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  Jorge CastilloOct 19, 2025, 11:32 PM ET

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  ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.

TORONTO — Trey Yesavage had just finished his bullpen session in Seattle on Thursday, his final tuneup before taking the ball and helping extend the Toronto Blue Jays’ season with a 6-2 win in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday, when he asked Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman, two veteran starters with 24 major league seasons between them, what was the furthest they’ve ever advanced in the postseason.

“This is as far as I’ve gone,” the 34-year-old Gausman, a 13-year veteran, told the rookie. “You don’t get these opportunities very often.”

The conversation left a mark on Yesavage as he prepared for his sixth career start — all since making his debut Sept. 15 — with the Blue Jays’ season riding on his right arm. And he made sure to give the Blue Jays a chance to advance further by limiting the Seattle Mariners, sloppy and wasteful with the chance to put the Blue Jays away, to two runs across 5â…” innings with help from three consecutive inning-ending double plays at a raucous Rogers Centre.

“This was the most electric, energized crowd I’ve ever played in front of before,” said Yesavage, who struck out seven and walked three. “And the team rallied behind the fans. They were a huge motivation for us.”

Toronto outplayed the Mariners in every facet Sunday. Perhaps the best defense in baseball, the Blue Jays played mistake-free defense, while the Mariners committed three errors. They ran the bases effectively, while the Mariners failed to snatch every 90-foot advancement available. They delivered when scoring opportunities arose.

Toronto’s performance forced a Game 7 on Monday night. It’ll be its first Game 7 in 40 years and Seattle’s first in franchise history. The Blue Jays, after dropping two games at home to begin this season, will play for their first AL pennant since 1993. The Mariners seek their first pennant in franchise history. The winner will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

“My emotional state has been a fricking mess for months, man, to be honest with you,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I’m just calling it what it is. This is fun. I wish we were playing right now.”

The Mariners’ first two defensive miscues moments apart in the second inning helped dig a two-run hole. First, Julio Rodríguez failed to cleanly track down a single from Daulton Varsho to the left-center field gap, allowing Varsho to take second base. The next batter, Ernie Clement, laced a groundball to third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who smoothly gloved it but lost the ball on the transfer to throw.

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Addison Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa immediately capitalized with consecutive RBI singles to open the scoring against Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert. An inning later, after Clement drove a two-out triple off the top of the wall in right field, Barger cracked a two-run home run to double Toronto’s lead. Barger, the Blue Jays’ right fielder, has hit safely in four straight games and has reached base safely in seven of his eight starts after beginning the season as Triple-A Buffalo’s starting shortstop.

“It felt awesome,” Barger said. “Obviously, that’s a moment you dream about as a kid and everything. Yeah, Gilbert’s, he’s disgusting. He has a great arm. I think [he] just left that slider a little too middle and [I] got extended on it and that was it.”

On the other side, the Mariners ran traffic on the bases against Yesavage but unfathomably encountered the same abrupt rally killer for three straight innings. The misfortune began when Cal Raleigh, the regular-season AL MVP contender with four postseason home runs, hit into a 3-6-1 double play on a splitter with the bases loaded in the third inning to extinguish the first danger Yesavage faced. Raleigh finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

In the fourth, Crawford, again with the bases loaded and on a splitter from Yesavage, grounded into a 4-6-3 double play as the Mariners became the first team to ground into double plays with the bases loaded in two straight innings in a postseason game since it became an official statistic in 1940, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

“In that moment, to make pitches, to get over and cover first and not screw it up, to settle himself down, I think that shows exactly who he is and what we think he is,” Schneider said.

Finally, with runners on first and second in the fifth, Rodríguez completed the trifecta, grounding into a 6-4-3 double play that left the Mariners stunned and the crowd jacked by Yesavage’s successful highwire acts in succession after not inducing a groundball double play in the big leagues before Sunday.

“We did have some opportunities to score, and we did get some base runners on,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “But you give a little credit to Yesavage. The secondaries that he had tonight were good. It kept us off stride and kept the ball on the ground for those double plays.”

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then continued his October assault in the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff home run to chase Gilbert from the game. The homer was Guerrero’s sixth of the postseason, tying him with José Bautista and Joe Carter for the franchise record for most career postseason home runs.

