you kind of sacrifice the broader reach.”

MLB has final say over game times, but the process is collaborative with its TV partners, who pay handsome rights fees. After the ESPN-hosted Wild Card round, TBS has the American League teams for the Division Series and League Championship Series, while Fox (and FS1) has the National League for those rounds, as well as the World Series.

A TV camera at Camden Yards. (Jerry Driendl / Getty Images)

Bill Wanger, executive vice president at Fox Sports and head of programming and scheduling, said the process is both art and science.

“Stuff like this is being talked about weeks in advance, once you have a sense of who’s going to be in the postseason,” Wanger said. “One example of that is to surround the games that we have with the strongest companion programming that we can.

“NLCS Game 1, we worked with baseball on getting that on Sunday, Oct. 13, in primetime, and that’s (likely) going to be on Fox, and we’re going to have an NFL doubleheader leading in … which will feature Dallas and Detroit football. Things like that we’ve been working on for months with baseball.”

Some decisions, though, naturally come down to the last minute. ESPN’s Wild Card scheduling discussions were intense in the last two weeks as match-ups became clearer, O’Connor said.

On Tuesday, the first day of the postseason, a 9 p.m. ET vice presidential debate pushed game times up further. The Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles started at 4 p.m. ET, rather than the 4:30 slot they’re scheduled for Wednesday. And the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers began at 5:30 p.m. ET, rather than the 7:30 p.m. slot they have Wednesday.

Some issues are still in progress even with the Wild Card round underway.

“There will be four Game 1’s on Saturday, Oct. 5,” Wanger said. “We’re talking to baseball about, ‘OK well, Fox is going to have two games, and Turner’s going to have two games, what’s the order going to be? Where are we going to put the respective teams?’ And things get taken into account, like time zone where the games are being played. Obviously, if you’re in a West Coast venue like the Dodgers’, you’re going to want to go later in the day.”

And yes, the elephant in the room — market size, how big the fanbase is — matters too.

“Definitely one of the factors,” Wanger said.

“When you’re talking about reach, the size of your market could certainly be a factor in the amount of fans you reach,” Garden said. “Market size is tricky, because some of these storied franchises have a tremendous amount of displaced fans. So it’s not always about like, ‘Hey, because you’re from New York, you’re always going to get that certain time slot.’ There’s other teams that have fan bases that are larger than you think, especially from a national perspective.”

Reaching the maximum number of viewers isn’t a goal solely born out of a desire to spread baseball merriment far and wide. Ultimately, the TV networks have airtime to sell to advertisers, and the ability to deliver a distinct audience helps that effort.

“The other end on the business side of things for a second: that’s the last thing that our media partners want, they don’t want overlap,” Garden said. “They want the biggest opportunity to have the game that they have and the time slot that can attract the most baseball fans at one time.”

But Garden acknowledged a “debate” about start times, and the executives said they do go back and forth amongst themselves.

“Internally within ESPN, we have very healthy debates about what everybody’s point of view is and what it looks like, and we also have those same healthy debates with baseball,” O’Connor said. “Times are changing. Are we still acting to what the 2024 audience is looking for, and not programming back to even the 2022 audience? If we’re not constantly looking at it, then I think we’re doing a disservice.”

Corporate partners are always going to try to speak well of each other, but there are occasional dust-ups and disagreements in scheduling, or at least disappointments. Patrick Crakes, today a media consultant, was a longtime executive at Fox. He recalled that in one of his final seasons with the network, likely 2015, MLB wanted the Chicago Cubs consistently in primetime, which was frustrating for Fox, because Fox that year was carrying the American League.

“Baseball made a decision to prioritize the story, and there wasn’t anything that stopped them, but it did break up some protocol,” Crakes said. “Baseball is trying to organize their schedule in a way that fulfills the things that their partners negotiated with in the contracts, but also tries to do what’s best for baseball, which is typically what’s best for the majority of the fans.”

From a fan perspective, no scenario will ever satisfy everyone. Some fans probably will always be left trying to find a way to watch games during their workdays. Of course, not everyone’s working a 9-to-5 anyway. But Lee Berke, a media consultant, said the ability to stream games on phones is making daytime games more accessible.

ESPN won’t tell if you won’t.

“The joy of the way that ESPN distributes our networks, you are able to still consume that content while you’re at your desk,” O’Connor said. “Whether your boss knows is between you and your boss, but I’m not getting into that.”

