
Chicago plays New York, looks to end road skid
New York; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Chicago Sky will attempt to break its six-game road slide when the Sky take on New York Liberty.
The Liberty have gone 11-3 against Eastern Conference opponents. New York ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference with 6.8 offensive rebounds per game led by Nyara Sabally averaging 1.7.
The Sky are 2-14 in Eastern Conference play. Chicago ranks third in the WNBA with 35.7 rebounds per game led by Angel Reese averaging 12.3.
New York scores 86.4 points per game, 0.1 more points than the 86.3 Chicago gives up. Chicago has shot at a 41.9% clip from the field this season, 0.1 percentage points below the 42.0% shooting opponents of New York have averaged.
The two teams match up for the third time this season. The Liberty defeated the Sky 85-66 in their last meeting on June 11. Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty with 23 points, and Reese led the Sky with 17 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Ionescu is shooting 39.9% and averaging 19.1 points for the Liberty. Jonquel Jones is averaging 15.8 points over the last 10 games.
Reese is averaging 14.4 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Sky. Rachel Banham is averaging 2.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Liberty: 5-5, averaging 83.3 points, 32.8 rebounds, 22.4 assists, 6.3 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 83.3 points per game.
Sky: 1-9, averaging 71.9 points, 34.0 rebounds, 20.0 assists, 4.7 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 42.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 84.9 points.
INJURIES: Liberty: Breanna Stewart: out (leg), Nyara Sabally: out (knee).
Sky: Courtney Vandersloot: out for season (acl).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Michael Busch's bases-clearing double
Michael Busch doubles to left field in the bottom of the 3rd inning to score Owen Caissie, Dansby Swanson and Matt Shaw to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
UPDATED: Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler making perfect game bid facing Rays
TAMPA, Fla. — Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked before Wednesday night's game against the Rays if the plan is to continue having rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler working five-innings starts. 'Just depends,' Boone said. 'If we can get him deep into a game, great. Those are decisions that kind of happen in the moment depending on the game and how it's unfolding and where you are.' A bid at making history was all it took. Making his seventh career start since a first MLB call-up on July 9, Schlittler was perfect through six innings in the Yankees' series finale against the Rays. The Yankees led the Rays 2-0 through five on the strength of two solo home runs, Trent Grisham's to lead off the game and Austin Wells' with one out in the fifth. Retiring 18 in a row, Schlittler's pitch count was at just 66 heading into the fifth inning, 51 of them strikes. Schittler threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of the 18 batters and fell behind 2-0 only in the fourth to Yandy Diaz, who strike out swinging on six pitches on a 98.6-mph fastball. He fanned six through six innings — one in each frame — and nobody came close to getting a hit. The Yankees took a quick 1-0 lead when Grisham homered off Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen before Schlitter began his mastery. Schlittler started his outing with Chandler Simpson striking out looking on three pitches, then he retired Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lower on flyballs in an 11-pitch inning. Heading into the game, Schilling was 1-2 with a 3.94 ERA. He worked five innings in four starts, a career-long 5.1 innings in his debut and 4.1 in another. 'I'm really encouraged by the way he continues to throw the ball,' Boone said. Here are other recent Yankees posts to check out: -- Austin Wells opens up on losing starts to Ben Rice: 'I get it ... (but) I'm one of the best catchers' -- Yankees reliever likely done for season with flexor strain -- Yankees add pitcher for series finale with Rays -- Yankees make prediction after 9-homer onslaught -- Yankees' 9 homers traveled almost a mile; Here's blow-by-blow -- Aaron Judge, Aaron Boone have difference of opinion on his throwing arm -- Yankees lose reliever to IL, another headed for MRI -- Yankees add impact bat to active roster ahead of Rays series -- Yankees added a hated pest, and now it's true love -- Why is Rob Manfred trying so hard to ruin MLB? | Klapisch --Why Doc Gooden won't ever cut his Yankees ties | Klapisch -- What Max Fried, Yankees make of his 6-week slump that just got worse -- Elton John has nothing on Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@


New York Times
30 minutes ago
- New York Times
Could Shohei Ohtani pitch in relief in October? Here's what it would take
DENVER — Is there a scenario where Shohei Ohtani is pitching in relief for the Los Angeles Dodgers this postseason? 'Absolutely,' pitching coach Mark Prior told the Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday morning, though Prior clarified Wednesday afternoon that the discussions the organization has had about it have been limited solely to clarifying the language of the rulebook and Ohtani's ability to remain in the game as a hitter in such a scenario. Advertisement Major League Baseball's 'Ohtani Rule,' which was written for the 2022 season, specifies that a starting pitcher can remain in the game as a designated hitter even after being removed from the game as a pitcher. That does not apply the same way if the pitcher entered in relief; if Ohtani starts a game as a designated hitter and enters the game to pitch, removing him would mean taking him out of the game entirely and losing the designated hitter. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts added Wednesday that the concept of Ohtani pitching in relief in October has come up 'internally, just sort of exploring options.' While Prior said on the program that the idea of Ohtani pitching in relief 'has been discussed,' those discussions, Prior said, came back in June as Ohtani was nearing his return to a big league mound. Ohtani had communicated to the organization that he would rather complete his build-up as a pitcher in big league games, so the team essentially had him start games as an opener while keeping his bat in the lineup. "Can I see it? Absolutely." 👀 – #Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior on the potential of Shohei Ohtani coming out of the bullpen during the postseason. — Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 20, 2025 'Maybe it was me asking the question because I didn't have a clear understanding of the moment,' Prior said. 'But if we're using him for one inning, let's use him as a starter. We were trying to talk about how does that play as a reliever. When you read the rulebook, as clear as the rulebook can be at times, he has to be in the lineup as a starter/DH.' The door remains open, regardless, that Ohtani could be used as a reliever at some point in October — it would just have to be in a situation where he would be recording the final outs of the game, such as to avoid the team removing his bat from the lineup. Advertisement 'I think at the end of the day if it gave us a chance to win a ballgame, whatever that added value, I think he would be all-in,' Prior said. 'Within reason. Because I do think he cares about winning ballgames. He cares about helping his team win on both sides of the baseball. So I think if it was presented in that situation, maybe he would. … Again, I don't know what that situation would be but in a kind of playoff, must-win, maybe that would.' Ohtani has only pitched one time in relief since coming over to MLB in 2018, and it wasn't in a big league game; he recorded the final three outs for Samurai Japan to close out the 2023 World Baseball Classic after starting the game as a designated hitter. 'There's still a lot of things we have to get to before it even becomes somewhat tangible,' Roberts said. Including, and most importantly, ensuring that Ohtani gets to October healthy as a starting pitcher, with the Dodgers right now essentially having their ideal group of postseason starting options all healthy between Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw. Also relevant is that Ohtani continues to look as formidable as he has on the mound as he has thus far in his return from a second major elbow surgery. Through his first nine starts (23 1/3 innings), he has a 3.47 ERA and has struck out 32 batters while walking just five. Among the measures the Dodgers have taken to monitor Ohtani, the pitcher, and his workload: while he's built up to five innings, he isn't expected to go any further than that, at least for the remainder of the regular season. Roberts and Prior each confirmed that is still the plan on Wednesday, before Ohtani was set to start on the mound against the Colorado Rockies. 'Right now it's five innings,' Prior said. 'Let's just continue to progress and keep getting him innings and starts and go from there. We'll have those discussions later on and Sho will have a lot of input on those decisions. But right now, it's five.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle