The American League Championship Series has pitted two of the most unlikely franchises against each other, with a trip to the World Series on the line. The Tampa Bay Rays entered the 2026 season with one of the three lowest payrolls in baseball, as they usually do. They made few big additions, preferring to trust their farm system, player development staff, and the ability to mix and match players in specific situations. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians found a way to reduce spending even further, running the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball, in order to maximize profits for team ownership. Fast-forward to October, and the Rays and Guardians are the two AL teams, not the Yankees or Red Sox. Not the Astros and Rangers from big markets in Texas. Or the Blue Jays, with their top-5 payroll, or even Detroit, where the Tigers ran the 11th highest payroll in baseball and by far the highest in the AL Central. DODGERS DYNASTY ON THE BRINK AFTER THE MILWAUKEE BABIP MACHINE DIALS UP ANO...

Catholics serving in the Army should request to be excused from participating in the planned firing squad execution of a convicted Fort Hood mass shooter, which the Pentagon has proposed livestreaming, a prominent U.S. archbishop who oversees Catholic pastoral services for the military said on Monday. Archbishop Timothy Broglio raised several objections to the Pentagon's unprecedented plan to broadcast the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan , a former Army psychiatrist who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base. Hasan, now 56, uses a wheelchair, after being shot by responding officers during the attack. Hasan is set to be executed at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. CST, according to the U.S. Army, which would make him the first person to be executed by firing squad by the U.S. military since 1945. It would also mark the first U.S. military execution by any method since 1961. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said he wanted ...

All week, the talk surrounding "Monday Night Football" between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams was the potential that this would be a preview for Super Bowl LXI. If this does indeed come to fruition, football fans will be mighty happy because this game was cinema in Inglewood on Monday night. A back-and-forth battle that saw 35 total fourth-quarter points, an overtime period filled with clutch plays, and more led the Bills to beat the Rams , 37-34, to improve to 4-1. The Rams fell to 2-3, a record nobody predicted through their first five games, but they are still a top NFC contender. CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE In a game filled with offensive fireworks from both Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford, it was Rams defensive captain Nate Landman who came through with the most important play of the game in overtime. Allen and the Bills got right into Rams territory on the opening drive thanks to Khalil Shakir’s 57-yard catch-and-run on second-and-long. On the...

The Tampa Bay bullpen ran out of gas late Monday night. After seven innings of grind-it-out baseball in St. Petersburg, the Cleveland Guardians broke loose with five runs over the final two frames to take Game 1 of the ALCS, 7-3. The Rays drew first blood. With two outs in the opening frame, Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca ripped consecutive RBI knocks to put Tampa Bay up 2-0. Rays starter Drew Rasmussen kept that lead strong through five innings, punching out seven. Cleveland finally cracked Rasmussen in the sixth when Chase DeLauter jumped on a heater and launched an opposite-field solo shot over the right-center wall. Patrick Bailey pulled Cleveland even leading off the seventh, hooking a solo blast down the right-field line to end Rasmussen's night at 2-2. The Guardians kept the heat on in the eighth against Tyler Wells and Ian Seymour. Ramirez started the fire with a hustle infield single, DeLauter ripped a double down the line, and Nathaniel Lowe laced a go-ahead, two-run s...

The suspect accused in the ambush killing of a Philadelphia police officer was arraigned Sunday morning on 76 charges and ordered held without bail, according to court records. Eric Lewis, 35, faces charges including murder, homicide of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder, 10 counts of attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and other related offenses. His next court date is scheduled for Oct. 26. The charges stem from a Saturday shooting that killed Philadelphia police Officer Shane Seiber and left his partner wounded. Seiber, 40, was a father of two and an Air Force veteran who served 10 years with the Philadelphia Police Department. He is survived by his wife, 7-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. PHILADELPHIA POLICE OFFICER KILLED, PARTNER SHOT 12 TIMES IN AMBUSH; SUSPECT FOUND HIDING IN TREE "He fought valiantly, but he lost his life today," Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said at a news conference on Saturday...

You would have been forgiven if you had turned this game off sometime around the middle of the second quarter. After all, both offenses were struggling to move the ball and the Baltimore Ravens were trotting out Tyler Huntley at quarterback in place of the injured Lamar Jackson . However, just when it looked like this Sunday Night Football game was going to turn into a snoozer, the scoreboard decided to show a little life, as the Ravens came back to win 30-23 in overtime. LAMAR JACKSON LEAVES GAME WITH INJURED ANKLE AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT SHOWS NO ONE FEARS THE TENNESSEE TITANS The Falcons took advantage of the aforementioned Huntley for much of the first half as the front seven specifically hounded the Ravens' offensive line to the tune of four sacks and numerous pressures. When it counted though, Huntley made clutch play after clutch play with both his arms and his legs, showing both off on the game-tying final drive in regulation. From there, a steady dose of Huntley and ageles...

Even MLB's powerhouse team needs a wake-up call. And this time around in the NLCS, the Milwaukee Brewers eked out a statement win versus the boys in blue. The Brewers defended home turf in Game 1 of the NLCS, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 2–1 in a tight pitching duel. After getting swept by the Dodgers in last year's NLCS, Milwaukee hopes to rewrite the script and capitalize on their regular-season-best record. Milwaukee flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing five hits, one run, and three walks while striking out five. He threw 94 pitches (60 strikes). THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW! Baseball's unicorn, Shohei Ohtani , continued his postseason struggles, and LA newcomer Tarik Skubal had a forgettable outing on the mound as Pat Murphy's "underdog" Brewers edged the back-to-back champs. LA scored first in the second inning, bringing in Ohtani with an Andy Pages RBI sin...