(CHIEFS)—Statistically, the Chiefs were all over the Colts Sunday night.  But before the game was all over, the Chiefs had to keep Indianapolis from getting a touchdown in overtime—and did, holding them to a field goal, while the Chiefs got two kicks through the uprights for a 33-30 win.

Patrick Mahomes threw for 371 yards (more than 160 more than his Colts counterpart, Daniel Jones) and Kenneth Walker ran for 117 of Kansas City’s 119 rushing yards.  Total offense; Chiefs 352., Colts 329.  Travis Kelce ran on young legs for 101 receiving yards and a touchdown. But it was Harrison Butker’s 40-yard field goal as the clock hit zero that won the game.

The win was an NFL record eighth straight overtime victory.  The Chiefs are 2-0 with a game next weekend against 0-2 Miami. The Colts are 0-2.

(MIZ)—Troy State beat Missouri everywhere but on the scoreboard Saturday night, leaving Coach Eli Drinkwitz with a long list of things that have to be shaped up before Mizzou starts SEC play next weekend against Mississippi State—which had a big win Saturday.

Missouri dropped behind Troy 10-0 before running off 24 straight points before the half. A Tiger field goal late in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach for Troy, 27-17.  Troy had the ball fifteen minutes longer than Missouri did, outgained them 323-230 and had five more first downs than the Tigers had.

Drinkwitz ticked off a list of concerns—going only 2 for 11 on third downs, the inability to complete a pass when needed (“We weren’t great throwing and catching the football. There was receivers falling down, receivers running around too deep, quarterback throwing the ball too early, offensive holding, inefficient runs off first down, inability to use play action to create separation between the second level of the defense.”)

Both Missouri and Mississippi State are 3-0.  State rallied from a 13-0 deficit against South Carolina Saturday night to win 41-34.

The unimpressive win was good enough to advance MU’s position by one slot in the national polls. The AP poll puts them 19^th. Coaches have them 21^st.

(FORMERTIGERS)—Former Tiger Quarterback Drew Lock played like a starter instead of a sub for the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, filling in for injured starter Sam Darnold. On the second play of the game he hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba for an 82-yard touchdown.  The two connected on two other TDs as the Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals 31-7.

Another Tiger QB, Brady Cook, was waived by the Jets in late August and was picked up by the Dolphins. He’s considered Miami’s emergency quarterback, to be activated if starter Malik Wilson and backup Kyle McCord can’t play.

Luther Burden III, who missed some training camp workouts with an injury, is  a Bears starters. In two games he had nine catches for 95 yards. No touchdowns yet.

(BASEBALL)—By the time we next write about baseball, the uniforms will be cleaned and put away, Busch and Kauffman Stadiums will be silent (I find few things more lonely than a baseball diamond in winter) until spring, and the playoffs will be underway involving other people’s teams.

But there’s always next year. That’s the never-ending story of the game.

The Cardinals are gone from St. Louis, their last home game something that will help fans get through the winter.  Their last six games will be on the road.  They have to win five of the six to finish at .500. Even if they don’t make it, they’ve given the Cardinals’ fans plenty to live for until the magical first day of spring training. The names of the last home game youngsters are likely to become quite familiar in 2027.

Quinn Matthews was solid on the mound against the Nationals.  The Cardinals got ahead in eht first inning with Ivan Herrera’s first homer since the All-Star break.  Jose Fermin led off the second with a double, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by J. J. Wetherholt.

Matthews struggled in the 6^th and gave up a two-run homer to give Washington a 3-2 lead. He lasted seven innings, gave up seven hits and three earned runs.

Herrera hit his second homer in the eighth to tie the game. After Jordan Walker was intentionally walked, Leo Bernal put one in the seats 424 feet away for the lead. Riley O’Brien shut the Nationals down to end it.

The Cardinals play the first half of the rest of their schedule starting tonight in Pittsburgh. They finished the year 41-42 at home.

The Royals will play their last six games at the K, hoping to end things on a high note after being swept by the Pirates in Pittsburgh. The bullpen was the culprit again. The Royals were up 3-2 in the eighth after a pinch-hit two-run homer by Vinnie Pasquantino. But a homer by Rafael Flores Jr., gave the Pirates a 4-3 win.

The bullpen wasted another good outing by Michael Wacha who threw 113 pitches in 5.2 innings, gave up only four hits and allowed two runs.

The Royals finished the year 28-53 on the road. They’re 39-36 at home with the White Sox and the Guardians coming to town to wrap up the season.

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Not everybody is done playing baseball this fall, though. The Arizona Fall League starts October 3 and ends on Nov. 11.  A few players who hope one day to be engulfed by the cheers of the crowd as they step onto the field They’re among the top prospects of each team going to the Arizona League for another month of work and learning.

Eight Cardinals wannabes will be there—Pitchers Tekoah Roby,  Michael Watson, Brandon Clarke, Nate Dohm, and Frank Elissalt, outfielder Tai Peete, third baseman Cade McGee, and catcher/outfielder Sammy Hernandez.

Peete, on Sunday, had five hits including a two-run homer, four RBIs, a stolen base and two runs scored as Springfield won the first game in its defense of the Texas League championship. Springfield beat the Amarillo (TX) Sod Poodles 7-2 in Amarillo and will play the second game of the series tonight at home.

Roby will play his first baseball game in almost a year after Tommy John surgery last year. He has a spot on the 40-man roster, the only one of the eight with one of those prized slots. He came over from the Rangers in 2023. Pete also has had injury problems. He was able to play only 66 games in the rookie league, High-A and Double-A ball this year. But when he was healthy he flashed the kind of promise it was hoped he’s show—.296 average in 312 times at the late.