He finished the night’s scoring by wreaking havoc on the bases: After getting hit by a pitch with one out in the seventh inning, Guerrero advanced to second base on a single from Alejandro Kirk, took third on a wild pitch and jogged home when Raleigh’s throw to third base bounced past Suárez into left field.

“A run is a run,” Guerrero said in Spanish. “We had to score as many as possible, however we could.”

The Mariners broke through with two outs in the sixth inning. Josh Naylor, an Ontario native, swatted his third home run of the series for Seattle’s first run. Randy Arozarena followed with a single that knocked Yesavage out of the game at 87 pitches. Suarez then welcomed reliever Louis Varland by dropping a bloop double down the right-field line to score Arozarena from first base.

But that was all Seattle’s offense, a unit that heavily relies on home runs and didn’t hit any Sunday, could muster. From there, Varland and Jeff Hoffman held Seattle scoreless over the final 3â…“ innings to finish what the Blue Jays’ 22-year-old rookie started.

Yesavage’s postseason career began with a gem: 5â…” no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks in Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees. His second start was not nearly the same.

It had been six days since the Mariners scored five runs in four innings against Yesavage in Game 2, handing the 2024 first-round pick his first adversity at the highest level. For Gausman, a fellow splitter-heavy right-hander, Yesavage’s outing came down to one mistake splitter that Rodríguez swatted down the left-field line for a three-run home run in the first inning.

On Sunday, Yesavage threw the splitter — his signature pitch — 31 times and got 10 whiffs. He used it to wiggle out of the game’s biggest jams with a composure not expected from someone who began his season by walking six batters in Single A. Six-plus months later, those pitches helped keep Toronto’s season alive and a deeper run possible.

“His confidence for 22 is — I couldn’t make that start when I was 22,” Gausman said. “I’ll be honest with you.”

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Grayson Waller gave his home country something brand new to cheer for during WWEâ€s recent tour of Australia. The SmackDown star introduced a never-before-seen finisher during a match against Rey Fenix, which was taped for WWE Main Event.

The match took place during WWEâ€s SmackDown taping last week, part of a packed schedule that included Crown Jewel and Raw. Waller, draped in the Australian flag, received a huge ovation from the crowd as he made his entrance.

And he didnâ€t disappoint. At the end of the match, Waller pulled out a fresh move thatâ€s now officially his new finisher. Itâ€s a flipping avalanche overdrive-style move off the middle rope—something fans hadnâ€t seen from him before. He picked up the win over Rey Fenix with the maneuver and later confirmed the change on social media.

“New finisher, who dis?†Waller wrote, though he stopped short of revealing a name for the move.

Until now, Wallerâ€s most recognized finishing moves were the Rolling Thunder Stunner—where heâ€d launch himself into the ring through the ropes before hitting a Stunner—and the Somersault Unprettier. But this new mid-rope finisher might be the next evolution of Wallerâ€s game, and debuting it in Australia made the moment even more special for the crowd and for him.

Wallerâ€s creativity continues to set him apart, and this move could be his new ticket to finishing off bigger opponents on bigger stages.

Do you think Grayson Wallerâ€s new finisher has main event potential? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.

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October 16, 2025 | Paul Stimpson

Englandâ€s stars are relishing the chance to get under the spotlight at the biggest table tennis event in London since 2018.

WTT Star Contender London brings together Olympic medallists, top-20 world stars and a battalion of English athletes at the iconic Copper Box Arena on Londonâ€s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

With hundreds of spectators cheering them to the rafters, the Box That Rocks will ignite!

It all starts with the qualifying rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday, with established and up-and-coming England stars bidding to join the leading lights in the main draw.

England will also be well represented at that stage, with the likes of Tom Jarvis and Tin-Tin Ho aiming to get in amongst the top seeds as they start their campaigns from Thursday morning.

We caught up with Tom, Tin-Tin and some of the other English stars and found out they canâ€t wait to show their skills in front of a passionate home crowd.

For Tom Jarvis, there are happy memories of the ITTF Team World Cup at the same venue in 2018, when England won bronze medals for reaching the semi-finals, where they were knocked out by all-conquering China.

And he believes home crowds, building on the successful WTT Feeder Manchester events in the past two seasons, will help the players.

Tom said: “I think the Manchester Feeders have been a massive success and weâ€ve all really, really enjoyed them. Weâ€ve had big crowds and I think for all of us it doesnâ€t get more fun that playing in front of a home crowd.

