(San Diego, CA) — The Brewers’ magic number is down to one for having the best record in the National League. Wednesday afternoon’s 3-1 win at San Diego was the team’s 96th victory of the season, matching a franchise record. If Milwaukee posts the best record in the NL, it would have home-field advantage in the postseason. Jackson Chourio took away a Padres homer in the first inning and scored the winning run in the seventh. Aaron Ashby earned the win in relief. The Brewers are off today (Thursday) and start a season-ending series against the Reds Friday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Josh Smith homered, Billy McKinney singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins 4-2 to end a season-worst eight-game losing streak. Byron Buxton hit his career-high 32nd home run on the second pitch from Jacob deGrom — a 447-foot shot to center field. It was the 18th time in his career that Buxton led off a game with a homer. DeGrom allowed a single and a walk from there, striking out nine in five innings. He left his 30th start of the season after five innings and 74 pitches, finishing with a 12-8 record and a 2.97 ERA.
(Green Bay, WI) — The Packers had won 300 straight games when leading by 10 or more points – until Sunday. The 13-10 loss at Cleveland snapped that streak. Back in 1967, Green Bay led the Baltimore Colts by 10 points with less than a minute to play. Johnny Unitas threw two touchdown passes wrapped around an onside kick to win that game nearly 58 years ago by an identical 13-10 score. The Packers went on to win the game later called the Super Bowl at the end of that season.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Micah Parsons says he expects to get a warm reception from Dallas Cowboys fans Sunday night when the superstar edge rusher faces his former team for the first time since the Green Bay Packers acquired him. Parsons says that “I think Dallas loves me” and that “I think they’re going to give me a good round of applause.” The Cowboys traded Parsons to Green Bay just before the start of the season after a prolonged contract dispute.
(Madison, WI) — Former Badgers football coach and athletic director Barry Alvarez has some strong words for fans shouting “Fire Fickell.” Alvarez calls it “embarrassing” and “terrible,” saying the Wisconsin fans are “spoiled rotten.” The veteran football leader says the people yelling for the coach to be fired aren’t loyal and aren’t fans. The incident happened during the 27-10 loss to the Maryland Terrapins last Saturday.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Lynx squandered a 20-point lead in the third quarter of Game 2 of their semifinal series against the Phoenix Mercury and took an 89-83 overtime loss. The Lynx uncharacteristically lost their composure down the stretch and made several costly mistakes. They committed four unforced turnovers in a 65-second span of the third quarter. They also lost possession on a 5-second call on an inbound play with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter while leading by three. The Mercury wound up winning 89-83 in overtime to even the best-of-five series at one game apiece. Game 3 is Friday night.
(Madison, WI) — The Wisconsin men’s basketball team has one of the best records in the Big Ten Conference, and that is translating into ticket sales. The Journal Sentinel reports that 93 percent of season ticket holders have renewed despite price increases. UW Deputy Athletic Director Mitchell Pinta tells the newspaper that the program hadn’t increased prices since 2008. Student tickets went on sale Thursday and sold out in just 10 minutes.