Clark, who was a big part of the Sonny gray trade with Boston, came back from an arm injury to work 29.2 innings in four levels of minor league ball, struck out 44 and showed 100 mph plus on the gun a few times.

Ellisalt will be playing after missing all of the season with an injury.

Hernandez was solid in High-A this year—65 games, .279 with an OPS of .940. McGee was in 86 games with High-A Peoria this year after being a ninth round pick in the draft earlier this year.

Dohm came to the Cardinals in the Ryan Helsley trade with the Mets. He started 13 games, relieved in 11 and had a7.43 ERA.

Watson was an undrafted free agent who was at Springfield all year, striking out 71 in 52.32 innings.

One of the most-watched Royals hopefuls will be this year’s first-round draft pick, Zion Rose. He’ll be joined by eight others from the Royals system. Rose got into 19 games in High-A, hit .268 with a homer and 14 walks. He also stole 14 bases.

A .319 batting average in Low-A by catcher Brooks Bryan earned him a trip to Arizona. He went on the IL after 33 games and three home runs.

Injuries have dogged shortstop Austin Charles who had seven homers  and a .285 average in 45 games at Quad Cities. Teammate Josh Hansell has been hurt for parts of the last two seaosns but he had 41 Ks and 25 walks on 40.2 innings.

Justin Lamkin is considered the eighth best Royals prospect. He had a strong year in High-A and Double A. He made eight starts before he went on the injured list in mid-May, went 39.2 innings, had 53 strikeouts and a 2.04 ERA.

It’s been five years since Frank Mozzicato was Kansas City’s number one draft pick, coming out high school with a big curveball.  He’s had control problems in Double-A where he had 72 walks in 71.2 innings this year and an 8.04 ERA. But in the last month of his season he appears to have gotten it together, with 30 strikeouts in 18 innings with opposing batters hitting only .121 against him.

Hiro Wyatt, also drafted out of high school (2023) did well during his second time in Low-A. Seven starts, 28 innings, 24 strikeouts and a 3.21 ERA before he was shut down in May.

The Royals had enough faith in Steven Zobac that he was put on the 40-man roster last year although he had injury problems and wasn’t too effective.  This year he made 13 starts in Double-A totaling 42.2 innings. He fanned 41 and had a 4.85 ERA. He’s considered the 14^th best player in the Royals system.

Now, a sport lasting into November—-

(NASCAR)—Bristol is a short track where tempers also get short when 35 or more drivers are turning laps every 15 seconds for 500 trips around the oval and trying to get past one another.  Sometimes it doesn’t work out and the disagreement over space on track continues in the pits after the race.

Joey Logano slipped past Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs as they fought for the lead with five laps to go and neither could catch him as he racked up his third win of the year and 40^th of his career.

Ryan Blaney dominated the race, leading 120 until his car, running a high line, dipped low to block Hocevar’s pass.  Blaney’s left rear bumper touched the nose of Hocevar’s car, sending Blaney into the wall and out of the race.

Hocevar finished third behind Kyle Larson and found himself face to face in the pits after he race with a furious Blaney (right).  Some punches were thrown but neither of these guys is much of a pugilist and crew members pulled them apart—twice.  As we go to press

NASCAR will not penalize either driver. CEO Steve O’Donnell told Kevin Harvick on Harick’s podcast yesterday, “We’re not going to encourage fighting, but what we are going to encourage is passion, right? And those are two guys — Blaney’s showing his passion, showing his fire. So no, there’s nothing coming from us in terms of [penalties]. We’ll obviously watch what happens the rest of the way, but nothing in terms of post-race penalties.”

Larson’s second-place finish and Denny Hamlin’s finish in 8^th gave Larson a one-point lead in the championship standings with seven races left in the season.

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(WWTR)—Driver complaints about the narrowness of the pit road at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis after last week’s Cup race there will take NASCAR officials there this week to talk about possible changes. A pit incident in a second-tier NASCAR race left some crewmen injured. Racing Insights says the track has the second-narrowest pit lane on the NASCAR circuit—25 feet wide, one foot wider than the pit lane at Indianapolis.

(Photo credit: Drinkwitz—larrybrownsports; Peete—Cardinals; Royals—newssportslogos.net; fight— Chris Graythen, Getty Images)

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(CHIEFS)—-Patrick Mahomes was Patrick Mahomes, Kenneth Walker III was Kenneth Walker III. The offensive line looked like a vintage line. The defense was solid and Mahomes and his rebuilt knee and the Chiefs with their rebuilt roster delivered a dominating win over last year’s division champions Denver Broncos 31-10.

Walker had more yards of total offense than the entire Broncos team.  His 173 rushing yards on 23 carries are the most for a Chiefs running back since Jamal Charles ran for 226 on December 23, 2012 (he also ran for 233 three months earlier and had a career best 259 in January of 2020).

Travis Kelce’s long catch and run moved him into second place, all-time, in tight end yardage with 13,067, trailing only Chiefs predecessor Tony Gonzalez, who finished with 15,127.

Mahomes showed no fear in running the ball when necessary and ran for a touchdown early.  Although he was a pocket quarterback most of the game, he did show he could scramble if necessary and was not limping at the end of the game.

The Chiefs meet the Indianapolis Colts next weekend. (9/18/26)

(MUKU)—Sometimes it’s interesting for fans to hear what the other coach has to say about your team after a big game.  Our coach, of course, will mix the good and the bad with his reviews of his team’s performance and Coach Drink has plenty of things to talk about the Tiger’s needing to improve. Six false starts were among the ten Tiger penalties, for example.

But the Tigers left Lawrence with the first Missouri victory there since 2001.

KU Coach Lance Leopold wasn’t happy that his team gained only 255 yards againt Missouri’s defense and succeed on only three of its fifteen third downs.  The KU defense allowed Missouri to gain an average of 6.6 yards per play to run up a total of 469 yards. The Missouri pass defense held KU quarterback Isaiah Marshall to just 13 of 30 passing and forced him into two turnovers.