(Top photo of a camera operator at Truist Park: David J. Griffin /Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Week 4 is in the books — and it still feels weird to say that’s technically not the quarter mark of the season anymore. Whatever. September football is over now, so, spiritually, we’re moving into a new section of the NFL season.

In this installment of Quick Outs, we’ve got a couple of star AFC quarterbacks who aren’t playing quite like themselves, a worthy adversary for Brian Flores, and a little appreciation of one of the rarest runners the sport has ever seen.

Time to dive in.

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Let’s talk about it: Patrick Mahomes’ turnover issues

There is too much Texas Tech in Patrick Mahomes’ game right now.

Mahomes has thrown five picks to start the season — at least one in each game, two in a near-loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. That total — currently the third-most in the NFL — is the most Mahomes has ever thrown through the first four games of a season.

Now, we’ve done this song and dance with Mahomes before. I know that. He (and the Chiefs at large) could not stop turning the ball over early in the 2021 season either. A majority of the interceptions that season felt fluky, though. Drops, tipped passes, miscommunications — everything that could go wrong outside of the quarterback’s control went wrong.

That’s not really the case right now. The funky interception Mahomes threw to Roquan Smith in the opener can go down as a fluke, but I’m willing to put the others on Kansas City’s QB.

.@bengals pick off Mahomes on the first play of the drive!

📺: #CINvsKC on CBS/Paramount
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/q9G42w9vi0

— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2024

Against the Bengals, Mahomes threw his first interception by trying to squeeze a deep sit route past a zone defender in Cover 2. The zone linebacker had nobody to cover on his side of the field and melted right back to the middle to pick off Mahomes.

Later in the game, Mahomes tossed up a 50-50 ball to 165-pound Xavier Worthy vs. CB Cam Taylor-Britt. Taylor-Britt made an insane one-handed catch, no doubt, but there’s just no world in which throwing a contested go ball to Worthy against a much bigger cornerback makes any sense.

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Mahomes’ end-zone interception against the Atlanta Falcons was a classic case of not seeing a safety flying back across the field to find the ball. Against the Los Angeles Chargers this past weekend, Mahomes simply overthrew his man on a heavily contested corner route. (I don’t knock him as harshly for that one because it’s a throw I know he’s capable of making, but you still have to hit it at the end of the day.)

Mahomes is probably going to be fine by the end of the season. He’s the best quarterback in the league and a back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion, so there’s no reason to doubt that this is just a blip on the radar.

The turnovers are a legitimate issue right now, though, and they have played a sizable role in all of the Chiefs’ games being so close.

Stat check: Trevor Lawrence’s off-target rate

One month into the season, Trevor Lawrence’s 16.4 percent off-target rate is the third-worst in the NFL, according to PFF. Only Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson have been worse. The former was benched for Andy Dalton; the latter is seen as the league’s biggest scattershot, even by his most optimistic supporters.

Lawrence is an eminently frustrating player. For most of the past three years, the film has painted Lawrence in a positive light, despite misfortune all around him. A couple misfires here and there would draw out his biggest detractors, but Lawrence was by and large a stud at the position. The team-wide results just weren’t there.

That’s just not the case right now. Lawrence is less accurate than ever, plain and simple. Those two or three misfires per game have turned into five or six. He’s not much different or worse when it comes to decision-making or creation ability or aggressiveness — the throws just aren’t connecting.

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Lawrence always had some weird misses, like I said, but it’s never been this bad. He’s typically hovered around an 11 percent off-target rate in other seasons, with a previous high of 12.4 percent. Those are mediocre marks, but not debilitating by any means.

The cope angle if you’re a Jaguars fan is that Lawrence’s average depth of target is much higher this year, so naturally he should be missing more throws. That’s true. Lawrence’s 10.3-yard average depth of target is nearly two yards above his previous career high. Even with degree of difficulty in mind, though, Lawrence is missing way more than he should. Lawrence currently holds a -8.5 completion percentage over expected, according to Next Gen Stats; his previous career low was -5.3 percent during that cursed rookie season under Urban Meyer.

I’m mildly concerned that Lawrence is in need of a little career rehabilitation. He is not the same player we saw peak at the end of 2022 or battle through irritating circumstances in 2023. He’s also not broken beyond repair, but there’s a level of uncertainty and shakiness to the way he plays now that was not there in years past.

