Only as hot as your last hit, baby
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
It’s a new week!
And it’s another busy one: With the puck dropping on a new NHL season tomorrow, look out for our special edition preview sliding into your inbox. That’s the life of a show sports girl — now let’s get into today’s lovely bouquet of sports news.
— ESPN reporter Holly Rowe, who was accidentally knocked down on the sidelines during No. 3 Miami football’s 28–22 Saturday win over No. 18 Florida State. Never going to keep this friend of The GIST down.
WNBA Finals
🏀 Calling on the megaphone
The GIST: The Las Vegas Aces boast a commanding 2-0 lead in the WNBA’s first-ever best-of-seven Finals following yesterday’s 91–78 win over the Phoenix Mercury. The series now shifts from Vegas to Phoenix ahead of Wednesday’s Game 3…but not before we discuss the latest from the hardwood.
🃏 Aces firing on all cylinders: From Dana Evans’ record-breaking Game 1 performance to Jackie Young’s historically spectacular 21-point third quarter, the Aces’ offense has been, ahem, all in so far this series. But what happened in Vegas was also a result of some hard-nosed defense.
- With nine steals and six blocks, the Aces’ D was stifling in Game 2 — particularly in the second quarter, when they outscored the Mercury 22–10 to take a nine-point lead at the half.
🪐 Mercury can’t capitalize on strong starts: While Phoenix jumped out to early leads in both Games 1 and 2, their scoring noticeably tapered as the games progressed. All-Stars Kahleah Copper and Satou Sabally put up a combined 45 points yesterday, but that’s where the standout scoring ended.
- Perennial MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas has struggled this series, managing just 10 points in Game 2 while dealing with foul trouble. The bench, which includes six-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner, added just eight points combined. Room for improvement.
☝️ One more thing: Elsewhere in the W, amid ever-growing tensions between the league office and its players, Minnesota Lynx star (and WNBPA vice president) Napheesa Collier reportedly canceled a meeting with league commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who wanted to “clear the air” after Collier’s mic drop exit interview last week.
- Why did Collier cancel? Engelbert’s remarks in her annual pre-Finals news conference ahead of Game 1 reportedly “pushed the relationship beyond repair.” *gulps*
NFL
🏈 Only as hot as your last hit, baby
The GIST: From acrobatic grabs to running backs (RBs) tossing touchdowns (TDs), this NFL weekend had a little bit of everything. Let’s dig into the digits that have defined Week 5 with tonight’s 8:15 p.m. ET Monday Night Football tilt between the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars still to come.
‼️ Zero: No undefeated teams remain after the previously unbeaten Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills both suffered their first Ls this weekend.
- The Birds allowed the Denver Broncos to score 18 unanswered points in a 21–17 loss, while the Bills couldn’t stop New England Patriots wide receiver (WR) and forever frenemy Stefon Diggs in Buffalo’s 23–20 primetime defeat.
📉 No. 32: The 1-4 Baltimore Ravens’ scoring defense (aka last in the league) after surrendering 30 or more points in four of their five games, including yesterday’s 44–10 loss to the Houston Texans. The injury bug isn’t helping, but this definitely isn’t your parents’ Ravens D.
👏 Four: The number of game-winning drives Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback (QB) Baker Mayfield has led through five games this season after capitalizing on a late interception from Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold to lift the Bucs to a 38–35 dub. Clutch.
🐙 Eight: How many points Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor scored on a single drive (a TD and the two-point conversion) in Indy’s 40–6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders to complete the rare, but ink-worthy octopus.
💨 21.72 mph: The top speed New Orleans Saints WR Rashid Shaheed hit while running in an 87-yard TD during the Saints’ 26–14 W over the NY Giants, their first dub of the season. Vroom, vroom.
Together With ION
👀 It’s going down in the 200m
GISTer, mark your calendar: October 10th is Athlos NYC, the elite women’s-only track meet where the world’s fastest women duke it out for some of the biggest cash prizes in the game. Splashy is an understatement.
- One race you must watch on ION? Brittany Brown vs. Anavia Battle in the 200m. These two sprinters are world-class competitors whose speed leaves even the viewer breathless.
Athlos NYC is shaking up the track world by putting women’s races at the forefront. Watch women’s history unfold at Athlos NYC on ION, your go-to destination for women’s sports. Click here to find ION in your area.
🏎️ McLaren wins second straight constructors’ championship, but team tension persists
Both McLaren drivers — Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri — added to the team’s dominance over the weekend, finishing third and fourth, respectively, at the Singapore Grand Prix to win the constructors’ championship, awarded to the team with the most points.
- Six races remain in the Formula 1 season, and with the team title clinched, attention turns to the driver’s championship. Piastri and Norris remain at the top of the standings, but Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is (literally) picking up speed, finishing second yesterday.
🎓🏈 Preseason No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Penn State collapse in upset-heavy NCAA football Week 6
The Longhorns and Nittany Lions suffered stunning losses to unranked Florida and UCLA, respectively, dropping the preseason national title favorites out of the AP Poll entirely. Penn State’s 42–37 upset in LA was especially devastating: One week after losing a heartbreaker at home to No. 3 Oregon, last year’s semifinalists fell to a UCLA team many thought would go winless this season.
⚾ Toronto Blue Jays one win away from American League Championship Series (ALCS), best-of-five Divisional Series roll on
The Blue Birds exploded for 23 runs in two games against the NY Yankees, leaving them one victory away from their first ALCS since 2016. As for the other ALDS, the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers are knotted at one after the M’s put their tridents up in last night’s 3–2 Game 2 win, their first playoff W in 24 years. Today’s an off day before the AL fun continues tomorrow.
- But first, the National League (NL) gets the spotlight tonight at 6:08 p.m. ET and 9:08 p.m. ET, respectively, with the reigning champ LA Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers looking to double down on their Game 1 wins.
⚽ Racing Louisville inches closer to first NWSL playoff berth
Louisville cast a lavender haze over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday, winning 3–1 to leapfrog into playoff contention. The top eight teams advance to the postseason, so if the current standings hold, the five-year-old club will make its first playoff appearance next month.
- Elsewhere, Portland Thorns midfielder Olivia Moultrie celebrated her former captain Christine Sinclair’s jersey retirement by notching a brace in Saturday’s 2–1 win over Bay FC.
Together With The GIST
Sick of the internet feeling like a haunted house of sexist comments and internet trolls? Same here. That’s why we decided to do something about it. We’re rewriting the internet, and we want to bring you with us.
Enough is enough. Keep an eye on your inbox, and ditch the horror show that is modern-day social media with us. Talk soon.
Here’s what passed The GIST squad’s vibe check this week:
⏳ How to age
Like an athlete. A new generation of older athletes, like 82-year-old powerlifter Nora Langdon and 77-year-old marathoner Gene Dykes, are revealing inspiring secrets to longevity.
⚾ Who to know
Seventeen-year-old Yedlimar de Jesús. She's making history as the first Puerto Rican woman to play on a men’s college baseball team in the U.S., where she's expected to pitch for Monroe University this fall.
⚽ What to check out
Mary Fowler on the runway. The Man City and Matildas star became the first women’s footballer to walk the runway at Paris Fashion Week, joining global names like Kendall Jenner and Helen Mirren as part of a collaboration with L’Oréal Paris.
Question of the Day
Are you not entertained? After a thrilling first weekend of October, which of the following moments was the most highlight-worthy in your book?
⚾ Toronto Blue Jays dominate first two games of ALDS
🏀 Las Vegas Aces’ Jackie Young scores 21 in the third quarter of WNBA Finals Game 2
🏈 New Orleans Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed zooms to an 87-yard touchdown reception
🏎️ McLaren clinches back-to-back Constructors’ World Championships at Singapore GP
⚽ Portland Thorns induct Christine Sinclair into their Hall of Fame
⚾ LA Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani strikes out nine in pitching playoff debut
Today’s email was brought to you by Alessandra Puccio, Lisa Minutillo, Lauren Tuiskula, Rachel Fuenzalida, Grace DePaull, and Briana Ekanem. Editing by Katie Kehoe Foster. Fact-checking by Marga Sison and Mikaela Perez. Ops by Briana Ekanem and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alessandra Puccio, and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula and Alessandra Puccio. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.