Huffman Sports Wire News Break · ALL · Reporting · Published · Huffman Sports Wire News Desk
NBA: One quiet Monday before opening night takes over Tuesday
The preseason is finished, Monday is the deep breath, and the regular season starts Tuesday, October 20 with a tripleheader that covers almost every storyline in the league. Boston plays at Detroit at 3 ET on NBC to open the day, Philadelphia plays at New York at 7 ET on NBC in the middle game, and Oklahoma City plays at San Antonio at 9:30 ET on NBC to close opening night. All three games also stream on Peacock, so the league is not easing anyone into the new season.
New York starts its title defense at home after beating San Antonio 4-1 in the 2026 Finals for the first championship for the Knicks since 1973. Philadelphia arrives with a rebuilt roster built around LeBron James and Jaylen Brown alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, and that mix gets its first regular season test under the banner ceremony at Madison Square Garden. San Antonio and Oklahoma City meet again after San Antonio won their Western Conference Finals series last spring, which makes the nightcap feel more like a rematch than an opener.
Sacramento lost its comeback story before opening night, as the Kings announced on Sunday that Ben Simmons tore his right Achilles tendon during a live drill in practice and will undergo surgery after an MRI confirmed the injury. ESPN reported the injury is suspected to be season-ending for Simmons, who signed a one-year deal worth 3.5 million dollars with Sacramento after missing the entire 2025-26 season while rehabilitating back problems. Simmons is 30 years old and was entering his eighth season, and the timing turns a feel-good return into another long rehabilitation for a former Rookie of the Year winner.
Denver will start the season short-handed in its rotation after the Nuggets announced that Julian Strawther sprained his left knee and will be re-evaluated in six weeks. Strawther averaged 7.2 points last season across 57 games as bench depth for Denver, and his absence thins the second unit right as the games start counting. One more sleep, one more film session, and then the standings finally mean something again.
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MLB: Tampa Bay is one win from the World Series and Cleveland has no margin left
Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 3-1 in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday in Cleveland, and the Rays now lead the best-of-seven series 3-2. Drew Rasmussen allowed one run across seven innings on four hits with six strikeouts and one walk, and Tampa Bay scored one run in each of the first three innings to build the lead early. Yandy Diaz had three hits and scored a run for the Rays, while Parker Messick allowed two runs across two innings for Cleveland in the shortest start of his career.
Cleveland stayed close behind Steven Kwan, who had two hits and made two strong defensive plays that kept the score at 3-1. Bryan Baker pitched the ninth inning for Tampa Bay and finished the win after Cam Booser and Tyler Wells handled the eighth inning. Tampa Bay has now won two straight games in the series after trailing 2-1, and Cleveland has lost the momentum it held after Game 3.
Game 6 is scheduled for Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg at 8 ET on TBS and truTV, with streaming on HBO Max. A Tampa Bay win on Monday sends the Rays to their third World Series appearance and their first since 2020, while a Cleveland win forces a deciding Game 7 on Tuesday at 8 ET in St. Petersburg. Milwaukee waits for the winner after sweeping Los Angeles in the National League Championship Series to reach the World Series for the first time since 1982, and the World Series is scheduled to begin Friday, October 23 in Milwaukee. The pennant gets decided in Florida, and Cleveland has to win twice in a dome that will be rocking for the home team.
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NFL: Sunday shootouts, a Sunday night statement, and one unbeaten team left on Monday
Week 6 Sunday delivered close games across the map, starting with Houston beating Jacksonville 34-31 in London. C.J. Stroud threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns for Houston, and Trevor Lawrence threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns for Jacksonville in the loss. Buffalo beat Las Vegas 33-30 behind 255 passing yards and two touchdowns from Josh Allen, who tied the franchise touchdown pass mark held by Jim Kelly, and James Cook added 95 rushing yards for the Bills.