Hopefully things normalize as the season goes on. Still, it’s hard to imagine the vibes around the NFL’s only winless team are going to get much better.

Can we just appreciate how ridiculous Derrick Henry is?

He is a 6-foot-4, 247-pound home-run hitter — an optical illusion at running back. Every other runner with anything close to that style of build is a bruiser, but Henry has always done his best work on the perimeter and with a runway.

Moreover, it’s a marvel Henry remains that kind of player at 30 years old with more than 2,000 NFL carries under his belt, never mind the beating he took at Alabama. The dreaded running back “cliff” should have come for Henry, but he just continues to outrun Father Time and run through opposing defenses. He looks as good as ever in Baltimore’s purple and black.

GO OFF KING

Tune in on NBC! pic.twitter.com/fJ5A4eP6on

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 30, 2024

Henry does give the Ravens the beef between the tackles they needed in the absence of Gus Edwards, but what he offers them out in space is the real catalyst for success. Henry is currently second in explosive rushes (12-plus yards) this season with nine, per TruMedia. The only player ahead of Henry is Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (10 explosive runs).

Some of that explosive ability is tied to what Lamar Jackson affords a rushing offense in terms of space. The same is true of Taylor playing alongside Richardson, but Henry really is uniquely gifted in the open field for a big man. In 2024 alone, Henry has six runs on which he’s hit at least 18 MPH, per Next Gen Stats. All the players ahead of him on that list are quarterbacks (like Jayden Daniels, Kyler Murray and, of course, Jackson). It does not compute that a man as large as Henry can run with those guys.

Henry has long been doing this, too. Since entering the league in 2016, Henry has hit at least 18 MPH on 85 runs. No other player who weighs at least 240 pounds has more than 35 over that span — and it’s quarterback Cam Newton at that number. The only other running back with double digit 18-plus MPH runs over that span is Najee Harris (12).

There just isn’t another dude like Henry. He has the size and violence to ruin someone’s day with the meanest stiff arm you’ve ever seen before hitting the gas and tearing away from every other defender on the field. Henry is truly one of one, and we should appreciate how insanely cool it is that he is playing next to Jackson in Baltimore’s backfield.

GO DEEPER

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Scramble drill: Jordan Love vs. Brian Flores

Jordan Love threw three picks in a loss, but I swear he had the right idea for how to attack Brian Flores’ defense.

In theory, Love is the perfect quarterback to deal with Flores’ blitz-laden defense. He is both tough and creative in the pocket. Moreover, he throws with unwavering confidence — the kind of confidence that gets you burned as much as it does you any good. That’s the kind of mindset you need to beat a Flores defense that will send bodies, forcing you to make throws down the field and into traffic.

The problem for the Packers is that the volatility that style of defense invites got them in the first half.

.@k_grugierhill gets his hands on the INT!

📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/iJVu45ANrt

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 29, 2024

Love’s first interception was on a square-in to Christian Watson. The Vikings put ‘backers in the right A and B gaps, only to pop both off and drop them in coverage. Love tried to beat them with the throw coming in from the left side, but linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill made an unreal pick in traffic.

Later in the half, Love threw another interception on another pressure. Flores put five defenders on the line, baiting Green Bay to play a man-style protection scheme. The defensive linemen over the left guard knifed inside while the edge defender took it wide, opening a huge lane for a blitzing off-ball linebacker to pop Love as he tried throwing a high-low concept. The ball tipped off his tight end’s hands right to a Vikings defender.

Love did what he had to do from then on, though. He kept throwing from tight pockets and driving the ball into contested windows, continued to bounce in and around the pocket to buy time when needed, and most of all, did not stop ripping it into all the downfield voids left open by Flores’ blitzes. He did not back down or spiral out of control the way most guys do versus Flores.

GO DEEPER

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Love finished the day 7 of 17 for 188 yards, one touchdown and one pick on throws of at least 15 yards. The completions, attempts and yards were more than any other quarterback on the week. It wasn’t perfect, by any means, but Love did the right thing by continuing to fight fire with fire, ultimately bringing the Packers close enough to put the game to an onside kick.

Teams and quarterbacks around the league should take notice of the damage Love did by playing like a psychopath in the second half. If Flores is going to call an unhinged style of defense, the quarterback has to play equally unhinged to beat it.