“Obviously, theyâ€ve taken it up a notch from Manchester in a bigger arena. Weâ€ve played in that before at the World Cup. Itâ€s really big for all of us and hopefully some of us can put up a good run.

“WTT is very tough, especially starting in the main draw. You canâ€t really play anyone outside the top 70 or 80 in the world, so any win you get there is going to have to be a real battle.

“I think that home crowd gives you that extra little boost of energy, it makes it mean more. Some people get maybe get nervous in it, but I find it more fun to play in that. Itâ€s what we practise for, to play in front of big crowds at big tournaments.â€

Womenâ€s No 1 Tin-Tin Ho, who also played at the Team World Cup in her home city in 2018, says having family and friends in the crowd will also make a big difference.

“Itâ€s so exciting having a big WTT in London and really exciting to go back to the Copper Box,†she said. “We played World Cup there and it was a really good experience playing so close to home and having the players from other countries visit London as well.

“Itâ€s nice just knowing the crowd have got your back and Iâ€m excited for hopefully my parents and friends to watch as well.â€

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Tony Khan stepped into the ring at Dailyâ€s Place during the October 8 AEW Collision taping to address the crowd directly after Kota Ibushi was stretchered out following a scary fall. The footage from the moment shows the AEW President pausing the show to recognize the seriousness of the situation and the respect shown by fans in attendance.

Ibushiâ€s match against Josh Alexander was cut short when he took a hard fall outside the ring. EMTs rushed to ringside, and after a long delay, Ibushi was stretchered out and later taken to a nearby hospital. The injury left a somber tone in the venue, and Khan personally acknowledged it before resuming the show.

“Most challenging sport of all. When it comes to injuries, the hardest hitting sport of all is professional wrestling. Thank you for being so respectful. And letâ€s give it up for Kota Ibushi. Thank you.â€

The show eventually continued, with Kenny Omega attacking Alexander after the bell and throwing a trash can at the returning Mark Davis. But despite the chaos, the crowd remained focused on Ibushiâ€s condition—and Khanâ€s appearance served as a rare moment of transparency from the AEW frontman.

While AEW has yet to release an official medical update, the fact that Ibushi was transported directly to the hospital rather than evaluated backstage has raised concern about the severity of his injury. Ringside News will continue to provide updates on this developing story.

What are your thoughts on Tony Khan speaking to the crowd during a real medical emergency? Do you think AEW should provide more regular updates in situations like this? Let us know in the comments—we want to hear from you.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.

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The abuse hurled at Europe’s golfers in the Ryder Cup elicited gasps and dismay on both sides of the Atlantic. The crowd at the Bethpage Black course in New York graduated from boos and heckles to homophobic slurs and insults aimed at players’ wives. The first-tee master of ceremonies set the tone by leading a chant of “fuck you, Rory!â€, putting Rory McIlroy firmly in the crosshairs – along with his wife, who was hit with a beer cup.

After initially playing it down, American golf officials apologised and said some fan behaviour had “crossed the lineâ€, but the affair has left a nagging sense of unease. What if the line has in fact moved? What if accepted codes of crowd behaviour have changed?

It is a question social scientists and event managers have been asking in recent years and spans several countries and types of spectacle, obviating any sense that the issue is confined to US golf fans.

New York state park police watch the crowd at the Ryder Cup tournament on the Bethpage Black golf course. Photograph: Lindsey Wasson/AP

Taunting banners brandished at football terraces, gum spat at tennis players, objects hurled on to concert stages, heckles during concerts – an apparently never-ending litany of boorish, loutish behaviour fills news feeds.

“It’s undeniable that in all aspects of public life a growing number of people are becoming more belligerent,†said Kirsty Sedgman, a University of Bristol cultural studies scholar.

“It’s not just that people are becoming more badly behaved, it’s that when they’re called out, instead of simmering down they’re much more likely to turn against those making the complaint.â€

Last week the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre union (Bectu) published a survey that showed 34% of those working in live events in the UK had experienced antisocial behaviour, violence, aggression or harassment from audience members in the past 12 months, with that figure rising to 77% for front-of-house staff.

Some theorists of crowd psychology attribute aggression to “deindividuationâ€, whereby a sense of anonymity and sensory overload untether people from their sense of individual identity and they do things they ordinarily would not.