Chicago beat Atlanta 31-23 as Caleb Williams returned and completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and one touchdown. Kansas City beat the Los Angeles Chargers 22-6 behind 128 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Kenneth Walker and 272 passing yards from Patrick Mahomes, and Kansas City stayed unbeaten at 5-0. The rest of Sunday finished with Cleveland beating Baltimore 13-10, Tennessee beating Indianapolis 26-20, New England beating the New York Jets 26-19, New Orleans beating the New York Giants 34-27, Carolina beating Philadelphia 25-14, Pittsburgh beating Tampa Bay 26-19 in overtime, and Arizona beating the Los Angeles Rams 18-16 on six field goals from Chad Ryland.
Green Bay closed Sunday with a 23-13 win over Dallas at Lambeau Field on Sunday night, and the Packers improved to 4-2 with their third straight win. Jordan Love completed 23 of 41 passes for 276 yards with one touchdown pass and one rushing touchdown for Green Bay, and Matthew Golden caught six passes for 104 yards and one touchdown. Dak Prescott completed 34 of 54 passes for 258 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for Dallas, which fell to 2-4.
Monday night closes the week with Washington at San Francisco at 8:15 ET on ESPN and ABC from Levi's Stadium. San Francisco enters at 5-0 as one of the last unbeaten teams in the league, while Washington enters at 1-3-1 and needs a win on the road. Washington ruled out running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt with a groin injury, quarterback Marcus Mariota with a knee injury, linebacker Javontae Jean-Baptiste with a pectoral injury, and defensive end Charles Omenihu with groin and ankle injuries, while receiver Stefon Diggs is listed as questionable and receiver Terry McLaurin is set to play. San Francisco will play without defensive end Nick Bosa, who has not played since Week 2 with a calf injury, and without receiver Deebo Samuel with a hamstring injury. Monday night gets an unbeaten home team, a desperate road team, and a whole lot of backups being asked to play like starters.
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NCAAF: Miami is first in the new poll after the wildest Saturday in poll history
The new Associated Press Top 25 rewrote the top of college football on Sunday after five of the top seven teams lost on Saturday, a first in the regular season since the poll began in 1936. Miami moved to the top spot for the first time since 2002 after surviving Florida State 43-35 in double overtime, and Miami improved to 6-0. BYU climbed to second after beating Notre Dame 28-24, giving BYU its highest ranking since the 1984 national championship season, and Ohio State moved to third after beating Indiana 19-15.
The rest of the new top six shows how voters handled the losses, as Notre Dame sits fourth at 6-1, Georgia sits fifth at 6-1, and Indiana sits sixth at 6-1. Ole Miss sits seventh, Texas Tech sits eighth, UCLA sits ninth, and Utah sits tenth, while Tennessee climbed to eleventh after beating Alabama 26-10 and Kentucky climbed to twelfth after beating Oklahoma 21-13. Alabama fell to thirteenth at 5-2, and Texas fell to nineteenth at 4-2 after losing to Florida 27-24.
The results that forced the shuffle were just as wild as the poll itself, as Auburn beat Georgia 27-24, Florida beat Texas 27-24, and Tennessee handled Alabama by sixteen points. Texas Tech beat Arizona State 53-25, Ole Miss beat Missouri 31-3, Utah beat Colorado 27-24, and Oregon beat Nebraska 17-14, and not a single team stayed in the same spot in the new poll. Chaos did not just visit college football on Saturday, it rearranged the furniture and changed the locks.
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CBB: Exhibition scoreboards are teaching real lessons in October
Indiana beat North Carolina 76-58 in an exhibition game on Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, and the Hoosiers controlled the game on the glass from the opening half. Bryce Lindsay scored 26 points for Indiana with 18 points in the first half after starting point guard Markus Burton ran into early foul trouble, and Indiana outrebounded North Carolina 53-31 for the game. Sayon Keita led the fight inside for North Carolina with 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots, while Matt Able added 11 points and Jaydon Young added 10 points for the Tar Heels.
