Yelich homers twice and the Brewers hold off the Pirates 8-5 after a long rain delay
PITTSBURGH — Christian Yelich homered twice and the Milwaukee Brewers breezed past the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-5 in a game interrupted by rain Thursday night.
Yelich hit a three-run drive against rookie Mike Burrows (0-1) in the first inning and a solo shot off reliever Isaac Mattson in the sixth for the 11th multi-homer game of his career. Joey Ortiz added his second home run this season for the Brewers. Sal Frelick provided some breathing room with a late two-run single.
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Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Yankees' Airbender Devin Williams has a new fan in ‘Avatar' co-creator
When the Yankees acquired Devin Williams from the Brewers in December, he began what has been a rocky relationship with a new fanbase. The two-time National League Reliever of the Year didn't make a strong first impression, recording an 11.25 ERA over his first 10 games. The performance led to unprecedented boos for Williams, questions over his comfort in New York, and his removal as the Yankees' closer. Advertisement But with Luke Weaver hurt, Williams is back in the role. The return comes with Williams better resembling his best self lately, as he's held opponents scoreless in 16 of his last 19 outings. On Thursday, he picked up his second save in as many days, recording a 1-2-3 ninth in a 1-0 win over the Royals, giving the Bronx faithful more reason to get behind him. One of Williams' new fans isn't all that interested in his highs and lows, though. Instead, Michael DiMartino has taken note of Williams because of his signature pitch, 'The Airbender.' 'He's definitely on my radar now,' DiMartino told the Daily News. 'I'll have to check out a game.' DiMartino, not much of a baseball fan, had no idea Williams existed until recently. However, he and Bryan Konietzko co-created 'Avatar: The Last Airbender,' the show that inspired the nickname bestowed upon Williams' go-to changeup. Advertisement The animated series, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in February, aired on Nickelodeon from 2005-2008. Popular among kids and critics – the cartoon won a Primetime Emmy and a Peabody Award — 'Avatar' tackled complex themes such as war, genocide, colonialism, discrimination, sexism, classism, animal cruelty, corruption, death and the afterlife despite being geared toward younger viewers. 'I've seen a little bit,' the 30-year-old Williams told The News, noting that he's watched Season 1 multiple times. 'I haven't seen all of it. I used to watch it as a kid, though.' 'Avatar' is set in an anime-influenced universe that's full of martial artists who can telekinetically manipulate, or 'bend,' one of four elements: water, earth, fire or air. Nations are divided based on which element its people can bend, and the Fire Nation is on an imperialistic warpath throughout the show. Only the Avatar, a 12-year-old boy named Aang, can bend all four elements. He's responsible for maintaining harmony between nations. Advertisement There's way more lore to it all, but the thing to know is that Airbenders can make things move like crazy, just like Williams. 'I had never thought about it before,' DiMartino said, 'but someone who can actually air-bend would make a great pitcher.' According to Baseball Savant, Williams' Airbender entered the 2025 season as the most valuable pitch thrown by a reliever since 2020. While the Mets' Pete Alonso got a hold of one last October and the pitch lacked effectiveness when Williams struggled earlier this season, it's back to being a deadly weapon, yielding a 39.6% whiff rate in May and a 40% rate so far in June. Williams doesn't use telekinesis to make his Airbender dart, though, even if it may seem that way at times. Advertisement 'It kind of defies physics,' said Yankees Triple-A catcher Alex Jackson, who caught Williams in Milwaukee and this spring. Added Ben Rice: 'It looks like a cue ball coming in.' Williams' wrist pronation and flexion are responsible for his Airbender's movement. So is former Brewers and current Yankees teammate Trent Grisham, who recommended that Williams alter the grip of his changeup when the two were with Milwaukee in 2019. 'He does a really good job of getting his hand to the top, inside corner of the ball,' said Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake. 'Most guys side-spin the ball or cut it, and he does a good job of top-spinning the inside of the ball at a really high rate. So it ends up being essentially a left-handed slider with how hard he spins it from that position. Most guys can't do that.' Advertisement Others referred to The Airbender as a screwball when Williams first started chucking it. The debate left Rob Friedman, a.k.a. the Pitching Ninja, searching for an alternative. Then he remembered the show about a kid who can bend air. 'I was definitely familiar with the name of the cartoon, but never watched it,' Friedman said. 'I just liked the name and thought it was a great way to categorize something that's so nasty while stopping the argument of whether it was a changeup or screwball.' Weaver, who throws his own filthy changeup, said Williams' is 'in a different category' and a 'unicorn-type pitch.' Advertisement Austin Wells agreed, claiming Williams has an 'anomaly' in his arsenal. 