Other theorists posit “convergenceâ€, in which the crowd dynamic uncorks individuals’ inner beliefs and values.

Either way, the results can be ugly. “Faggot!†some US fans screamed at McIlroy. “Wanker!†shouted others. Many commentators have linked such invective to toxic social media feeds and the climate of political polarisation, which suggests a modern phenomenon.

But there is nothing new in sports fans or theatre audiences behaving badly. In ancient Athens, Plato complained about spectators becoming mobs, arguably making him the first theorist of crowd behaviour.

Any gathering of humans, in fact, can cause upset. Thomas Hardy took the title of his novel Far From the Madding Crowd from Thomas Gray’s 1751 poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, that railed against the “ignoble strife†of those who disrupt “sacred calmâ€.

Today’s anxiety over the coarsening of crowd behaviour can be overdone and is to some extent “moral panicâ€, said Sedgman. “Each society has golden-age thinking – looking back to a time when everyone was kind and courteous.â€

Plastic beer cups lie on the pitch after the Uefa Euro 2024 match between Croatia and Italy in Leipzig. Photograph: Dan Mullan/Getty

Some Scottish boxing fans still squirm over memories of a crowd booing Muhammad Ali during an exhibition bout at Paisley in 1965. “All booing must stop when the king’s in the ring,†he exhorted in vain.

Eric Cantona took more direct action in 1995 when a Crystal Palace fan shouted “fuck off back to France you French motherfucker†by leaping over the barrier to deliver a kung fu kick.

Some experts question whether modern manners really have degraded. “The headlines tend to come from high-profile incidents: disorder at Wembley, gate-rushing at the Copa América final,†said Anne Marie Chebib, the managing director of the UK Crowd Management Association (UKCMA). “Yet the data tells us these are exceptions. The overwhelming majority of events take place safely and securely, with no disruption, but those stories rarely make the news.â€

In a 2023 poll of the association’s members, 93% reported deteriorating behaviour but the following year 57% reported no change or only a slight worsening, a pattern replicated in a Global Crowd Management Alliance report. “Many practitioners now see behaviour as broadly stable,†said Chebib.

Diogenes the Cynic (c412-404BC to 323BC) challenges Plato in the academy at Athens. Photograph: Alamy

Stephen Reicher, a University of St Andrews psychology professor and an authority on crowd behaviour, said there were perennial fears about the rowdiness and danger of crowds but that violence was extremely rare.

Of 49 million attendances at British football matches last year, there were 1,963 arrests, of which half were disorder, he said. “You would likely get far more arrests if that many people of that demographic were in town of a Saturday afternoon. So you could argue that people are less likely to be disorderly and violent in a football crowd.â€

However, crowds make news only when there are disturbances, said Reicher. “You can have hundreds of games on a Saturday afternoon and violence at one. So which will be reported? And if we only see crowds when crowds are violent we get a highly distorted view of crowds as characteristically violent.â€

The Ryder Cup’s history and uniqueness suggest other reasons not to extrapolate too much from the scenes at Bethpage Black. The 1999 contest at Brookline, Massachusetts, was marred by abuse likened to a bear pit. McIlroy asked security officials to expel a particularly obnoxious heckler at Hazeltine in Minnesota in 2016.

Eric Cantona delivers a kung fu kick to a Crystal Palace fan in 1995. Photograph: Action Images

The tournament is structured around the US versus Europe at a time that Donald Trump is reconfiguring the meaning of Americanism, said Reicher.

“It affirms the new world against the old. It is about triumphalism, about domination, about success by any means necessary. It rejects a rule-based order. It celebrates masculinity, domination excess.

“The Ryder Cup shows the traction it is getting among at least some Americans. We cannot suppose from that it is relevant to all sports or even all golf.â€

Mark Breen, the strategic director of Safe Events Global, a company that advises on security, said swift action can shape crowd behaviour.

“It’s about knocking bad norms on the head early, or establishing good ones,†he said.