Although he thought KU played “really good football game” in the first half but thoughts the Tigers “derailed us a lot.”  Although Missouri had two field goals blocked, one of which was run back for the game’s first touchdown, “a good football team is going to get themselves corrected…and they did it, especially when we gave them those short fields.”  He called the game “very deflating.”

The Jayhawks could not stop Austin Simmons because “he’s a really good football player” who found his rhythm early in the game. Simmons hit 19 of his 29 passes for 292 yards and here touchdowns.

Leopold complimented Missouri for “having a good game plan that “found ways to attack us,” The offensive line impressed Leopold, who thinks “they’ve got probably eight draftable guys” and at least one who will go high in the draft.

The rivalry won’t be renewed until at least 2031, if even then.  “It’s a good rivalry,” said Leopold…I think these are things that help make college football what it is and iat’s a special game.”

Missouri’s Drinkwitz wasn’t happy with the Tigers’ first half. “The things that we gave them were undisciplined penalties. Our special teams was not good tonight, in any form or facet, and that’s going to get cleaned up.”

The trophy since 1935 for this long-standing, but interruptible rivalry, is a drum, originally purchased by Missouri and Kansas alumni from a Kansas City pawn shop. One drum head has a Tiger on it. A Jayhawk is on the other.  That first drum is now in the College Football Hall of Fame. In the 1980s the Taos Pueblo Indians in New Mexico made a new drum as the new traveling trophy. Missouri has kept it since 2009 and has beaten the Jayhawks five straight games.  The last time that happened was 84 years ago.

The game has brought weekly SEC honors for two Tigers. Quarterback Austin Simmons and defensive lineman Daeden Hopkins  are offensive and defensive players of the week. Simmons, who has completed 75% of his passes in his first two games at Mizzou, shares his award with Texas QB Arch Manning. Pro Football Focus says Hopkins, who is only a sophomore, led the charge that pressured KU quarterback Isaiah Marhall better than forty percent of KU’s 70 snaps with eight pressures and one and a half sacks.

This week’s coaches poll moves Missouri up one place, to 22^nd. The AP sportswriters rank Missouri 20^th.

The Tigers play Troy University next Saturday evening in Columbia.  The Trojans have won both games this year, against Sam Houston and against Alabama State. Troy has about 14,000 students.

(BASEBALL)—Only a dozen games are left and the Cardinals have to win eight of them to finish even. They took their first step in that direction last night with a 2-1 win against the Giants who were long ago out of playoff contention and now are 62-89.  The Cardinals’ Quinn Mathews had a no hitter going into the sixth inning and left after two outs in that inning and allowing the first run and four hits. He struck out eight and walked four in the longest start of his rookie year. Alec Burlison upped his league-leading RBI total to 110 and rookie catcher Leo Bernal drove in the other one.

The Redbirds got some good news about J. J. Wetherholt during the weekend. He’s rehabbing from a wrist injury and hit off a tee Friday. He hopes to be back in the lineup before the end of the season.

Thomas Saggese has filled in for Wetherhold at second base and has impressed people since his callup from Memphis when Wetherholt went out.  He’s hitting .260 with four homers and a dozen runs batted in, a record good enough to be moved to the leadoff position.

The Royals will finish below .500 if they win all of their remaining game. They dropped to 66-84 with a series-ending loss to the Red Sox.  But a couple of guys continued their run at the Royals record books during the weekend.

Carter Jensen has tied Bob Hameline’s record for most homers by a Royals rookie.  He provided a souvenir in the outfield seats for the 14th time this year.  He also racked up his twelfth straight extra-base hit,  joining New York’s Aaron Judge for most consecutive extra-base hits by a rookie in the expansion era (namely, since 1961).

Bobby Witt needs two home runs to compile a third straight 20 homer, 40 stolen bases in a season. It will be his second time (the first was in 2023). Carlos Beltran had 26 homers and 41SBs in 2003.

We now know who is going to build the new stadium in KC.  Three companies will tame up to build the three-billion dollar roofless ball park near crown Center, downtown.  The nationally-know construction companies of Mortenson and McCownGordon will jointly serve as construction manager. J.E. Dunn will superintend the ballpark village-like development in the surrounding 85-acre site. The stadium will seat about 34,000 fans, about four thousand fewer than can watch a game at the K.

Now: Racing to the End—

(NASCAR)—Kyle Larson can quit counting how many races it has been since he won.  Larson survived intense racing marred by a track-record 18 caution flags to win the Enjoy Illinois 300 at the World Wide Technology Raceway just across the river from St. Louis. It’s his first win since May of last year, 51 races in all.

Larson finished just ahead of teammate Alex Bowman. Pole sitter Joey Logano, who led the most laps, came home third and the third Hendrick driver, William Byron was fourth. Points leader Denny Hamlin had a mediocre day but finished ninth when several drivers ahead of him crashed, many of them because their heavily-used brake rotors exploded, putting them into the wall and out of the race sometimes taking some other drivers with them.  The race was stopped twice for track clean-up.

Thirty-five percent of the race’s 247 overtime laps were run under caution leaving an average speed of just 81.47 mph. Between the yellows, however, racing sometimes was three and four-wide on the egg-shaped oval that relies of heavy braking and road course-like shifting in the turns. The 18 yellows were the most race caution periods in any Cup race this year.  The record for most caution periods in a race is 22, at Charlotte in 2005, a race that was twice as long (600 miles) as Sunday’s race.

Hamlin led the standings by a dozen points going into the race and gained a few points on last weeks’ neared challengers.  But Larson’s win shortened the Hamlin lead to nine going into next week’s short-track race at Bristol, the third stop in the ten-race series for the championship.