Baylor beat Florida 82-76 in overtime in an exhibition game on Sunday in Jacksonville, and the Bears outscored the Gators 14-8 in the extra period. Kayden Mingo scored 31 points for Baylor with nine points in overtime, and he added eight rebounds and four assists while shooting 9-for-15 from the field. Thomas Haugh scored 19 points for Florida, and the Gators hurt themselves by shooting 4-for-29 from three-point range and 22-for-35 from the free throw line.
Neither result counts in the standings, and both results still told the truth about rebounding, shooting and depth before the regular season arrives. Indiana finished its day with a 37-19 edge in bench points against North Carolina, and Baylor finished with a 33-3 edge in bench points against Florida. Exhibitions are supposed to expose problems in October so they do not sink a season in November, and a few coaching staffs got a very honest film session on Sunday.
That's the Morning Edition. Five sports, zero filler. See you at halftime.
Sources: - [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/kings/2026/10/18/ben-simmons-injury-update-kings-achilles/92322933007/) - [NorthJersey](https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/nba/2026/10/16/nba-2026-season-opening-night-tripleheader-time-tv-channel-streaming-odds-predictions/92279131007/) - [BasketBols](https://basketbols.com/blog/nba-opening-night-2026-27-schedule-storylines-milestones/) - [Game Day Tourist](https://gamedaytourist.com/en/league-news/todays-nba-news-roundup-october-18/) - [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/sports/baseball/drew-rasmussen-pitches-rays-3-2-alcs-series-lead-over-guardians--flm-2026-10-19/) - [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/playoffs/2026/10/18/guardians-rays-watch-score-highlights-alcs-playoffs-channel--live/92315050007/) - [NBC Sports](https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/news/rasmussen-shines-as-rays-beat-guardians-in-game-5-to-take-3-2-alcs-lead) - [The Columbus Dispatch](https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/college/football/2026/10/18/where-to-watch-cleveland-guardians-vs-tampa-bay-rays-alcs-game-5/92315040007/) - [Bleacher Report](https://bleacherreport.com/liveblogs/25512725-nfl-week-6-live-updates-and-highlights-sunday-oct-18) - [Game Day Tourist](https://gamedaytourist.com/en/league-news/todays-nfl-news-roundup-october-19/) - [Packers](https://www.packers.com/news/in-game-updates-week-6-cowboys-2026) - [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/sports/nfl/jordan-love-accounts-two-touchdowns-packers-defeat-cowboys--flm-2026-10-19/) - [Commanders Wire](https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/commanders/2026/10/18/commanders-rule-four-injured-players-out-49ers-monday-night/92302632007/) - [Commanders Wire](https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/commanders/2026/10/18/49ers-nick-bosa-out-commanders-monday-night-football/92315025007/) - [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/10/18/college-football-scores-yesterday-week-7/92315522007/) - [TSN](https://www.TSN.ca/ncaa/football/article/miami-climbs-to-no-1-byu-to-no-2-after-chaotic-week-shakes-up-ap-top-25-n1-50211687/) - [Aggies Wire](https://aggieswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/aggies/football/2026/10/18/texas-aggies-football-ap-top-25-poll-citadel-week-8/92319617007/) - [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/news/college-football-breaks-longstanding-90-year-record-shocking-week-7-results-georgia-notre-dame-indiana-alabama-texas) - [Indiana University Athletics](https://iuhoosiers.com:443/news/2026/10/18/mens-basketball-indiana-takes-down-north-carolina-76-58) - [North Carolina Athletics](https://goheels.com/news/2026/10/18/mens-basketball-mbb-recap-vs-indiana) - [Baylor Athletics](https://baylorbears.com/news/2026/10/18/mens-basketball-mbb-earns-overtime-exhibition-win-over-top-preseason-pick-florida-82-76) - [Florida Athletics](https://floridagators.com/news/2026/10/18/mens-basketball-final-florida-vs-baylor-exhibition-oct-18-2026)
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