“Normal, decent people will get caught up in some behaviours so maybe you throw out the first hecklers, make an example of the worst offenders. But you don’t want to sterilise the sport, take the passion out of it.â€

Fans watch Wet Leg play the Other stage at Glastonbury. ‘You don’t want to take the passion out,’ say crowd security experts. Photograph: Guy Bell/Shutterstock

Adding concerts and other events as adjuncts to sporting occasions complicates the balance, said Breen. “When you’re building a festival vibe, it’s harder to manage social norms. You just have to work as hard as you can to avoid boorishness.â€

John Drury, a social psychology professor at the University of Sussex, said music event organisers had reported deteriorating audience behaviour since the Covid pandemic, to the point it was now normalised.

One possible explanation was that lockdown restrictions stunted socialisation, said Drury. “You’ve got a cohort of people that weren’t socialised by older generations when they’re going out, so they’re not used to it, and so perhaps don’t know what the norms are. What they’re doing feels right to them, but to other people it doesn’t feel right.â€

Another possible factor was audience members doing stunts to get attention on social media. In most cases it was just a tiny minority causing disruption, said Drury. “But these dramatic events are then presented as a kind of trend in audiences.â€

Sedgman has a more ominous analysis. Audience behaviour is a bellwether of wider societal trends and the apparent growth in loutishness, or lack of consideration, shows a fraying in the social contract, of the agreed norms that bind a society, she said.

“An increasing number of people think they don’t need to follow these norms, that only mugs do so. It’s the canary in the coalmine.â€

The atmosphere at this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland will be quite different from the one the European Ryder Cuppers just conquered at Bethpage Black.

Four members of Team Europe — Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre — will tee it up on the DP World Tour this week, but the golf world doesn’t seem ready to turn the page just yet. Especially when it comes to their historic victory and the New York crowd that relentlessly hurled insults at European players and families for three days.

Rory McIlroy, who got the worst of it, called the behavior “unacceptable.” Shane Lowry said that the verbal abuse McIlroy’s wife, Erica, dealt with was “astonishing.” On Saturday, American captain Keegan Bradley said some fans crossed the line, but he also didn’t see the environment as being that different from the one the Americans faced in Rome in 2023.

“I thought the fans were passionate,” Bradley said of the fans on Saturday. “I mean, their home team is getting beat bad. They are passionate fans. I wasn’t at Rome but I heard a lot of stories that Rome was pretty violent as well.”

In an interview with the BBC on Sunday of the Ryder Cup, PGA of America president Don Rea also suggested the crowd abuse was similar to what happened at Marco Simone.

There’s a lot you can say about the fans at Bethpage — but I think it’s worth starting at the source.

When the leader of your org says he hasn’t heard much verbal abuse of Rory McIlroy, perhaps there wasn’t much care about it happening pic.twitter.com/qPYGl7Pcr7

— Sean Zak (@Sean_Zak) September 30, 2025

“I haven’t heard some of that — I’m sure it’s happened,” Rea said when asked about the torrent of verbal abuse hurled at McIlroy on Saturday. “It happened when we were in Rome on the other side and Rory understands … things like that are going to happen and I don’t know what was said. But all I know is golf is the engine of good.”

Hatton, who was also a member of the winning European Ryder Cup team in Rome, pushed back on the assertion that both sides have the same problem.

“Personally, I don’t think they were close at all,” Hatton said on Wednesday in Scotland. “I certainly, with what I heard last week, I don’t think Rome comes anywhere near that. … I don’t know what else to add to that. I think they are quite far apart to be honest.”

Fitzpatrick, whose parents didn’t travel to the Ryder Cup due to the expected crowd abuse, didn’t appreciate the whataboutism being thrown around by the U.S. decision-makers.

“I saw the interview with the PGA guy discussing how it was the same in Rome,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s pretty offensive to European fans that he said that, really.”

Fleetwood, who went 4-1-0 in the Ryder Cup, didn’t want to paint all American golf fans with a broad brush. Bad actors at Bethpage crossed the line between supporting the home team and attacking the European players and their families, but it wasn’t representative of everyone who came out to see the biennial event.

“There’s a big difference between a hostile environment and personal comments,” Fleetwood said. “Again, I think we were all prepared for it. Of all the talk that there’s been, it’s not about the entire U.S. fans or the crowd. Like I don’t think that we should be sort of using that as a whole. I have so many friends that are Americans and that were at the Ryder Cup, people close to me, saying, I’ve got to support my own team, things like that. That’s just what it is. You’re going to get a tough environment when you get to an away Ryder Cup. Yeah, personal comments can go too far, and you obviously hope that that doesn’t happen again, or it shouldn’t happen. But it’s just so out of our control, and I think Keegan and — you just have to understand what you’re getting into and what you’re there for and go play golf.

