Huffman Sports Wire News Break · ALL · Reporting · Published · Huffman Sports Wire News Desk
NBA: Orlando took a hit before opening night even arrived
The regular season opens on Tuesday, October 20, and Orlando is already adjusting its rotation. Second-year forward Noah Penda suffered a partially torn right hamstring during the preseason finale against Miami on Friday, and he is expected to miss significant time with no recovery timetable set. His return will depend on how the hamstring responds to treatment, and the injury hit a different part of the same hamstring that bothered him during training camp before it healed.
The Magic are also evaluating Franz Wagner, who left the same game in the third quarter with soreness in his right shoulder, while second-year guard Jase Richardson is considered day-to-day with low back soreness. Orlando hosts Atlanta on Wednesday to open its season, and the statuses of Wagner and Richardson for that game had not been confirmed by Sunday afternoon. Losing rotation pieces in the last exhibition game is the kind of preseason prize nobody wants to take home.
Elsewhere, San Antonio locked in its young core by exercising the fourth-year team option on Stephon Castle and the third-year team options on Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant for the 2027-28 season. Castle is set to make about 12.7 million dollars in that season, while Harper is set to make 13.6 million dollars and Bryant is set to make 5.4 million dollars. Philadelphia converted the Exhibit 10 deal of Tacko Fall into a two-way contract for its final two-way spot, keeping the 7-foot-6 center even though a hip strain kept him out of the entire preseason, and Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said Isaiah Jackson will begin the regular season as the starting center with Brook Lopez as the backup. The standings start counting on Tuesday, and the transaction wire is already playing defense.
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MLB: A swing game in Cleveland with two All-Stars on the mound
The American League Championship Series is tied at 2-2, and Game 5 is scheduled for Sunday in Cleveland at 5 ET on TBS. Tampa Bay will start right-hander Drew Rasmussen, and Cleveland will start left-hander Parker Messick in a matchup of 2026 All-Star selections. The winner takes a 3-2 lead into Game 6 on Monday in St. Petersburg, and the team that has won Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in American League Championship Series history has advanced to the World Series 66.7 percent of the time.
Rasmussen is 1-0 with a 1.29 earned run average in the postseason after going 16-5 with a 2.67 earned run average in the regular season, and he allowed two runs across six innings in Game 1. Messick is 0-2 with a 3.09 earned run average in the postseason after going 12-9 with a 2.56 earned run average as a rookie in the regular season, and he allowed three unearned runs across five innings in Game 2. The Rays and Guardians have alternated wins through four games, and Tampa Bay forced Cleveland to use seven pitchers in the 7-3 Game 4 win on Saturday. Milwaukee waits in the World Series after sweeping Los Angeles, so the winner on Sunday gets one step from a pennant and one step closer to a very rested Brewers team.
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NFL: London started the Sunday chaos before lunch
Houston led Jacksonville 17-14 at halftime at Wembley Stadium in London in the early Sunday game, with C. J. Stroud throwing two touchdown passes to Foster Moreau before the break. Moreau reached the end zone twice in one game for the first time in his career, and Bhayshul Tuten caught two touchdown passes for Jacksonville to keep the Jaguars close. Houston linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair left in the second quarter to be evaluated for a concussion and returned in the third quarter, while umpire Larry Smith was carted off in the first quarter after slipping on the wet field and the crew continued with six officials.
The early window brings a thin Philadelphia roster home against Carolina at 1 ET, and the inactive list told the story before kickoff. Saquon Barkley is out again with a hamstring injury, and Philadelphia is also without Michael Carter II, Jalyx Hunt and A. J. Epenesa, while center Drew Kendall is active after he entered the weekend as questionable with a knee injury. Tanner McKee starts at quarterback with Jalen Hurts on injured reserve, and Dameon Pierce is in line to lead the Eagles backfield, while Carolina activated Taylor Moton, Tershawn Wharton and Trevor Etienne on Saturday and all three are in the lineup against Philadelphia.
The rest of Sunday stays loaded, with Chicago at Atlanta at 1 ET, Baltimore at Cleveland at 1 ET, the Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City at 4:25 ET, Buffalo at Las Vegas at 4:25 ET, and Dallas at Green Bay at 8:20 ET on NBC to close the night. Kansas City enters the late game at 4-0 against a Chargers team at 0-5, and Green Bay enters Sunday night at 3-2 against Dallas at 2-3. Sunday started in the rain in London and ends under the lights at Lambeau, which is exactly how a football Sunday should bookend itself.
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NCAAF: Ohio State won the game and lost its quarterback for a stretch
Ohio State beat Indiana 19-15 on Saturday, and the afternoon follow-up is the cost of that win. Quarterback Julian Sayin left in the fourth quarter after a sack from Mario Landino pinned his throwing arm, he returned to the sideline with his right arm in a sling, and coach Ryan Day said after the game that Sayin will probably miss several weeks. Sayin finished with 235 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, and he has thrown for 2,007 yards with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions this season.
