(Los Angeles, CA) — A one-sided NLCS resumes tonight (Thursday) in Los Angeles, but Brewers manager Pat Murphy is keeping the faith. Murph tells reporters his team “has been counted out a lot this year.” The Dodgers will try to end the best-of-seven series without returning to the Midwest. Milwaukee hasn’t looked like the team that won all six games between the two during the regular season. It has five hits and two runs in two games, good for a team batting average of .086. To get back home with a chance, the Brewers have to win at least two of the three games on the West Coast.
Pregame at 4:30pm. First pitch at 5:08pm on AM1240 & 96.5FM.
SEATTLE (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer woke up Toronto’s offense as the Blue Jays hit five home runs to rebound from an early deficit, routing the Seattle Mariners 13-4 and closing to 2-1 in the AL Championship Series. Julio Rodríguez’s two-run, first-inning homer off Shane Bieber put Seattle ahead and stirred thoughts of a possible sweep, but Andrés Giménez sparked the comeback with a tying, two-run homer in a five-run third against George Kirby. Springer, Guerrero, Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger went deep as the Blue Jays totaled 2,004 feet of homers among 18 hits.
(Green Bay, WI) — Packers coach Matt LaFleur is warning his players not to overlook the Arizona Cardinals. LaFleur points out that this weekend’s opponent has lost four straight, but those four defeats came by a total of nine points. “We’d better be ready to play,” he warns. Newsweek reports that on paper, Green Bay looks like a Super Bowl contender. The team showed that potential in its first two games, but it’s been missing since then.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers receiver Matthew Golden has become one of Jordan Love’s most reliable targets. The way Golden sees it, that first touchdown is coming up on the horizon. The rookie made a clutch catch on fourth down in the Packers’ 40-all tie at Dallas, and then had a key third-down reception that led to the clinching field goal in a 27-18 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. That’s just what the Packers were looking for when they selected Golden with the No. 23 pick in the draft, making him the first wide receiver they had chosen in the opening round since taking Florida State’s Javon Walker 20th overall in 2002.
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — J.J. McCarthy hasn’t fully healed from the high ankle sprain that has kept him out of the past three games. He’s still navigating the final stage of stress-testing the injury and ramping back up to speed with the Minnesota Vikings and their offense. The question of whether McCarthy returns as the starting quarterback Sunday against Philadelphia or Carson Wentz remains at the helm went formally unanswered Wednesday by coach Kevin O’Connell. The message this week about how much McCarthy has to work on mechanically has spoken rather loudly about the team’s preference to carefully ease him in.
(Milwaukee, WI) — The Bucks front office is congratulating former Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon on his retirement announcement. ESPN reports that the 32-year-old Brogdon played in Milwaukee from 2016-to-2019. He is one of two Bucks to win the rookie award, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Brogdon was a good NBA player throughout his career, who often had his court time interrupted by multiple injuries.
(Madison, WI) — The man who coached Badgers football to national prominence says he’s disappointed by the lack of effort from players against Iowa. Badgers Wire-dot-com reports that Barry Alvarez had called out UW fans for booing the players previously, but this week on ESPN Madison, he focused on pride. Not enough of it. Alvarez says he’s not being critical – just honest. It will be hard to turn things around. Wisconsin faces three of the top eight teams in college football over the next month.