“Like I say, how many people were there — 50,000 people, 60,000 people? You can’t have a go at everyone because the majority don’t do that. I have no hard feelings about it at all.”

At Ryder Cup marred by ugliness, U.S. showed class in defeat

By:

Michael Bamberger

Derek Sprague, the CEO of the PGA of America, condemned the behavior in an interview with Golf Channel and said he planned to apologize to all of Team Europe.

“And I can’t wait to reach out to Rory and Erica and really, quite frankly, the entire European team,” Sprague told Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard. “He might have been a target because of how good he is, but the whole European team should not have been subjected to that. And because of that, I feel badly and I plan on apologizing to them.”

As for the jeering he faced in New York, Hatton knows he didn’t get the worst of it. However, he hopes that when the Ryder Cup goes to Adare Manor in 2027, the crowd will choose to celebrate their team’s achievements instead of abusing the opponent.

“To be honest, I think some guys on the team had a lot worse than others,” Hatton said. “For me personally, yeah, there was a lot of insults maybe around height or hair line or weight, which — some of which I pretty much said to myself anyway, so it wasn’t like anything new.

“If it was my choice, and obviously what I say isn’t really going to affect how people behave, but I don’t really think that the insults is the way forward,” Hatton said when asked about the expected atmosphere in 2027. “I would much prefer it to be a respectful atmosphere; you let the guys play and the best team wins, rather than trying to affect the outcome by trying to putt off players or things like that.”

As for this week at the Dunhill, the Ryder Cup champions will welcome the change of pace after a week at Bethpage.

“The atmosphere will be worlds apart,” Hatton said. “Last week was pretty intense. This week will feel somewhat quieter but in some ways, also looking forward to that.”

Sep 28, 2025, 07:06 PM ET

ATLANTA — Braves right-hander Charlie Morton received a standing ovation after pitching 1â…“ scoreless innings in what was potentially his final MLB appearance during Sunday’s 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the season finale.

The 41-year-old Morton, who debuted with the Braves in 2008, was signed by the team Sept. 22 after being designated for assignment and released by the Detroit Tigers on Sept. 21.

The Braves announced Thursday that Morton would be the starter for Sunday’s finale. After allowing no runs on two hits over an inning-plus, Morton was pulled by Braves manager Brian Snitker, and finished his outing by striking out Alexander Canario.

Morton received cheers as he took the field, when he walked off the field after the first inning and had a minute-plus ovation when he was pulled in the second inning. As Morton warmed up ahead of the second inning, the Braves played highlights on the videoboard of him pitching on a broken leg in Game 1 of the 2021 World Series, which Atlanta won.

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When Snitker came onto the field to pull Morton, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” played on the loudspeakers. As he exited the game, Morton hugged his teammates on the mound, his family in front of Atlanta’s dugout and teammates and coaches up and down the dugout. Morton received a curtain call.

It was Morton’s third career stint with the Braves. He was drafted by Atlanta in the third round (95th overall) in 2002. Morton made his MLB debut with Atlanta in 2008 and from 2009 to 2020 pitched for the Pirates, Phillies, Astros and Rays before returning to Atlanta for the 2021-24 seasons.

Chris Sale (7-5) took over in relief, and allowed one run on four hits with nine strikeouts and five walks across 5â…” innings. Raisel Iglesias earned his 22nd save of the season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sep 25, 2025, 02:04 PM ET

Matt Fitzpatrick confirmed his parents have not traveled to watch him at the Ryder Cup in New York partly because of crowd abuse.

Fitzpatrick and the European team are expected to receive a hostile reception from a boisterous home crowd when the contest against the United States at Bethpage Black begins Friday.

The Yorkshireman, who is playing in his fourth Ryder Cup, was previously targeted at the 2021 event at Whistling Straits.

As a result, his mother and father have decided against attending this time, although their participation in the upcoming Alfred Dunhill Links Championship — in which their other son Alex is also involved — also influenced their decision.

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“They didn’t have a great experience in Whistling Straits,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s not a lie or anything or making anything up.