The race was the first to honor Kyle Busch with a new permanent trophy that honors Busch’s memory at WWTR.

(INDYCAR)—Look for several drivers wearing different colors next year in IndyCar.  The seat juggling that began before season’s end has continued in the days after. There are only 25 fulltime rides available so it’s a fairly closed society.  Here’s what’s being reported so far.

Scott Dixon was reported moving from Ganassi to McLaren some time ago.  Meyer-Shank has lost Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist to Mclaren. They will join with Pato O’Ward there. Jettisoned by McLaren are Christian Lundgaard, although he was third in the points chase this year, and Nolan Siegel.

Mick Schumacher is moving from Rahal Letterman Lanigan to replace Rosenqvist at Meyer-Shank. Marcus Armstrong will stay with M-S but will moved to the 60-car that Rosenqvist had this year.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan has sold one of its franchises to the returning Dreyer & Reinbold team, which quickly filled the seat with Connor Daly.

It’s a long seven months, though, before we see the realigned series take to the track in earnest again.  The 2027 season opens with the annual street race at St. Petersburg, Florida on March 7.

(Photo credits: Walker—Facebook; Drum—St. Joseph Post; Larson–Bob Priddy)

(MIZ)—When your university has more than five times the number of fulltime employees than the other school has students, it should not be a surprise that your football team would be able to put 74 players on the field for at least one snap when the two teams meet.  The Post-Dispatch and its analytical partner, Hudl IQ counted 41 defensive and 33 offensive players who got on the field against Arkansas-Pine Bluff Thursday night.

UAPB has 1,868 students.  MU has more than 11,000 employees in Columbia.

The victory over the overmatched Lions didn’t move Missouri in the polls. They remain 25^th headed to the Kansas game in Lawrence Friday night.

Kansas beat Long Island University 51-6. LIU has slightly more students than KU has staff members.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs finally are going to let Patrick Mahomes play a football game—next Monday night, the season opener against the Broncos at Arrowhead.  But one of his main protectors is out –left tackle Josh Simons. He’ll probably be replaced by undrafted rookie free agent Kahlil Benson.

Simmons’ rookie season last year was cut short with injuries. He was in only eight games last year after coming off a national championship season at Ohio State. He has a lower back injury.

Benson, who was with the Indiana national champions last year, has been competing with Jaylon Moore for the right tackle job during camp. Moore will stay on the right side and Benson will shift to the other side.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals started this week needing to make up four games on the Arizona Diamondbacks in the last 18 games of the regular season to make it to the playoffs. It’s  a distant possibility, but a real chance to play better than .500 baseball this year. A dozen wins will give them their best record since they went 93-69 in winning their division championship in 2022.

They started the week 72-72 with the first of six games against the Giants, who 59-85. They took two out of three from the Rockies during the weekend.

The Diamondbacks are 76-68.

The latest youngster brought up from the minors to make an impressive debut was pitcher Cooper Hjerpe, who came out of the bullpen to throw four innings, strikeout six and not allowed any baserunners. He is only the second pitcher in MLB history to throw four or more hitless innings with six or more strikeouts.  The only other one is former MU Tiger Max Scherzer.  He’s been a starter throughout his career but will fill a reliever’s role for the rest of the year.

The Cardinals have lost Hunter Dobbins for the rest of this year and probably most of next season.  He had right elbow surgery for the second time last week and has a one-year recovery period ahead of him.

He also had elbow surgery in 2025.

Dobbins had eight starts and three relief appearances this year and hits the shelf with a 3.67 ERA.

(ROYALS)—The Royals and the Diamondbacks waited until the tenth inning for all the fireworks.  Noah Cameron and relievers held the D-backs scoreless through nine before Arizona scored five in the tenth in the Labor Day Game.  The Royals got back four of those runs before the final out.

Cameron continued his late-season excellence with six innings of shutout ball, striking out seven and allowing only three hits. Arizona blew the game open against Craig Kimbrell with five in the tenth. Kansas City clobbered Gerardo Cabrillo with three earned runs in one-third of an inning and picked up another score before Dennis Santanna put out the fire.

The Royals flew into September after going 16-11 in August, thanks to Cameron and teammate Joe Caglionone who were the Ameircan League Pitcher and Player of the month, respectively, for August. This is first time the Royals have won both awards since Brett Saberhagen and George Brett won it in July, 1985, the year of the Royals’ first World Series win.

Cameron, in five August starts, allowed only seven runs in 33.2 innings including his complete game shutout against the Dodgers on August 16. He had a 1.87 ERA for the month. He led the American league by lasting an average of 6.2 innings per game.

Caglianone stormed through August, hitting .411 with six home runs and 33 other hits and 26 runs batted in.  The performance upped his season average to .282, with 23 homers, 26 doubles, and 67 RBIs.

Another reason for optimism as the Royals wind down their season is rookie catcher Carter Jensen, who has started 83 games as Salvador Perez works his way through a sore elbow. He has set a Royals record with six leadoff home runs, a team record.  Coming into September, he was hitting .252 with 38 extra base hits including 21 home runs.

On to the track:

(INDYCAR)—It’s all over for IndyCar for 2026. Scott McLaughlin won his first race in the last 37 starts in the final race of the year and celebrated his win while Alex Palou was getting his fifth championship trophy in the last six years.

McLaughlin dominated at Laguna Seca, starting P1, leading 87 of the 95 laps and beating Kyle Kirkwood to the finish line.  Former Indianapolis 500 winner  to lead Kyle Kirkwood across the line. Alexander Rossi finished third for his first podium finish of the year.  A second Penske driver, David Malukas, ran fifth for his third straight top five finish. He had four finishes in second place but will have to wait until next year to get his first win.

