MLB

Major League Baseball playoffs continue on Monday with four games, two in each league in these best-of-five series.

Chase Utley of the Los Angeles Dodgers was suspended two games for his slide that broke the leg of New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada on Saturday night. Utley’s appeal should be heard before Monday’s game.

NFL

Three games went to overtime on Sunday. The Atlanta Falcons improved to 5-0 with a 25-19 win over the Washington Redskins. Cornerback Robert Alford returned an interception 59 yards for the deciding score. The Cincinnati Bengals also moved to 5-0, coming from 17 points back in the fourth quarter to beat the Seattle Seahawks 27-24. And the Cleveland Browns topped the Baltimore Ravens 33-30, coming from 12 points down behind Josh McCown’s club-record 457 passing yards. … The 0-5 Detroit Lions are the last winless team after enduring a 42-17 blowout loss at home to the Arizona Cardinals.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Tough weekend for coaches. North Texas fired Dan McCarney after a 66-7 loss on homecoming to Portland State. Maryland fired Randy Edsall after a 49-28 loss to No. 1 Ohio State. And Southern California’s Steve Sarkisian is taking an indefinite leave of absence, reportedly due to issues involving alcohol. … Ohio State, after a lackluster performance in beating Maryland, lost more of its No. 1 votes but still tops the AP Poll. Baylor, TCU, Utah and Clemson round out the first five.

NASCAR

Joey Logano won Sunday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway to corral an automatic berth in the next round of the Chase for Sprint Cup playoffs. Logano held off Kevin Harvick, who finished second for the 11^th time this season. Rain postponed the race from Saturday night to Sunday.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .