⚽️NWSL: With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, the six-team NWSL playoff picture is coming into focus. The Washington Spirit clinched a postseason berth over the weekend, joining the Portland Thorns (who secured the 2021 NWSL Shield yesterday) and OL Reign. Coming for you, November.

🎓🏈College football: Week 7 saw last week’s chaos and said hold my beer, bringing upsets aplenty and big changes to the AP Top 25 poll. Notable surprises include previously unranked Purdue topping previously ranked No. 2 Iowa, and previously unranked Auburn downing previously ranked No. 17 Arkansas.

Speaking of shockers, two years removed from winning a national title and one day removed from an upset win over Florida, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron will be out of a job at the end of the season. You can geaux your own way...

⚾️MLB Playoffs: A wild weekend of Divisional Series play is in the books, and both National League (NL) series are tied at one game apiece with Game 3 scheduled for today. The Atlanta Braves will host the Milwaukee Brewers at 1:07 p.m. ET, then the LA Dodgers will welcome the San Francisco Giants at 9:37 p.m. ET.

• In the American League (AL), the Boston Red Sox are one win away from eliminating the Tampa Bay Rays after yesterday’s thrilling walk-off win, while the Houston Astros won yesterday to sweep the Chicago White Sox. Trading the trash cans for brooms.
• In the American League (AL), the Boston Red Sox are one win away from eliminating the Tampa Bay Rays after yesterday’s thrilling walk-off victory, while the Chicago White Sox won yesterday to avoid being swept by the Houston Astros. Pack up those brooms.

🎾Tennis: You heard of Canadian girl summer, now how about The Great White Autumn, eh? After a three-set battle on Saturday, defending champ No. 16 Bianca Andreescu is on to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open, while No. 23 Leylah Annie Fernandez advanced to the fourth round after upsetting No. 9 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova last night.

⚽️CanMNT: After Thursday’s 1–1 draw with Mexico, the CanMNT needed a big win in World Cup qualifying yesterday, but they couldn’t pull it out, playing to a scoreless tie with Jamaica.

• They’ll wrap up the October qualifying stage against Panama on Wednesday, but in the meantime, get your tickets to see the real women’s team in action.

⚾️MLB Playoffs: A wild weekend of Divisional Series play is in the books, and both National League (NL) series are tied at one game apiece with Game 3 scheduled for today. The Atlanta Braves will host the Milwaukee Brewers at 1:07 p.m. ET, then the LA Dodgers will welcome the San Francisco Giants at 9:37 p.m. ET.

• In the American League (AL), the Boston Red Sox are one win away from eliminating the Tampa Bay Rays after yesterday’s thrilling walk-off win, while the Houston Astros won yesterday to sweep the Chicago White Sox. Trading the trash cans for brooms.
• In the American League (AL), the Boston Red Sox are one win away from eliminating the Tampa Bay Rays after yesterday’s thrilling walk-off victory, while the Chicago White Sox won yesterday to avoid being swept by the Houston Astros. Pack up those brooms.

🎾Tennis: You heard of Canadian girl summer, now how about The Great White Autumn, eh? After a three-set battle on Saturday, defending champ No. 16 Bianca Andreescu is on to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open, while No. 23 Leylah Annie Fernandez advanced to the fourth round after upsetting No. 9 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova last night.

⚽️CanMNT: After Thursday’s 1–1 draw with Mexico, the CanMNT needed a big win in World Cup qualifying yesterday, but they couldn’t pull it out, playing to a scoreless tie with Jamaica.

• They’ll wrap up the October qualifying stage against Panama on Wednesday, but in the meantime, get your tickets to see the real women’s team in action.

🎓🏈College football: Texas A&M stunned former No. 1 Alabama on Saturday, downing the defending national champs 41–38. The last time ’Bama lost to an unranked opponent? 2007, when the top song was Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.”

• With the loss, Georgia took over the No. 1 spot in the Top 25 poll and Alabama dropped to No. 5. To the left, to the left.

⚾️MLB Playoffs: A wild weekend of Divisional Series play is in the books, and both National League (NL) series are tied at one game apiece with Game 3 scheduled for today. The Atlanta Braves will host the Milwaukee Brewers at 1:07 p.m. ET, then the LA Dodgers will welcome the San Francisco Giants at 9:37 p.m. ET.

• In the American League (AL), the Boston Red Sox are one win away from eliminating the Tampa Bay Rays after yesterday’s thrilling walk-off victory, while the Chicago White Sox won yesterday to avoid being swept by the Houston Astros. Pack up those brooms.

⚽️NWSL: In the first full weekend of play following the recent league-altering scandals, players of the NWSL kept the pressure on with more powerful moments of silence.

• As for on-the-pitch news, OL Reign is just one point away from the top spot in the standings thanks to yesterday’s 3–2 win over the Chicago Red Stars. Bangers only.

⚽️USMNT: After a big win over Jamaica on Thursday, the USMNT lost to Panama 1–0 in last night’s World Cup qualifying match. The U.S. squad now has two wins, one loss and two draws through the final round of qualifying matches, meaning Wednesday’s game vs. Costa Rica will be key in ending their World Cup appearance drought. Fingers crossed.

The latest: Steve Baldwin is out as the Washington Spirit’s CEO (at the players’ request). After helping to foster a toxic workplace during his three-year tenure, including his recent mishandling of (now former) abusive coach Richie Burke, Baldwin announced his resignation yesterday.

• That said, he still owns a majority stake in the team, though rumor has it he’s trying to sell it to current co-owner Y. Michele Kang...at two and a half times its current valuation.

The context: The resignation came just hours after Alex Morgan, Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly appeared on The Today Show, where they continued their call for action within the NWSL, as three investigations — from FIFA, U.S. Soccer and the league itself — are now underway.

For more background on this ongoing saga, as well as our own thoughts/feelings/concerns, check out Tuesday’s episode of The GIST of It..