{"id":184843,"date":"2025-10-02T11:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/184843\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T11:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:16:07","slug":"mlbs-perfect-day-plus-more-shedeur-sanders-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/184843\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB\u2019s perfect day, plus more Shedeur Sanders drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! Speak out loud today.<\/p>\n

While You Were Sleeping: Buckle up<\/p>\n

Most of my day yesterday saw playoff baseball on my TV in the background. It was righteous. Glorious, even, as every game \u2014 even the most lopsided contest \u2014 had moments of intense drama in late innings. This is what we ask for as fans, and what MLB dreams of in these scenarios.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s far from over, too. Let\u2019s recap quickly with an eye to the future:\u00a0<\/p>\n

We should start in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers were the only team to clinch a two-game wild-card sweep<\/a> yesterday. The defending World Series champs won 8-4 but survived a bases-loaded situation with no outs in the top of the eighth inning. Things were tense. The Dodgers advance to play the Phillies in what should be our best Division Series. Sign me up.
Elsewhere, parity. The Yankees quite literally slid<\/a> past the Red Sox, 4-3, forcing a third game in what\u2019s been a nervy series. Cleveland\u2019s offense finally came alive<\/a> in the Guardians\u2019 6-1 win over the Tigers. Manny Machado powered the Padres<\/a> past the Cubs to stave off elimination. All great games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those final three matchups will play elimination games today. Hooray for us. Moving on:<\/p>\n

Speechless: Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and more Browns nonsense<\/p>\n

I cannot believe we are still talking about the Cleveland Browns\u2019 quarterback situation. On one hand, there is a legitimate reason to do so: The Browns benched<\/a> veteran QB Joe Flacco yesterday in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel. It\u2019s a quick hook for the 40-year-old Flacco, but the Browns\u2019 defense is good enough to warrant at least giving this season a shot with a fresh arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there is simply fatigue, which was destined to set in the moment this franchise drafted Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the same class. Any situation featuring Sanders, the polarizing prospect who happens to be a third-stringer at this point, would invite media chaos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s news \u2014 and the subsequent hoopla \u2014 was a perfect example of the latter. Let\u2019s go for full context:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, Sanders said in an interview<\/a> that he\u2019s \u201cready to play right now,\u201d which roiled some folks, including ESPN\u2019s Rex Ryan. The former Jets coach said Monday that \u201csomething\u2019s missing\u201d with Sanders and the young QB \u201ctalks and runs his mouth.\u201d I thought it was a little overblown, but whatever.
Sanders clearly caught Ryan\u2019s screed. In an interaction that can only be described as bizarre, Sanders only mouthed words while talking to reporters yesterday in the Browns locker room while being asked about the QB change. Yes, he moved his mouth without actually speaking, which was apparently a response to Ryan\u2019s comments. Lord.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Exhausting, right? I do believe Sanders, 23, gets a bit of a raw deal when it comes to the national narrative, but his response yesterday left me reconsidering the notion. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski can\u2019t be thrilled that his third-string QB is becoming a distraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the full story<\/a> on this charade, which includes video. It\u2019s all just another chapter in the Browns\u2019 unfortunate QB history, which Saad Yousuf fully detailed<\/a> this morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep talking:<\/p>\n

News to Know<\/p>\n

FIFA reveals World Cup prices
Before yesterday, ticket prices for next year\u2019s World Cup matches were a closely guarded secret. A select group of fans has learned details now, though, as winners of the first ticket lottery. A few of those compatriots were kind enough to share details with The Athletic: Some tickets are as low as $60 for group-stage matches, while tickets to the World Cup final start at $2,030 and peak at $6,370. See the full lineup here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More news<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb\u00a0Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Polls: Another one, please<\/p>\n

We are crushing the reader bet segment. If we keep winning, I might have to include a separate reader-bet calculation at the end of the year. Let\u2019s keep it going this weekend:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Giants and Saints UNDER 41.5, which leads our NFL best bets<\/a> this week
\nCowboys and Jets OVER 47, because Dallas is just special that way
\nFlorida (+7) vs. Texas, if you want to lean in on Arch Manning skepticism<\/p>\n

Vote here:<\/p>\n

What to Watch<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa NFL: 49ers at Rams
8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video
A divisional matchup between coaches intimately familiar with each other, with early-season stakes? I\u2019m in. Logic says the Rams roll here, particularly with how depleted the Niners are<\/a>, but I won\u2019t count out San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan at all. This should be a great game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa MLB: Tigers at Guardians
3:08 p.m. ET on ESPN
Thus starts our glorious day of elimination baseball. See the full slate here<\/a>. I\u2019m pumped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get tickets to games like these here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Picks<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really enjoying our F1 Origin Stories series. Today\u2019s entry focuses on Giuseppe \u201cNino\u201d Farina, F1\u2019s first champion and \u201cspeed-loving Italian doctor\u201d with a complicated history<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brody Miller scored an exclusive interview<\/a> with PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague, who vowed to \u201cdo better\u201d in the wake of the Ryder Cup crowd scandal.<\/p>\n

Dane Brugler picked his NFL All-Rookie team<\/a> so far, which was harder than he expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NFL unveiled soccer-style kits for all 32 teams, which I hate to say I really loved. Ajay Rose ranked every uniform<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia is the aged king of college football right now, a 24-year-old Heisman contender armed with an NCAA eligibility waiver. Others in his situation weren\u2019t so lucky<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Hollinger picked his \u201chinge\u201d players for the upcoming NBA season, fringe guys who can make big impacts. See his list here<\/a> and feel smarter afterward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sean McIndoe predicted the entire 2025-26 NHL season<\/a> in the way only he can. We\u2019ll have more on hockey soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Tom Watson\u2019s comments<\/a> on the Ryder Cup crowds. This story clearly struck a nerve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-read on the website yesterday: MLB wild-card live blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Top photo: Ishika Samant \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-184843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}