'It's just different than what guys are used to seeing,' Williams said. While the Yankees have become familiar with Williams' Airbender, the group didn't know much about DiMartino's. Like Friedman, few had seen the series. Some didn't even know about it. Jazz Chisholm Jr. proved to be an exception. 'I watched it growing up,' said the Yankees' resident cartoon expert, who wears anime-inspired gear. 'My mom bought me the discs that had all the seasons and all the episodes on it. 'I watched it a lot.' Williams, meanwhile, has leaned into being baseball's first Airbender. Advertisement The image used for this story is the same one that Williams uses for his profile pic on Instagram. It was created by Francis Lee, a big fan of the Yankees and 'Avatar: The Last Airbender.' The glowing eyes and arrow in the center of Williams' forehead are a nod to Aang's character design. The same arrow appears on Yankee Stadium's jumbotron when he enters a game. 'It's cute!' said DiMartino, who majored in animation at the Rhode Island School of Design. 'He makes a good-looking Avatar.' Could Williams make a good-sounding 'Avatar' character, though? Maybe he'll get the opportunity to find out. Advertisement In 2021, Nickelodeon founded Avatar Studios with the intention of an expanded universe through new shows and movies. One film, 'The Legend of Aang,' has already been announced. If Williams were to ever lend his voice to the Avatar universe, he wouldn't be the first athlete to do so. Tennis icon Serena Williams is 'obsessed' with the show and made cameos in 'The Last Airbender' and a spinoff, 'The Legend of Korra.' 'You never know,' DiMartino said of the Yankees' Williams playing a part. Williams has never done any voice acting, but he's open to the idea. 'Sure,' he said. 'Tell him to contact my agent.' Advertisement Chisholm, meanwhile, sounded ready to represent Williams should Nickelodeon come calling. 'He should be doing that!' the third baseman said. 'That's why you have that great nickname, bro. Use it to your advantage. It's sick!' Williams said he'd like to finish the original 'Avatar' series, as he's a fan of anime. For now, however, he will focus on closing. DiMartino plans on checking in, though the Vermont native's newfound support comes with a plot twist. 'Growing up in New England, Boston teams were my dad's favorites, so the Red Sox hold a special place in my heart,' said DiMartino, who watched Bill Buckner's infamous error in the 1986 World Series in horror before shifting his interests away from baseball. 'I'll still be rooting for the Red Sox if the Yankees play them. Sorry, Devin!' Advertisement With the Bombers starting a new series against the Red Sox on Friday, Williams, who already has one save against Boston this season, would rather make Yankees fans happy than DiMartino. 'Hopefully,' he said, 'I don't give him anything to cheer about.'
Forbes
42 minutes ago
- Forbes
2025 Fantasy Football TE Rankings (Top 5)
To round out this initial 2025 fantasy football ranking series, we'll be looking at the tight ends. As the offseason goes on, we'll dive deeper into each position, but for now, we'll be breaking down my top five 2025 fantasy football TE rankings. Tight end is a position that is extremely scarce. There's only a number of productive tight ends each year, and if you can draft one of them, you're giving your team a massive advantage. We'll be breaking down these players for a PPR format. There's really not much debate for the TE1 spot this year. As a rookie in a bad situation, Brock Bowers was able to finish as the TE1 (PPR) in 2025. Bowers was dominant, catching 112 passes on 153 targets for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns. The numbers that translate year to year, such as targets, receptions, and even Yards per Route Run (2.25), were elite. Out of all of Bowers's stats, the only thing that wasn't great was his touchdowns, which is typically a volatile stat. With Geno Smith coming in as the Las Vegas Raiders QB1, this offense should be better, leading to more touchdown opportunities. The only minor concern you have is that the Raiders added more target competition in Jack Bech, and Ashton Jeanty now gives them a reason to run the ball a lot more. With how talented Bowers is, though, and when taking the upgrade of Smith into account, Bowers is still easily my TE1. The same thing that happened to Bowers can be applied to Trey McBride as well. McBride was great with his targets (147), receptions (111), receiving yards (1,146) and YPPR (2.42). The one thing that held McBride back was his touchdowns at two. It's not as if this is new, which makes it a bit scary. McBride has yet to score more than three touchdowns in his NFL career. The saving grace is that at 6'4" and 246 lbs, it's not as if he doesn't have the build to do so. Expect Marvin Harrison Jr to take a step up from his rookie season and slightly eat into those targets for McBride, but it's hard to project the 2024 TE2 lower than this. If McBride gets a spike in the right direction for his touchdowns, there's a shot that he overtakes Bowers. After McBride, there's a slight tier drop just because of the age. George Kittle is 31 years old, so you have to be a bit cautious of him missing a few