Sports News Starting With The World Series

The Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Sunday night to win the World Series in five games and cap a weekend of stunning baseball action.

Red Sox first baseman Steve Pearce, acquired in a trade in late June, was named MVP.

The Dodgers had clambered back into the series on Friday night with an 18-inning victory, the longest game in World Series history. But they lost a 4-0 lead in Game 4 and simply never got the bats going on in the fifth. They lost the World Series last year in seven games to the Houston Astros.

Along the way, the Red Sox won the most games in major league baseball and then knocked the next two highest-winning teams – the New York Yankees and Astros – out of the playoffs.

In claiming their fourth World Series title in the last 15 years, the Red Sox completed the 2018 season with 119 victories, third most in MLB history.

NFL:
The Los Angeles Rams improved to 8-0 with a 29-27 win over the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs are 7-1 after beating the Denver Broncos 30-23. Pat Mahomes threw four TD passes without an interception.

Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinateri made two field goals and four extra points in a 42-28 win over the Oakland Raiders. Vinateri, with 2,550 points in his 23-year career, became the NFL’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Hall of Famer Morten Andersen.

College Football:
The first of the College Football Playoff rankings will come out next week, but we’re still working with the Associated Press numbers now. No change among the leaders (No. 1 Alabama was idle). Clemson is second, Notre Dame third and LSU fourth. Nine of the 11 teams ranked 15th through 25th lost last week, shaking up the bottom end of the poll.

Elsewhere:
NASCAR’s round of eight playoffs opened at Martinsville Speedway and Joey Logano became the first qualifier for the final four, edging Martin Truex Jr. after giving Truex’s car a nice nudge to send it sideways.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, who won the NBA championship in 2015-16 under Tyronn Lue and went to three straight NBA Finals, fired Lue after the team’s 0-6 start. Lue didn’t get any smarter or dumber, he just lost LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman