Yahoo Sports AM: The WNBA Finals are a clash of titans

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🚨 Headlines

🌪️ Milton causes damage in Tampa: The roof of the Tropicana Rays' outfield was destroyed when Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday, while the outfield at the Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium is completely submerged in water.

⚽️ NWSL lawsuit: Five former San Diego Wave employees are suing the NWSL and Wave over harassment and discrimination claims. This comes two months after allegations of a toxic workplace first surfaced.

🏈 WR injury news: Texans WR Nico Collins, the NFL's leading receiver for five weeks, was placed on IR with a hamstring injury and Colts WR Michael Pittman is expected to miss several weeks with a back injury.

🎾 Wimbledon discontinues line judges: The All England club will adopt electronic calls from next year, ending a 147-year period of use of linesmen. This makes the French Open the only major tournament yet to make the change.

⛳️”Game”: The previously announced match pitting PGA Tour duo Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against LIV's Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau now has a name (“The Showdown”), a date (December 17) and a venue (Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas).

🏀 WNBA Finals Preview: Clash of the Titans

Championships sometimes present a David versus Goliath narrative, but the 2024 WNBA Finals will be a battle of juggernauts looking for a legacy-defining title.

No. 1 versus No. 2: The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, two of the WNBA's top teams, begin their best-of-three final showdown tonight in Brooklyn (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

• The Liberty (32-8), which defeated two-time defending champion Aces to return to the Finals for a second straight year, has the league's No. 2 offense, No. 3 defense and is making a WNBA-best 10.1 three-pointers a game this season .

• The Lynx (30-10), which has won 14 of its last 16 games in its first 30-win season, has the league's second-best defense and leads the WNBA in assists and three-point percentage.

Directly: Minnesota won the season series, a 3-1 total, the Commissioner's Cup final season tournament with a prize of $500,000.

Squad breakdown: Liberty is a true super team, while the Lynx are surrounded by the league's most infamous superstar with an excellent complementary cast.

• New York's Breanna Stewart might be among the top five players of all time, Sabrina Ionescu is probably the best scorer in the league (except maybe Caitlin Clark), Jonquel Jones is a former MVP, and Courtney Vandersloot is the all-time leader in assists per game. Added to this is Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, a two-time WNBA All-Defensive player.

• Minnesota's Napheesa Collier, defensive POY and MVP runner-up, is flanked by Courtney Williams – the straw that stirs Lynx's drink – and a trio of sharpshooters: Kayla McBride, Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith.

Coaching meeting: Minnesota's Cheryl Reeve is a four-time coach of the year (including this season) and a four-time champion, all with the Lynx. Sandy Brondello of New York was named the 2014 coach of the year, winning the title in Phoenix, where she trained until 2021.

What is the rate: No matter who wins, history will be made as the Lynx look for a record fifth* championship and the Liberty – the only original WNBA franchise still active without a title – look for their first.

• Minnesota has built a dynasty behind Reeve and superstar Maya Moore over the past decade, winning four championships between 2011 and 2017, but this is their first return to the Finals since then.

• The Liberty have played in five WNBA Finals, more than all teams except the Lynx, but have yet to win it all.

Reading before the match: Three things worth knowing

*Tied at the top: The Lynx (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017), Storm (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020) and Comets (1997-2000) have four titles each.

⚾️ Mets attack, Dodgers stay alive

For the first time since 2015 The Mets return to the NLCS.

ICYMI: The Mets defeated the Phillies 4-1 on Wednesday night at Queens Stadium to secure a spot in the MLB Final Four.

Wild Stats: The 6th seed has lost to the 2nd seed in the NLDS in all three years since the playoffs expanded (Phillies over the Braves in 2022, D-Backs over the Dodgers in 2023, Mets over the Phillies in 2024). .

Fairy tale season: New York still has plenty of work to do, but the fact that they had just booked a trip to the NLCS would have been almost unthinkable a few months ago when they were floundering in late May with a 22-33 record, the third-worst in NL history.