games, and it's also not expected for him to get much better. Last season, Kittle was the TE3 due to excellent efficiency stats. Kittle was elite with his YPRR at 3.09, even though he didn't have the same number of targets (94) or receptions (78) as the players above. Kittle is also the clear number on receiving option on an offense that projects out well for 2025. Mike Clay of ESPN projects Brock Purdy out for 4,609 passing yards, which is great for Kittle. Putting T.J. Hockenson at four is shooting for his ceiling, but he's a player who could absolutely finish higher than four. We've seen Hockenson do so in 2022 when he was the TE2 with the Minnesota Vikings. Now, with Hockenson, he's 27 years old, which is in the middle of the top three guys. He suffered an ACL and MCL back in 2023, which limited him to 10 games last year. Now that Hockenson has had more time to recover expect big things in 2025. While his upside is capped because of Justin Jefferson, we saw him finish as the TE4 back in 2023 with the Vikings. While Hockenson didn't put up impressive numbers in 2025 due to the fact that he played 47% of the snaps, one key metric did stick out. Hockenson had a 2.61 YPRR mark, which was the best of his career. If Hockenson can keep that up in 2025, expect the fantasy points to follow. Before Bowers, many viewed Sam LaPorta as the best rookie tight end of all time. LaPorta was the TE1, scoring 239.3 points back in 2023. For reference, Bowers had 262.7 points, but both were great That said, LaPorta only had 120 targets, 83 receptions, and 889 yards as a rookie, making his production a bit more unsustainable. LaPorta ended up dropping down to being the TE8 last year, but there's more to the story. On Draft Sharks, LaPorta is given a number of injuries, but he played through almost all of them. If you look at the game logs, LaPorta only played at least 90% of snaps once before week 12. After week 12, LaPorta would play at least 90% of the snaps for the rest of the year. In weeks 12-17, we saw LaPorta finish as a top 10 tight end in every week but one. Prior to week 12, LaPorta was only able to do so four times. With an offseason of recovery, LaPorta should be much better. Having LaPorta as TE5 seems like a fair projection because you have to account for the loss of Ben Johnson as well. With Amon-Ra St. Brown still set to dominate, it's hard to see LaPorta having another TE1 season. We'll dive deeper into this last as the offseason goes on, but for now, these are my top five 2025 fantasy football TE rankings.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
2025 NWSL Championship to be played in San Jose at Bay FC's stadium
The 2025 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Championship is heading to the Bay Area. San Jose's 18,000-seat PayPal Park, the home stadium of Bay FC and Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes, will host this year's title match, the league announced Thursday. The championship will take place on Saturday, Nov. 22 with a 5 p.m. PT kickoff for the fourth straight year. It will be broadcast on CBS and stream on Paramount+. Advertisement 'We're thrilled to bring the NWSL Championship back to the West Coast and to a region with as rich a history in women's soccer as the Bay Area,' NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in a news release. 'This community's passion for the game, combined with the excitement surrounding one of our newest teams in Bay FC, makes it the perfect setting to celebrate the league's top talent and crown our next champion.' The Bay Area houses some of the top collegiate programs in the nation in Stanford, Santa Clara, and Cal. In 2010, the Bay Area-based FC Gold Pride claimed the title in the now-defunct Women's Professional Soccer league with a roster bursting with star players, including Marta, Christine Sinclair, Shannon Boxx and Camille Abily. 'The history of women's soccer runs deeply and strongly in the Bay Area,' said Bay FC co-founder and former USWNT player Brandi Chastain. 'From the roster of the national team players born and raised here to the first-ever professional domestic league champions coming from here, our community's fabric is woven with the greatest the game has to offer.' In its inaugural 2024 season, Bay FC averaged 13,000 fans at PayPal Park, the fifth-highest attendance in the league. It marks the second time in three years that the NWSL championship will take place on the West Coast, with its milder winters. Last year, the final between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit was held at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. In 2023, San Diego's Snapdragon Stadium hosted the title match between Gotham FC and Seattle Reign, and in 2022, the title game took place at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. Like last year, eight of the 14 teams in the NWSL will make it to the postseason, playing in four quarterfinals between Nov. 7-9. Two will air on ESPN/ABC, while the other two will be split between CBS/Paramount+ and Prime Video. The semifinals will be held the weekend of Nov. 14-16 and will be shared by CBS/Paramount+ and ESPN/ABC. Tickets for the 2025 final go on sale in August. (Photo of the Orlando Pride celebrating the 2024 NWSL championship: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