Freshman Luke Fahey finished the Indiana game for Ohio State, and Fahey won the backup job over Tavien St. Clair during preseason practices. Ohio State has a bye week to sort out the position before the Buckeyes travel to play USC on October 31, and that extra week suddenly looks like the most valuable item on the schedule. The new Associated Press Top 25 poll had not been released by Sunday afternoon, with projections split between undefeated Miami at 6-0 and Ohio State for the top spot, so any projected ranking should be treated as a projection and not as the official poll.
Miami strengthened its case on Saturday night with a 43-35 double-overtime win over Florida State, as Darian Mensah threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns and Malachi Toney caught 11 passes for 154 yards and two scores. Bryce Fitzgerald sealed the Miami win with an interception in the end zone on the final play. Five of the top seven teams in the Associated Press poll lost on Saturday for the first time in the regular season in poll history, and the official fallout waits for the voters to finish sorting through the wreckage.
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CBB: Duke leads the ACC poll and Virginia owns the top individual honor
Duke was picked first in the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason poll, collecting 45 of 48 first-place votes and 861 points from a media panel. Virginia was picked second with 778 points, Louisville was picked third with 758 points, Miami was picked fourth with 753 points, and North Carolina rounded out the top five with 658 points. Duke is the preseason favorite in the league for the third straight season and for the 11th time in the past 14 seasons, which makes the target on the Blue Devils less of a surprise and more of an annual tradition.
Virginia forward Thijs De Ridder was named Preseason Player of the Year with 30 votes after he averaged 15.6 points and 6.2 rebounds across 36 games last season. De Ridder was the only unanimous selection to the Preseason All-ACC first team, and he is the first Virginia player to earn the preseason honor since Malcolm Brogdon before the 2015-16 season. Duke freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje was named Preseason Rookie of the Year with 34 votes, and the 7-foot-2 forward enters with real expectations before he plays a college game that counts.
The 74th season of ACC basketball begins on Sunday, November 1 when Notre Dame plays Villanova in Rome, Italy, and league play begins on Tuesday, December 29. That broad opening matters for a conference that stretches well beyond its favorite, because Virginia, Louisville, Miami and North Carolina all start the season close enough to make the race feel crowded. The poll has Duke in front, and the rest of the league gets two months to argue with it in person.
That's the Afternoon Edition. Five sports, zero filler. See you tonight.
Sources: - [Hoops Rumors](https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2026/10/noah-penda-has-partial-hamstring-tear-could-miss-significant-time.html) - [Hoops Rumors](https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2026/10/spurs-exercise-2027-28-options-on-castle-harper-bryant.html) - [Eurohoops](https://www.eurohoops.net/en/nba-news/2022281/sixers-to-sign-tacko-fall-to-two-way-contract/) - [NBC Sports](https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/basketball/player-news/2026-10-17/lue-jackson-to-begin-season-as-starting-center) - [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/sports/baseball/rays-guardians-turn-all-star-pitchers-pivotal-alcs-game-5--flm-2026-10-18/) - [Akron Beacon Journal](https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/mlb/cleveland-guardians/2026/10/18/guardians-parker-messick-vs-rays-drew-rasmussen-alcs-game-5-pitching-matchup/92302858007/) - [Florida Times-Union](https://www.jacksonville.com/story/sports/nfl/jaguars/2026/10/18/jaguars-texans-score-updates-week-6--live/92211920007/) - [Florida Times-Union](https://www.jacksonville.com/story/sports/nfl/jaguars/2026/10/18/houston-texans-linebacker-azeez-al-shaair-jacksonville-jaguars-nfl-london/92317451007/) - [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2026/10/18/jaguars-texans-umpire-carted-off-leg-injury-london-game/92317299007/) - [Eagles Wire](https://theeagleswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/eagles/2026/10/18/eagles-panthers-inactives-week-6-hollywood-brown-drew-kendall/92318168007/) - [Panthers Wire](https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/panthers/2026/10/18/panthers-week-6-inactives-ot-taylor-moton-eagles/92311536007/) - [NorthJersey.com](https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/nfl/2026/10/18/nfl-games-today-week-6-how-to-watch-stream-start-time-tv-channel/92279228007/) - [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/bigten/2026/10/17/julian-sayin-injury-updates-ohio-state-arm-sling/92305113007/) - [USA Today College Sports Wire](https://collegesportswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/college-football/2026/10/17/ohio-state-football-julian-sayin-shoulder-injury/92306536007/) - [The ACC](http://theacc.com/news/2026/10/18/football-no-3-miami-hangs-on-to-beat-florida-state-43-35-in-a-double-overtime-thriller.aspx) - [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/18/sport/college-football-five-top-eight-upset?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_meta) - [The ACC](https://theacc.com/news/2026/10/13/duke-selected-as-preseason-2026-27-acc-mens-basketball-favorite.aspx) - [NC State Athletics](http://gopack.com/news/2026/10/13/mens-basketball-acc-announces-preseason-honors)
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