Kirkwood finished second in the race and overtook Christian Lundgaard for second in the point standings.  Lundgard was the only driver to complete every lap of every race this year—all 2,557 of them. He’s only the sixth driver in all of IndyCar history to do that.

The race ended Scott Dixon’s 25-year career with Chip Ganassi Racing.  He posted 58 wins and won six championships with Ganassi.  He’ll have a new team next year.  Only A. J. Foyt has more wins and more championships than Dixon.

The season might be past but the future of IndyCar will be on track for a couple of days this week. Alex Palou and Alexander Rossi will test the 2028 IndyCar prototype at Indianapolis tomorrow and Thursday, giving the new chassis it’s first high speed workout after road-course tests earlier.

The series also will have  a new engine formula in 2028.  The expectation is that the new car will break long-standing speed records, particularly at Indianapolis where Arie Luyendyk’s one lap record of 237.498 and a four-lap qualifying run at 236.986.

(NASCAR)—Christopher Bell picked a fine time to get his first win of the year and his first win at Darlington—the first of the 10 races that will decide the Cup Championship.

Bell’s four tire final pit stop helped him take the lead from Kyle Laron, who had gambled and stayed out while others went to the pits, with eleven laps left. Ty Gibbs and pole sitter Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney also got past Larson.

Regular season points champion Denny Hamlin finished 18^th after a late-race incident with Michael McDowell..

Gibbs drove from 28^th to second, just over one second behind Bell. Pole sitter Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson completed the top five.

Bell’s win ends a 33-race winless streak that has included seven second-place finishes. His win and Hamlin’s poor finish has cut Hamlin’s early points lead in half.

Round two of the playoff races will be next Sunday at St. Louis—-actually, Madison, Illinois, just across the Stan Musial Bridge at World Wide Technologies Raceway.

(Photo Credits: Hjerpe—PJ Maigi; Players of the Month: MLB; McLaughlin @ WWTR—Rick Gevers; New car—IndyCar; Bell at Indy—Bob Priddy)

We’ll talk about the Royals and the Cardinals  but not right now.  NOW we want to talk about the championship football team in St. Joseph.

Not the Chiefs—-they’re just practicing.

We’re talking about the ST. JOSEPH GOATS!

(GOATS)—The St. Joseph Goats beat the Arkansas Diamonds for the second time this year to win The Arena League football championship, ending the season the same way they started it—beating the Arkansas Diamonds.

The Goats started in Kansas City, a town whose history includes the long reign of political boss Tom Pendergast whose organization was known as the “Goats.”  Pendergast ran a cement company and one of the many projects of the Pendergast organization was the Municipal Auditorium where the Goats played their first games.

The other team in St. Joseph also is from Kansas City but they’ll go back there for their regular season, challenged by the Goats to do what they have done—win a championship.

Goats coach (say that real fast four or five times) Dorsey Golston told the St. Joseph News-Press, “It just feels amazing, accomplishment is what I feel right now.” Quarterback University of St. Mary grad Angelo Trujillo, a graduate of the University of St. Mary led the team from a 20-18 lead at the half to a 52-30 win.

The Goats don’t plan to go the White House. After their win the team celebrated at the Hi-Ho Bar and Grill in St. Joseph.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid was in the stands for the game. The team is owned by Travis and Jason Kelce and Chiefs legend Christian Okoye, the “Nigerian Nightmare” running back for six years in the late eighties and early nineties.

The Goats finished 8-2, outscoring opponents 556-400 with two wins over the Diamonds and the Nebraska Siege, and single games wins against the Ozark Lunkers, the Iowa Woo, andwhile splitting results with the Woo and taking two out of three form the Nebraska Siege—including a 57-55 heart-stopper to rech the championship game.

(CHIEFS)—Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is back with the team after a couple of weeks back home in Virginia, where his son is accused of shooting and seriously wounding Bieniemmy’ wife.  Bieniemy has been watching internet streams to keep up with the first week of practice with pads.

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The Chiefs started the week with good news—three players who have missed a lot of practices are healthy enough to be back on the field—Xavier Worthy, Ashton Gillotte, and Kristian Fulton.

Worthy’s return gets the receiving corps closer to full strength. Rookie WR Cyrus Allen was back last Friday after recovering from a bruised shin. Rashee Rice, still recovering from knee surgery between seasons is reportedly to be increasing his workload in practice.

The return of Fulton, a cornerback, strengthens the secondary while L’Jarius Sneed continues to recover from a knee problem.

Not in practice yesterday, however, were guard Trey Smith, DT Omarr Norman-Lott, LB Drue Tranquil and Sneed.

In Double-A and Triple-A this year he’s 8-0 despite a 5.03 ERA. He has 44 K’s in 39.1 innings.

The Royals appear to have misread the tea leaves with another pitcher acquired at the trade deadline—Aaron Brummer who had two appearances totaling 1.1 innings, giving up six hits and six runs. A walk, a home run and never got a strikeout. He was offered a chance to go down to Omaha but has decided to become a free agent.

(CARDINALS)-The St. Louis Cardinals fought their way back to .500 by taking a series from the Rockies during the weekend.  They opened an important series against a team they have to get past to make the playoffs, the Phillies.

Wetherholt, one of the leading contenders for ROTY, has been picked for the Cardinals’ 2026 Heart & Hustle Award. Each team can name a player for the honor which is supported by the MLGB Players Alumni Association. The overall winner will be announced after the World Series.

Wetherholt went into the weekend hitting .248 with 16 homers, 43 runs bated in, a dozen stolen bases, 54 bases and a .248 average.

Taking another track—

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar has started intense final run to the end of the season with a seemingly constant face on the winner’s podium at Portland—Alex Palou, winning his sixth race of the year, the odds-on favorite to win his fifth IndyCar championship, the fourth in a row.

