Yahoo Sports AM: Bracket busted

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🚨 HEADLINES

🏈 16 straight: The Chiefs beat the Broncos for the 16th straight time and improved to 3-0 with Taylor Swift in attendance. Final score: 19-8.

🇷🇺 Russia suspended: The IOC has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee after it attempted to claim Ukrainian athletes for Russia.

🏈 Bidwill under fire: Arizona Cardinals employees allege owner Michael Bidwill has created a toxic culture of "fear" in the workplace, The Athletic reported Thursday.

⚽️ Morocco hires Vilda: Five weeks after he was fired amid the Luis Rubiales scandal, former Spanish women's soccer coach Jorge Vilda has been hired by Morocco.

⚾️ OCTOBER MADNESS

"Busted bracket" is typically a term reserved for March. But this year, the madness has extended to October.

ICYMI: The Phillies beat the Braves, 3-1, on Thursday to eliminate their NL East rivals for the second straight year.

• Nick Castellanos played the hero, becoming the first player to ever have back-to-back multi-HR playoff games.

• The Phillies are now 26-11 in the playoffs at Citizens Bank Park, the best home mark for any team (minimum 20 games).

The Final Four: For the first time in history (excluding shortened seasons), all four Championship Series teams won 90 or fewer games during the regular season.

• The combined 354 wins for Houston (90), Texas (90), Philadelphia (90) and Arizona (84) are the fewest ever.

• Teams that won 91 or more games this season went 1-13 in the playoffs. Teams that won 90 or fewer games are 21-9.

Title odds: The defending champion Astros are the World Series favorites at BetMGM (+185), followed by the Phillies (+200), Rangers (+275) and Diamondbacks (+450).

The debate: Did the new postseason format, which gave top teams an extended layoff, contribute to their poor showing?

• While bye weeks are beneficial in football (rest up, game plan), perhaps they're detrimental in baseball, where timing and rhythm are everything.

• The top four NL MVP candidates (Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts) went 6-43 (.139) with 0 HR in the NLDS.

• The Orioles, who hadn't been swept all season, were abruptly swept by the Rangers following a five-day hiatus, which is longer than the All-Star break.

We'll dive deeper into this topic on Monday.

📸 BEHIND THE LENS

Each week, we'll be going "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to get the backstory on the most spectacular photographs in sports.

‌This week's photo: Iain Henderson of Ireland scores his team's third try against Scotland during the Rugby World Cup in Paris. Ireland, the top-ranked team in the world, plays fourth-ranked New Zealand in the quarterfinals this weekend.

• Photographer: Matthias Hangst

• Date: October 7

📸 Behind the lens: Here's Matthias on how he captured this photo from a bird's eye view. I figured he used a drone or remote camera, but turns out he was up in the clouds himself!

This photo was taken from the catwalk of Stade de France, the sixth-biggest stadium in Europe with a capacity of over 80,000. The catwalk is pretty high but easy to work from and really safe compared to others.

I was accompanied by a fireman who was looking after me the whole time — a safety protocol. I had all my cameras and lenses double attached to my harness and was equipped with a mandatory helmet.

We get these rare opportunities to work on catwalks at major sporting events, and making the most of our time up there requires trust and planning. But the results can be special, as it's a great opportunity to show the action from perspectives that are inaccessible to spectators.

Equipment and technique: Nikon Z9 (camera), Z400/2.8 (lens), ISO 1600 (light sensitivity), 1/1600 seconds (shutter speed).

⚽️ DECISION DAY: BRING ON THE CHAOS

For the first time in NWSL history, the regular season will end on "Decision Day," with all 12 teams in action at the same time to maximize drama, Jeff writes.

Where it stands: Two teams have clinched and two have been eliminated. That leaves eight clubs — all within just four points of each other — still in contention for the final four playoff spots.

• Clinched: Portland Thorns, San Diego Wave

• Still alive: North Carolina Courage, NJ/NY Gotham FC, Washington Spirit, OL Reign, Orlando Pride, Angel City FC, Racing Louisville, Houston Dash

• Eliminated: Kansas City Current, Chicago Red Stars

Clinching scenarios: If teams finish the regular season with an equal number of points, the first tiebreaker is goal differential, the second is total wins, the third is goals scored and the fourth is head-to-head results.

• North Carolina Courage (30 points, +6 goal differential): They're in if they beat or tie Washington, and could still advance with a loss depending on other results.

• NJ/NY Gotham FC (30 points, +1): They're in if they beat Kansas City, and could still advance with a tie or loss.

• Washington Spirit (30 points, -2): They're in if they beat North Carolina, and could still advance with a tie or loss.

• OL Reign (29 points, +2): They're in if they beat Chicago, and could still advance with a tie or loss.

• Orlando Pride (28 points, -2): They must at least tie Houston to have a chance.

• Angel City FC (28 points, -3): They must beat Portland to have a chance.

• Racing Louisville (27 points, +3): They must beat San Diego to have a chance.

• Houston Dash (26 points, -1): They must beat Orlando to have a chance.

Best way to watch: With every game beginning at 5pm ET on Sunday, CBSSN will air an NFL RedZone-style whiparound show to follow all the action simultaneously.

🏈 PAYTON'S PLAYBOOK

Sean Payton's playbook could very clearly be seen during Thursday night's broadcast.

• It would appear that "Converse" means QB sneak (Converse SNEAKers, get it?!).

• It also looks like Denver has plays called "Flutie" and "Allstate" (no word on if that's sponsored content).

• I don't see a "Broncos, Let's Ride!" play, which is a bit disappointing. Also, where's the "Ask Madden" option?

The bad news: The 1-5 Broncos will probably need to throw that playbook out and get all new language by next week.

The not-so-bad news: It's not like those plays were working anyway.

🏁 DAILY RANKING: NASCAR'S FINAL EIGHT

NASCAR's Round of 8 begins this weekend in Las Vegas, as eight drivers remain in contention for the championship, Jeff writes.

1. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports): 4,041 points

2. Martin Truex Jr. (Joe Gibbs Racing): 4,036

3. Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing): 4,032

4. Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports): 4,024

5. Chris Buescher (RFK Racing): 4,021

6. Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing): 4,016

7. Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing): 4,016

8. Ryan Blaney (Team Penske): 4,014

How it works: Drivers automatically advance to the winner-take-all final in Phoenix if they win one of the next three races. Otherwise, the Championship 4 will comprise the top four in points at the end of the Round of 8, with points earned based on finishing position at each race.

📆 OCT. 13, 1903: THE FIRST WORLD SERIES

120 years ago today, the Boston Americans (Red Sox) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0, at Boston's Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds to win the first World Series, Jeff writes.

Context: In 1901, the AL became a second major league to compete with the NL, but for two years they were bitter rivals. In 1903, they agreed to schedule postseason interleague matchups, including this best-of-nine series between pennant winners, which at the time was called the "Championship of the United States."

• Boston won the series, 5-3, behind two star pitchers who combined for seven complete games. You may have heard of one of them: Cy Young.

• Young was one of two all-time greats in this series: Pittsburgh's shortstop and cleanup hitter was Honus Wagner.

More on this day:

• ⚾️ 1960: Pittsburgh's Bill Mazeroski hit a walk-off homer to win the World Series over the Yankees, the first* walk-off blast to clinch a postseason series.

• 🏒 1947: A collection of NHL stars beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Maple Leafs in the inaugural NHL All-Star Game, which switched to an All-Star vs. All-Star format in 1951.

*First of 13: There have since been 12 more walk-off homers to clinch a postseason series: Chris Chambliss (Yankees, 1976 ALCS); Joe Carter (Blue Jays, 1993 World Series); Todd Pratt (Mets, 1999 NLDS); Aaron Boone (Yankees, 2003 ALCS); David Ortiz (Red Sox, 2004 ALDS); Chris Burke (Astros, 2005 NLDS); Magglio Ordóñez (Tigers, 2006 ALCS); Travis Ishikawa (Giants, 2014 NLCS); Edwin Encarnación (Blue Jays, 2016 AL Wild Card); Jose Altuve (Astros, 2019 ALCS); Chris Taylor (Dodgers, 2021 NL Wild Card); Oscar Gonzalez (Guardians, 2022 AL Wild Card)

📺 WATCHLIST: HEISMAN CLASH

No. 7 Washington (-3) hosts No. 8 Oregon on Saturday (3:30pm ET, ABC) in a battle of Heisman favorites: Huskies QB Michael Penix Jr. and Ducks QB Bo Nix.

• Penix (+200): The Indiana transfer is the current favorite at BetMGM.

• Nix (+600): The Auburn transfer trails only Penix and USC's Caleb Williams (+225).

More to watch:

• ⚾️ MLB playoffs:Rangers at Astros, Game 1 (Sun. 8:15pm, Fox)

• 🏈 NFL: Ravens (-4) vs. Titans in London* (9:30am, NFL); Giants (+14.5) at Bills (8:20pm, NBC) … Full slate.

• 🏈 CFB: No. 25 Miami (+3.5) at No. 12 UNC (7:30pm, ABC); No. 10 USC (+2.5) at No. 21 Notre Dame (7:30pm, NBC); No. 18 UCLA (+3.5) at No. 15 Oregon State (8pm, Fox) … Full slate.

• ⚽️ NWSL:Decision Day (Sat. 5pm, Paramount+)

• ⚽️ MLS:Three games (Sat. 8:30-10:30pm, Apple TV) … The penultimate weekend of the regular season.

• ⚽️ Friendly:USMNT vs. Germany (Sat. 3pm, TNT) … In East Hartford, Connecticut.

• 🏉 Rugby World Cup:Quarterfinals (Sat-Sun, Peacock)

• 🏁 NASCAR:Las Vegas (Sun. 2:30pm, NBC) … Round of 8.

• 🏒 NHL:18 games (Fri-Sun)

• ⛳️ PGA Tour:Shriners Children's Open (Fri-Sun, Golf/ESPN+)

• ⛳️ LIV Golf:Jeddah (Fri-Sun, CW)

• 🏀 NBA preseason:10 games (Fri-Sun)

*Farewell, London: This is the NFL's third and final London game this season, but there are still two more international games in Germany (Dolphins-Chiefs in Week 9 and Colts-Patriots in Week 10).

⚾️ MLB TRIVIA

The Rangers, the only remaining playoff team without a World Series, have MLB's second-longest active championship drought (62 seasons).

Question: Which franchise do they trail?

• Padres

• Guardians

• Orioles

• Mariners

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 PLAY OF THE DAY: HAIL MARY IN HOUSTON

Houston pulled off a miracle on Thursday, converting a last-second Hail Mary to beat West Virginia.

___

Trivia answer: Guardians (74 seasons)

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.