AP National Sports

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) — The sudden end of a season that went unexpectedly deep left the San Diego Padres with questions to answer and holes to fill, as well as a hunger to play further into October next year. They will also begin pondering a long-term deal for superstar

By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown have terminated their associations with Donda Sports, the brand management agency owned by the artist formerly known as Kanye West. Donald and Brown were the two most prominent active athletes to sign

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The Colorado Buffaloes are in a downward spiral that’s seen them go 1-6 this season and cost head coach Karl Dorrell his job earlier this month. Their demise has been due to a myriad of reasons. It’s partly due to the transfer portal, where Colorado

By NOAH TRISTER AP Sports Writer BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens sacked Cleveland’s Jacoby Brissett five times in a 23-20 victory Sunday. Two of those sacks were from 33-year-old Justin Houston, boosting his career total to 106. Fellow veteran Calais Campbell also had one and forced a key fumble on the play. The Ravens

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL says the two game officials seen interacting with Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans in the tunnel of Bank of America Stadium after the Buccaneers’ 21-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday didn’t ask for an autograph. The league released a statement saying the interaction “did not involve

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Seven-time European champion AC Milan is on the verge of returning to the Champions League knockout stage for the first time in nine years. A second-half goal from Rafael Leão helped Milan to a dominant 4-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb to move into second spot in Group E. The Rossoneri now

LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Leipzig has boosted its chances of advancing to the knockout stage of the Champions League by handing titleholder Real Madrid its first loss of the season. The German club won 3-2 and will head to the last round of matches needing a draw at Shakhtar Donetsk, which drew 1-1 at Celtic

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer Lionel Messi kept up his stellar pre-World Cup form by scoring two goals in Paris Saint-Germain’s 7-2 thrashing of Maccabi Haifa as the rampant French champions became one of four teams to advance to the last 16 of the Champions League. Chelsea, Benfica and Borussia Dortmund were the others.

PARIS (AP) — The “MNM” trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe all scored to fire PSG into the knockout stage of the Champions League. The Qatari-backed club thrashed Maccabi Haifa 7-2 to advance to the round of 16 for an 11th straight season. Messi and Mbappé both scored twice, with Maccabi’s Abdoulaye Seck

SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Sevilla couldn’t avoid another early elimination despite beating Copenhagen 3-0 to earn its first Champions League win of the season. The victory temporarily gave Sevilla some hope but a draw between Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City in Germany later Tuesday meant the Spanish club missed out on the knockout stage for

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Juventus has failed to advance from the Champions League group stage for the first time in nearly a decade. Rafa Silva scored twice as Benfica handed Juventus its fourth loss in five matches with a 4-3 win to seal a spot in the knockout stage. Benfica got goals from António Silva,

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund frustrated Erling Haaland on his return and held Manchester City to a 0-0 draw to clinch a spot in the Champions League knockout stage with a game to spare. Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel also saved a second-half penalty from Riyad Mahrez to earn Dortmund the point it needed to

By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The fullback position in the NFL has been fading for years, but only in the last decade has it neared the brink of total extinction. Teams have embraced more versatile rosters, choosing instead to have an extra tight end or wide receiver more capable

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Shakhtar Donetsk kept alive its hopes of advancing in the Champions League by recovering to draw 1-1 at Celtic as the Scottish champions were knocked out of European competition. Giorgos Giakoumakis gave Celtic the lead in the 34th minute but a superb finish from exciting young talent Mykhailo Mudryk in the

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer MIAMI (AP) — Skip Schumaker has been hired as manager of the Miami Marlins. Schumaker comes to the Marlins from the St. Louis Cardinals, where he had been the bench coach. The 42-year-old Schumaker played in the majors for 11 seasons, mostly with the Cardinals, and now gets his

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons have released defensive tackle Marlon Davidson, a second-round draft pick in 2020, from their reserve/injured list. Davidson was placed on injured reserve on Sept. 1 following knee surgery. He started only one of 19 games in two seasons with Atlanta. He had 21 tackles with one sack

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Tech is preparing two backup quarterbacks to play Saturday at Florida State with Jeff Sims nursing a sprained foot. Interim coach Brent Key said Sims hasn’t been ruled out against the Seminoles, but he is planning to use backups Zach Gibson and Zach Pyron. Gibson is a redshirt sophomore and an

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer MIAMI (AP) — Skip Schumaker has been hired as manager of the Miami Marlins. That’s according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the team had yet to announce the deal. Schumaker comes to the Marlins