Palou, the 2025 Indianapolis 500 winner, crossed the finish line more than four seconds ahead of this year’s 500 winner, Felix Rosenqvist.  The win builds his lead in the points chase to 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood—the equivalent of two races. Only five races are left on the schedule this year.

Will Power, who had won the last two races at Portland, driving for Penske, crossed the line in his Ganassi-owned car third, equaling his best finishes of the year for his new team, Andretti Global.

Power was closing on the top two drivers when he missed a call to the pits for his last stop and lost time to Palou and Rosenqvist with the extra lap when he fell behind some slower cars.

Only A. J. Foyt with seven championships and Scott Dixon with six will have more IndyCar titles than Palou if he completes this year on top.  He would be far faster than either Foyt (32) or Dixon (38) reaching five championships. He will be only 29.

IndyCar Championships (by age of driver)

b.1935     b.1980       b. 1997

1   Foyt 25    Dixon  23   Palou 24

2. Foyt 26   Dixon 28   Palou 26
3. Foyt 28  Dixon  33   Palou 27
4. Foyt 29  Dixon  35    Palou  28
5. Foyt 32 Dixon 38     ?Palou 29
6. Foyt 40 Dixon 40
7. Foyt 44

(NASCAR)—The Next Gen Car might be a couple of years away for NASCAR but the next gen drivers have arrived.  Ty Gibbs, driving one of Grandpa Joe’s cars, won his second race of the year, holding off teammate (and slightly more experienced) Christopher Bell for the last twenty laps at the Iowa Speedway.

Two other teammates, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe finished fifth and sixth.

Bell was able to get close and tried running high and low to get past Gibbs, closing the gap to less than two seconds in the closing laps, but couldn’t find a way around him.

Gibbs is 23 and already in his third season with NASCAR’s top series. His win at Iowa has boosted him into second place in the points standings behind Hamlin, who is almost twice his age. Hamlin started 29^th and “white knuckled” his car and its uncertain brakes to running in sight of Gibbs.  He continues to lead the points standings with three races left before the field of sixteen is set to run for the championship.

Tyler Reddick who started the season hot with five wins in the first six races has seen his season crumble and has dropped to fourth in the standings behind Hamlin, Gibbs, and Ryan Blaney.   Reddick and Erik Jones tangled early with Reddick assigned 36^th, and last place. He has finished 30^th or worse in five of his last  nine races.

Bell has finished second seven times this year, four times in the last five races.

(photos: Little—KC Royals; Caglianone—MLB via Getty Images; Goats shirt—St. Joseph Goats; Goats team—(Tucker Klamm—News Press NOW; Palou—Rick Gevers, Indianapolis 500; Gibbs—Bob Priddy, Brickyard 400)

(TRADING DEADLINE)—-Kansas City Royals pitcher Kris Bubic has moved from the bottom to the top in the last hours of the MLB trading deadline.  The Royals have sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Royals get right-handed pitcher Carlos Duran.

The deal was made although Bubic is on the 60-day injured list. He is a free agent after this season. He made nine starts before going on the DL with left elbow and shoulder soreness.

Duran will head to the Royals bullpen before the end of the year, probably.  He’s been in 37 games in the minors this year, posting a 3.38 ERA with a 12.9 strikeouts per inning in the minors this year.

“Noot” is going to Arizona.  The Cardinals had an active day on the last trading day. Fan Favorite Lars Nootbar, who’s been discussed as trade bait all season, has been sent to the Diamondbacks in return for one of Arizona’s top pitching prospects. The get right-handed pitcher Daniel Eagen, who is considered Arizona’s second-highest pitching prospect. He’s 24, a third-round pick in the 2024 draft out of Presbyterian College and is not pitching for Amarillo in Double-A.  He’s made twenty starts this year, has a 29.2% strikeout rate and his ERA is 16% better than the league-average pitcher.

Fans of the Springfield Cardinals might already have seen him. Amarillo and Springfield are in the same league.

The Cardinals sent Dustin May and JoJo Romero to the Brewers and got a couple of outfielder prospects in Alexander Frias and Josiah Ragsdale.

They also picked up left-hander Caleb Ferguson from the Reds, giving up a to get an international player later.  Ferguson has given up two runs in his last four innings of work.

Ferguson is 30. He’s bounced around a bit, coming up with the Dodgers and going 7-2 with two saves in 29 games. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020, was traded to the Yankees in 2024 and moved to the Reds earlier this year.  He’s 25-17 in his career with a couple of saves and a career ERA of 3.69.

Rising Star Quin Matthews was impressive in his big league debut last weekend against the Blue Jays. Unfortunately, the Cardinals gave him no run support as they continue to fade out of the playoff picture.  They lost 5-1 although Matthews went 5.1 innings, gave up two runs on six hit. He walked and struck out three each.

Observers think he might become part of the rotation the rest of the way, particularly if the Redbirds peddle Dustin May.  He already has a major league player’s signature scrawl developed.

The Cardinals scored an uncharacteristic five runs Sunday to beat the Blue Jays 5-1, the first time they had scored five runs since July 25. Four of the runs scored in the ninth inning. The victory ended a three-game losing streak for St. Louis and a three-game winning streak for the Jays.

The win left the Cardinals two games under .500

Back down on the farm, young outfielder Tai Peete is raising some eyebrows in High-A Peoria. He hit for the cycle for the second time this year during the weekend. He also stole a couple of bases.  He’s flirting with .300 with a .983 OPS. Since returning from a concussion that cost him games in May and June, he’s been hitting .365. Although he still strikes out about 21 percent of the time, he’s getting better. He’d been near thirty percent before the injury.

Things are not so rosy, however for former top draft pick Tink Hence. To make room on the roster for Matthews, the Cardinals sent reliever Matt Svansn to Memphis, a move that crowded out Hence, who’s been designated for assignment.