Elsewhere: The Dodgers routed the Padres 8-0 to force a winner-take-all game 5 while the Tigers (3-0 over the Guardians) and Yankees (3-2 over the Royals) took a 2-1 series lead.

🏈 NFL Power Rankings: Chiefs Still Top

Undefeated Chiefs and Vikings stay at the top of our Week 6 Power Rankings, courtesy of Yahoo Sports' Frank Schwab.

The best division in football? Three of our top 10 teams (and four of our top 15) play in the NFC North, which is the only division with all four teams over .500. It's no surprise then that their 14 wins lead all leagues.

• NFC North (14 wins): Vikings (5-0), Lions (3-1), Packers (3-2), Bears (3-2).

• AFC West (12): Chiefs (5-0), Broncos (3-2), Chargers (2-2), Raiders (2-3).

• NFC East (11): Commanders (4-1), Cowboys (3-2), Eagles (2-2), Giants (2-3).

• NFC South (9): Falcons (3-2), Privateers (3-2), Saints (2-3), Panthers (1-4).

• AFC East (8): Bills (3-2), Jets (2-3), Dolphins (2-3), Patriots (1-4).

• AFC North (8): Kruki (3-2), Steelers (3-2), Browns (1-4), Bengale (1-4).

• AFC South (8): Texans (4-1), Colts (2-3), Titans (1-3), Jaguars (1-4).

• NFC West (8): Seahawks (3-2), Cardinals (2-3), 49ers (2-3), Rams (1-4).

Yahoo Fantasy: Players to be traded/targeted before Week 6

📆 October 10, 2004: 19 wins in a row

20 years ago, today The Patriots defeated the Dolphins for their 19th straight win (including playoffs), breaking the record for the longest winning streak in NFL history.

What a run: The streak began in Week 5 in 2003, included a Super Bowl victory, and finally ended in Week 8 in 2004 after 21 straight wins. After their Week 8 loss, they lost only one more game all season en route to their second straight Super Bowl.

• Their 21-game winning streak remains the longest in league history, two ahead of the 2010-11 Packers, who won 19 in a row.

• The longest active streak belongs to the Chiefs, who have won 11 in a row. To get ahead of the Patriots, they would need to win every week from now until Christmas.

Fun fact: The Pats' record-setting victory came on one of the least productive days of Tom Brady's career. While he threw two touchdowns (which, yes, is productive), he also went just 7-19 with 76 yards and a pick. That's the lowest completion percentage (36.84%) and second-fewest yards in his 333 career starts.

📺 Watchlist: ALDS qualifying games

The ALDS resumes tonight in Detroit and Kansas City, with the Tigers and Yankees winning on the road in the ALCS.

• Guardians (lost 2-1) against Tigers (18:08 ET, TNT/maks.)

• Yankees (2-1 advantage) at Royals (20:08, TNT/maks.)

More to watch:

• 🏀 WNBA Finals: Lynx in Liberty (20:00, ESPN)

• 🏈 NFL: 49ers w Seahawks* (20:15, Premier)

• 🏈 NCAF: Coastal Carolina at JMU (19:30, ESPN2); Middle Tennessee at Louisiana Tech (20:00, CBSSN); UTEP in Western Kentucky (20:00, ESPNU)

*One-sided rivalry: The 49ers have won five in a row against their NFC West rivals and it hasn't been particularly close, winning by an average of 15 points per game during the streak.

⚾️ Interesting facts from the MLB league

Only one player in MLB history won the batting title in three different decades. Can you name him?

Tip: 70s, 80s and 90s

Answer at the bottom.

⛳️🏒 Utah is having a moment

Stan Beehive has had quite a week. On Tuesday, the Utah Hockey Club won its inaugural game in front of a sellout crowd in Salt Lake City. Today, the PGA Tour returns to Utah for the first time since 1963, when the Black Desert Championship began 50 miles west of Zion National Park.

Answer to the interesting fact: George Brett (1976, 1980, 1990)

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