“But the other thing is, both my parents are playing next week in the Dunhill. They didn’t really want to ruin that experience as well, because that’s obviously special to have that.

“So it’s a combination. It’s a lot of travel, it’s obviously a busy week. It’s a tiring week. And then they obviously want to have a nice week as well.

“No denying that they had a bad experience in the past, but there’s no reason why it has to be like that this time. … Obviously I’ll miss them this week for sure, but they are doing what’s best for them, and that’s what’s important.”

Matt Fitzpatrick’s parents will not attend the 2025 Ryder Cup. Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images

Fitzpatrick himself, having already been booed during practice, is determined not to let any abuse bother him. “I’m from Sheffield, so that’s probably a good start,” he said.

“Like I keep saying, the fans are what make this event,” Fitzpatrick said. “They’re what make this event so fun, so special, and it’s obviously a great opportunity for us to come and try and play our best golf in front of them.”

Fitzpatrick, 31, announced himself on the highest stage when he won the 2022 U.S. Open, but his Ryder Cup record remains poor, having collected just one point in eight attempts.

He said: “It’s obviously frustrating, but all I can do is keep qualifying for the teams and keep giving myself the opportunity to improve on the record.”

• 

  Bradford DoolittleSep 25, 2025, 12:49 AM ET

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  • MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
  • Been with ESPN since 2013

CHICAGO — In a season with so many teams clustered in the top couple of tiers of baseball’s standings, one day can shake things up for a team. So it was on Wednesday for the Chicago Cubs, who can see their immediate future with a lot more clarity now than when the day started.

The Cubs’ 10-3 rout of the Mets didn’t change their place in the National League seeding hierarchy, but it did solidify it, an appropriate outcome on a day when Chicago’s roster appears to be taking its eventual postseason shape. It also snapped a season-worst skid.

The Cubs got production up and down their lineup while dispatching of a Mets team desperately clinging to the NL’s last playoff slot. Rookie Matt Shaw homered among his three hits, Michael Busch’s two-run homer was his 31st of the season and electric center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong scored from second base on a Clay Holmes wild pitch when the Mets righty failed to cover the plate, igniting the Wrigley Field crowd.

“Wrigley’s already got [electricity] in it, like everybody that shows up is ready to party,” Crow-Armstrong said. “So I think everybody knows that we’re getting close to October baseball, and with that feeling in the air, being able to embrace that is the most fun thing ever.”

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The Cubs’ offense has been up and down during the second half of the season, but Wednesday’s game was a reminder that when their attack is rolling, they can beat a team with power or speed.

“It’s our brand of baseball,” said Cubs starter Matthew Boyd, beneficiary of the Cubs’ onslaught. “We slugged, we scrapped across runs, we manufactured runs, we kind of did a little bit of everything. That’s the danger, the potency in this lineup, that we beat you in multiple ways.”

This all backed a solid 5â…“ innings from Boyd, who earned his 14th win of the season, allowing just two runs. For Boyd, whom the Cubs signed as a free agent last winter even though he logged just 39â…” innings last season for Cleveland, it was a fitting end to a regular season in which he started 31 times, his most since 2019.

“I get to go play in front of these fans,” Boyd said. “Like tonight, they just give you so much energy. It felt like a playoff atmosphere, but they’ve been doing that since April. I’m just so grateful for everything.”

The playoff implications were also important for the Cubs who replaced Boyd, including closer Daniel Palencia, who worked in middle relief hours after being activated from the IL.

The Cubs’ victory Wednesday night moved them 2½ games up on the Padres in the race for the fourth seed in the NL playoffs. Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Palencia, whose 22 saves lead the Cubs, retired both batters he faced, striking out one and cracking 100 mph with his fastball. Palencia had been out since Sept. 7 because of a right shoulder strain.

“We just need to get Daniel in games,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “But it was really good to get Daniel back, and he looked good.”

Palencia’s return buoys the Cubs’ bullpen days before the start of the postseason. More good roster news could be in the offing later this week. Counsell said before Wednesday’s game that the club is hoping to welcome star right fielder Kyle Tucker back to the active roster Friday, at least as a DH initially.

If that comes to pass, the Cubs’ roster will look a lot more complete than it did just one day before, when they squandered a five-run lead and fell 9-7 to the Mets for their season-worst fifth straight loss. That defeat returned the gaze of Cubs fans to the NL standings, where the San Diego Padres had moved within 1½ games of the Cubs in the race for the fourth seed — and home-field advantage when the clubs play next week in the wild-card round. Securing that spot is the Cubs’ lone remaining regular-season goal, and it’s a big one.

“I just think that’s hugely important,” Crow-Armstrong said. “We know how to play ball here. We love embracing everything that comes with this place.”

Wednesday’s win was coupled with San Diego’s loss to Milwaukee, putting the Cubs firmly in control of that race. For now, though, the Cubs remain more focused on themselves than on what the Padres are doing.

“It’s a slippery slope if you watch other teams, wanting certain situations and whatnot,” Boyd said. “We take care of our business, things will work out. All the focus, all the energy, should be focused on what we do, right?”

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Luke Donald has cranked up the heat on the United States Ryder Cup team by claiming the home crowd at Bethpage from Friday may be more likely to turn on Keegan Bradley and his players because they are being paid to take on Europe. In what is a highly controversial move, Bradley and his 12-man side will each collect $500,000 (£370,000) – $300,000 of which must be directed towards charity, with the rest labelled a stipend – while the European contingent continue to perform at the Ryder Cup for free. Added to the mix is the fact that tickets start at $750 per tournament day.

Much has been made of likely antipathy from the New York audience towards Donald and his players as Europe look to retain the trophy they won in Rome two years ago. However, the Englishman believes USA could find themselves under intense gallery pressure if Europe gain an upper hand. “That could happen,†said Donald. “We all know how high the ticket prices are, and it’s going to be an expensive trip out for a family of four. If the US players are getting paid a stipend, or whatever it is, and they aren’t performing, the New Yorkers could make them know about it.â€

Donald, who also led Europe in 2023, seems comfortable that the visitors have avoided the cash element despite the Ryder Cup escalating as a commercial entity. “I wanted to get ahead of this when I first heard about it last year and looked like it was likely going to happen,†Donald said of the USA team being paid. “I reached out to all the 12 guys from Rome to see how they felt. Their voices are important. Everyone was like: ‘We haven’t even considered playing for money for that event.’

“We just don’t see that. We understand what it represents. We have a great purpose and that’s really enough for us. We understand that the money raised goes to help the European Tour Group and the grassroots. We talk a lot about this, we are here to inspire the next generation. So this money is going to good things. It will hopefully help future Ryder Cup players become great players. I think our purpose, why we play the Ryder Cup, is pretty strong and that’s enough for that week.

“It speaks to what the Ryder Cup means to these guys. A couple of hundred thousand dollars to these guys isn’t a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. Those weeks of the Ryder Cup, they are the best weeks. There’s so much more to them. We certainly don’t need any motivation or monetary rewards to get us up.â€

The victorious European team in Rome in 2023. Photograph: Marco Iacobucci/Shutterstock

Donald’s level of grit is often underplayed. The 47-year-old is softly spoken but lacks nothing in competitive steel. “There’s plenty of anger and a chip on my shoulder underneath,†he said. “I want to win. When I was No 1 in the world, I would look at any slight towards me and use that as motivation.

“I certainly could have easily walked away a couple years ago after a great job in Rome and people were pleased. This is a great challenge. To have this opportunity, to push yourself to try to do something that’s very difficult to do, that’s pretty motivating for me. Hopefully we can do it.â€

By Sunday night Donald could become the first European captain since Tony Jacklin to win home and away Ryder Cups. Recent records suggest he faces an uphill task, with the Europeans without a win on US soil since 2012, but the captain is keen to accentuate positives. Donald’s 10 ½ points from 15 matches when a player stands out as an exceptional modern day return and was a key part of the Miracle of Medinah 13 years ago. Donald will be assisted in New York by Thomas Bjørn, José María Olazábal, Alex Norén and the Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco.

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“I think not even just me but you look at the vice-captains,†Donald said. “Between playing, vice-captains, captaining, we have been part of 35 Ryder Cups, the six of us, and we have won 29 of those, 83%. It’s pretty good. I think our team has a lot of confidence in those guys. We have a lot of history. That’s something to really feel confident about.

“We obviously have to make some changes from the last couple [in the US] because those weren’t very good. Between myself and the other vice captains that’s kind of been our thinking, how do we make it a little bit closer and that’s what we’ve been working on.â€