Svanson has struggled this year. He’s made 41 appearances in the bigs and has a 7.27 ERA.

(ROYALS)—The Royals finished a ten game road trip with a loss Sunday to drop 21 games under .500. After a day off yesterday they open a series tonight against the Twins. They wasted a good start after the All-Star Game and are on a four-game losing streak, three of the games against the Rockies in which they were outscored 23-8. Twice during the streak they suffered walk-off defeats.

The Royals made a weekend trade they hope has long-term as well as short-term benefits. They sent outfielder Lane Thompson and left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter to the Braves to get pitcher Lucas Braun the Braves’ number eight prospect and  Carter Holton.

Braun is a Triple-A starter with a 3.53 ERA in 19 appearances, 17 of them starts in two minor league levels.  He’ll start his KC career in Ohama.

Thomas was on a one-year deal with Kansas City and would have been a free agent at the end of the season. Falter had been designated for assignment but nobody wanted him so he’s back in Omaha with a 13.97 ERA in 9.2 innings this year.

Braun has made 17 starts and two relief appearances in two minor league levels. He’ll start his KC career in Ohama. We might see him with the parent club because the Royals have a lot of arms out with injuries—Chris Bubic, Cole Ragans, Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek and Ben Kurdna.

Holton will go to Single-A Columbia. He has 41 strikeouts and a 4.32 ERA in the minors this year and the Royals think will develop.

The Royals also have picked up reliever Aaron Brummer from the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate. He’s a lefty who spent time with the Cubs before being released by the Braves.

(MIZ)—Ahmad Hardy will miss at least the first week of fall Missouri Tiger football practice. Coach Drinkwitz says he will take part in walkthroughs while he continues to rehab his injured leg. He says there will be another update in a couple of weeks.

The semi-good news is that Defensive Tackle Sterling Webb is eligible for the 2026 season after a Colorado judge granted a preliminary injunction letting the high school class of 2022, which includes Webb, to be able to play this year. Until the judge’s order, the NCAA had held he had finished his eligibility last year.

The ruling gives the Tigers some exceptional experience in the defensive line for 2026.  Webb had 20 tackles, 23 pressures and two sacks on 407 snaps last year. He’s the third fifth-year lineman suiting up this year, along with Marquis Gracial and Jalen Marshall.

Webb had not been counted on in Drinkwitz’s planning for the season. The coach says he’ll take some time to get acclimated to the program. He and Webb had had “zero contact” during the off-season.

One other injury update: Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Elias Williams is “tracking well” in his recovering from leg surgery after an injury in spring practice. Drinkwitz says it’s too soon to say if he’ll play this year. (ZOU)

CHIFS)—-The news in the Kansas Chiefs camp has to get better.

Patrick Mahomes looked pretty good in the non-contact drills last week in St. Joseph and says he feels stronger than ever when it comes to working out. “Now it’s just about getting the quarterback stuff down…moving in the pocket quick, making those quick movements, reacting and doing stuff like that.”

Mahomes thinks the injury has “kind of helped” him focus on “getting back to who I am.”

However—

Some worrying news is coming out of camp about the wide receiver corps.  Rashee Rice has not practiced at full speed and has left practice early to do more rehab work on his repaired right knee. The surgery was described as a “cleanup” procedure.

This is to be his fourth season with the team. But various problems on and off the field have allowed him to play in just twelve games during the last two years.

Xavier Worthy is still recovering from shoulder surgery. He told reporters last week that he “was never 100 percent (last year). I was never going to be 100 percent until I got the surgery. “

A reunion with Tyreek Hill is considered unlikely until mid-season, if then.  He continues to recover from surgery on his left knee that was badly injured—dislocated knee cap and multiple torn ligaments– in last year’s fourth game when he was with the Dolphins. He’s had two surgeries and reports he’s working to get his right leg back to full strength.

Hill is 32 now, easing out of the prime years for a wide receiver.

(ORIGINAL CHIEF)—One of original Kansas City Chiefs has died—defensive back Bobby Hunt was 85.  He was part of the team when it was in Dallas and stayed with them when they moved to Kansas City. He played both ways at Auburn where he was a quarterback and defensive back.

The then-Dallas Texans picked him in the 11^th round of the 1962 American Football League Draft.  In his rookie season, he intercepted eight passes and make first team all-AFL. He was part of the AFL champion team before the franchise moved to Kansas City.  In 1964, he intercepted four passes in one game against the Houston Oilers, a record.  In 1966 he was among the league leaders with ten interceptions.  In his 112-game career he intercepted 42 passes, still a Chiefs record.

Hunt was a starter in the 1966 AFL-NFL Championship Game (before Lamar Hunt coined the phrase “Super Bowl”). He finished his career in 1968 and ’69 with the expansion Cincinnati Bengals then became a defensive back coach for the Bills for a couple of years before going into the apparel industry.

New Wheels—-

(INDYCAR)—Get a load of this, friends.  It’s the future face of IndyCar, the IR-28, that will hit the tracks in 2028. It’s designed to be faster, safer, and better in traffic in a sport already famous for its multiple lead-changes, even more passes for position during its races, in what IndyCar calls ‘the fastest racing on earth.”

The version you’re looking at is for road and street courses. The oval version (in the other photo) will have smaller wings that produce less drag but still produce adequate downforce in turns.  Designers suggest it might produce qualifying runs exceeding the speed records set by Arie Luyendyk in 1996 at just under 240 mph.

On-track testing started immediately with Indianapolis 500 winners Alexander Rossi and Alex Palou laying down some baseline laps on the Speedway road course.

Palou was so excited that he wished it would go into service next year instead of 2028. “When we saw it live for the first time,” he said, “ was shocked at how good it looked and how excited I was to give it a try.”

“I was having fun,” he said.

“It’s like Christmas morning,” said Rossi. He called the car “really rewarding to drive…It doesn’t do anything unpredictable and gives you good feedback and you kind of know what’s coming.”

The chassis is provided by Dallara, the company that has provided the DW-12 chassis for more than a decade. The new car will be about 100 pounds lighter than the present one, will have a new suspension system that reduces reliance on aerodynamic downforce while maintaining mechanical grip in traffic and a more powerful engine. Designers think tweaks to the body also will make the airflow coming off a leading car less of a problem for a car or cars behind it, allowing tighter racing and more passing opportunities.

The new car’s hybrid power system will use a new battery with 14 times the capacity of the present system, giving drivers more flexibility is their applications of power.

The cockpit is bigger and wider—-there have been complaints about the tight fit from bigger and wider drivers—and the protective aeroscreen that protects the driver is more streamlined, stronger, and provides better cockpit ventilation.

Designers are forecasting the car will break Arie Luyendyk’s 1996 records at IMS.

The car will go through more testing and refinements throughout 2027.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR had a rare off week this weekend. Missourians wanting to watch a NASCAR race can head to Iowa next weekend.

(photo credits: Matthews—Cardinals; Hunt—Alabama Spors Hall of Fame; Indy cars–IndyCar

(CHIEFS)—The initial excitement that Patrick Mahomes is a full “go” for practice at the Chiefs training camp in St. Joseph, there is concern with news that the son of Assistant Coach Eric Bieniemy has been charged in Virginia with shooting his mother, Bieniemy’s wife, Mia.

She is reported in stable condition with multiple wounds. Their son, Elijah, is being held without bond on three felony charges in Loudon County, Virginia.  Coach Andy Reid to reporters in St. Joseph, “I can’t get into details on it, but things happen sometimes, and Eric will work through it. He has a great support group here, as does his family, as needed, and we’ll just let time take care of it from there…She’s a saint, we all know that, those of you that know her. One of God’s great blessings. But things happen. And you have to work through it. That’s where we’re at right now. Time will have to be involved in this to help heal.”

Pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier and offensive line coach Andy Heck will take over his duties for now.

The Chiefs first full workout will be tomorrow.

(MORE CHIEFS TRAGEDY)—Former Chiefs offensive lineman Jordan Devey has committed suicide at the age of 38.

ESPN reports his mother says the family “believed that he suffered from CTE,” but the nature of his death left his brain unavailable to test for the neurodegenerative disease. Devey played seven years and 44 games in the NFL, wining a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots in 2014.. He also played for the Bills, Raiders, and 49ers. He was with the Chiefs 2016-2019.

(CHIEFS FOOTBALL)—He vowed to be back by the first game of the year—and Patrick Mahomes has done more than that. He has rehabbed his double knee injury and is cleared for full activity at the Chiefs camp in St. Joseph.

But he’ll be 31 in September and we’ll see how the miles, the hits, and this injury affect his style of play.  This will be his ninth season.  The first chance fans will have to see how he looks is tomorrow. The team will break camp on August 20, three weeks before their regular season opened September 14 against the Broncos.

(MIZ)—We’re only a week away from the beginning of camp for this year’s Missouri Tigers.  Media day will be August 2 and the serious stuff starting the next day.

Mizzou will play its 1,380^th game September 3 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, seeking their 732^nd win against 596 losses and 53 ties, a winning percentage that ranks 67^th in college football. Their 731 wins ranks 37^th.

The Southeastern Conference football experts who make pre-season predictions think Missouri will finish tenth.

(BASEBALL)—Our MLB teams have gone different directions since the All-Star break.  The Cardinals have lost eight of eleven, including four of their first five after the break and the opening game of a home series against the Cubs last night that dropped them to .500..

The Royals start their week tonight against the Twins.  If they win all 55 of their remaining games, they’ll finish two games above break-even.

(Motoring along)

NASCAR—In its 76-year history through last year, NASCAR had never seen a car numbered 67 win in 2,786 races.  This year, it has happened twice in 22 races.

Part-time driver, Corey Heim put the car in victory lane after the road course win at the San Diego Naval Base in June and added the Brickyard 400 Sunday by hanging onto the lead despite veteran challengers waiting for him to make a mistake in the closing laps.

Heim, who is 24 and has been competing in increasingly bigger circles since he was about 16, will join 23XI Racing full time next year. One of those left in his wake Sunday was the co-owner of his team and the series points leader, Denny Hamlin.

He led the last 33 laps with Christopher Bell his major threat ahead of three-time NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Hamlin.  In all, he led 58 of the 160 laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  He also had the fastest lap in the race.

NASCAR is taking a week off before running at Iowa Speedway on August 9.

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar is idle until it takes to the streets of Toronto on August 19. It is the start of a five consecutive week run to the season finale at Laguna Seca on September 6.

A long-time part of IndyCAR is returning to a fulltime schedule next year. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has bought one of the charters from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. D&R has been competing in the Indianapolis 500 since pulling out of the full-time operation in 3012.  Negotiations for the return already were underway when team founder and owner Dennis Reinbold died June 13 at the age of 65.

Dreyer and Reinbold fielded a car in the Indianapolis 500 for the 27^th year in May. Conor Daley finished 12^th, just 2.7 seconds behind winner Felix Rosenqvist. In all, the company has run 57 cars in the 500.  But the team history at the 500 goes back to Floyd “Pop” Dryer, who was a mechanic for the great Duesenberg teams a century ago.

The team will announce is driver and other plans for 2027 later.

(Photo credits: (Bienemy son jpg)  (Photo Credits: Bienemy–Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office via AP; Devey—cyprus-mail.com; Heim—Rick Gevers)