(MIZFB)—A frustrating day for the Missouri Tigers in Norman Oklahoma means Missouri must win at Arkansas next weekend to have the chance for a nine-win season when much more was anticipated.

Missouri is now 7-4 after its 17-6 loss in Norman, a game the defense saved for Missouri  but the offense could not claim.  Missouri took an early lead on a Robert Meyer field goal and had a chance to make it a six-point lead when Meyer’s kick from inside the red zone in the second quarter was blocked.

Oklahoma seized the lead on the only big play of the game—an 87 yard pass from John Mateer to Isaiah Sategna, who’d gotten a step ahead of Tiger safety Marvin Burks Jr.  Mateer hit Javonnie Gibson for a second touchdown after Missouri went three-and=out on its next drive.

Bo Pribula was back from his ankle injury and went 20/35 for 231 yards but had two interceptions and the Sooner sacked him four times. Playing on the ankle injured a month ago, Pribula did not show the mobility that had helped open the Tiger offense in previous games.

Missouri has become a team that cannot beat a top-10 team. It’s the fourth time this year they have failed and Coach Drinkwitz drop to 0-7 against top-25 SEC teams in the last two years.

The loss drops Missouri to 29^th in the coaches poll; 28^th in the AP.

(MIZBB)—-The Missouri Tigers are undefeated through their first six games but have yet to dent the top 25 in either major poll.  The Tigers are 33^rd in the top 25  rankings by the AP and in the Coaches poll. The Tigers play South Carolina State at the Mizzou Arena tonight.  State has yet to win after six games this year.

(MIZTHICKER)— Jushua Karty is still on the Los Angeles Rams roster as a place kicker and former Tiger Harrison Mevis is doing his best to make sure he stays there.  Mevis kicked four more extra points this weekend to run his consecutive string to 13 and then was two for two on field goals—from 42 and 50 yards—in the Rams win over Tampa Bay.  (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—They were down by eleven with only the last quarter ahead of them and the Indianapolis Colts  were ready to hammer the nails into their playoff coffins. The hometown fans had been watching the Kansas City Chiefs once again with a sluggish offense, a disappointing defense, a team crippled by penalties at wrong times and unable to put a coherent offense together.

And the Chiefs stopped the Colts in their tracks and played a fourth quarter out of the past to win the game in overtime 23-20 on a Harrison Butker field goal.

Rashee Rice was a key figure in the comeback. The Chiefs were pinned close to their end zone line, Patrick Mahomes found Rice for 47 yards.  His fourth and 3 grab that went for 19 yards kept the final drive going before the game-winning field goal.

If Rice was the lightning, Kareen Rush was the thunder in the second half.  He finished the day with 30 carries for 104 yards, giving KC a 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receive  in a game for the first time this year.

The defense stopped Colts cold in the second half, giving up only five first downs and giving up first downs on only two of seven Colts chances.  They dominated the fourth quarter, holding the ball for 10:39 of the quarter’s fifteen minutes and stopping the Indianapolis passing game as well as its rushing attack.

Patrick Mahomes set a new passing record in the game. His 352 yards (but no touchdowns) put him past the 35,000 yard mark for his career. It was his 123^rd game, breaking Matthew Stafford’s record of 126.

The Chiefs avoided falling below .500 with the win. The loss was only the third of the season for Indianapolis. They lead the AFC South by a game over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Chiefs have a short week before their Thanksgiving game in their original home town against the Cowboys, who have struggled to a 5-5-1 season.  The Cowboys had won their last two games but they’re giving up a lot of points—314 so far. The Chiefs have given up only 201.

CARDINALS)—The Cardinals are laying the groundwork for free agent signings, trades, or promotions from the minors in coming weeks.  They’ve decided not to offer contracts to four players, including Yohel Pozo, who finished second in all of the major leagues with seven pinch-hit runs batted in. They’ve also non-tendered reliever John King and minor league pitcher Sem Robberse. They’ve DFA’s reliever Jorge Alcala. It’s thought Pozo could come back with a minor league contracts next year.

There are three guaranteed contracts: William Contrares, Sonny Gray, and Noen Aranado. Seven more are eligible for new contracts—Nolan Gorman and Alex Burleson, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbar, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante, and JoJo Romero.

Three players have guaranteed contracts==Nolen Aranado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contrerras. The list of players eligible for new contracts stands at seven: JoJo Romero, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbar, Andre Pallante, Matthew Liberatore, Nolan Gorman, and Alex Burleson.  Pre-arbitration contracts have been offered to 27 other guys.

Two top minor leaguers are hoping to head north with the team after spring training next year—J. J. Wetherholt and Brycen Mautz.

Wetherholt has been named the Cardinals’ Minor LeaguePlayer of the Year. He’s considered the fifth overall prospect in the majors. A left=handed batter, he hit .306 in 109 games last year, one of six minor leaguers to exceed .300/400/510 last year with 17 homers, 28 doubles, a pair of triples, 23 steals, and 59 RBIs playing for Springfield (double A) and Memphis (triple A). The last player to do that in the Cardinals system was Ted Savage, fifty-nine years ago.  Savage bounced around among  eight teams in his ten-year major league career.

Mautz was a second-round draft pick in ’22 and was the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the year this year. He was in double-A last summer, started 25 games, went 8-3 with a 2.98 ERA in 25 starts. He fanned 135 and walked only 33 in 114.2 innings as he led Springfield to a Texas League championship.

(ROYALS)—Catcher Salvador Perez has been named he captain of the Venezuelan team in the World Baseball Classic that will be played in March.

The Royals have are gambling that reliever Alex Lange can return to major league level after he missed most of last season. Lange’s deal is worth $900,000 in 2026 with $100,000 in performance bonuses, a source told MLB.com. He will make $2.5 million in his two-year contract and will be under Royals control through 2028. Lange was DFA’s by the Tigers on November 12. He was in one game for the Tigers last season before going on the injured last season after surgery on a right lat injury. When he returned, he was sent to Toledo in triple-A. He was released after posting a 4.64 ERA.

With the Tigers in 2022-23 when he was in 138 games with a 3.55 ERA, and rang up 26 saves in 32 opportunities. He’s a home town boy who went to Lee’s Summit West High School before going to LSU and becoming a first-round pick by the Cubs.

The Royals have signed infielder Jonathan India to a new deal after his first season with the team. He came over from the Reds. He’d been considered a possible non-tender player after hitting .233 last season. His deal is worth $8 million, a million dollar raise from 2025.

But the Royals are cutting loose J. J. Melendez and pitcher Taylor Clarke. Melendez didn’t seem to match his promise although showing good power. He was a second-round pick in 2017 who made his major league debut in 2022. Last year, he was in just 23 games and hit .083 with five hits in sixty at-bats before being sent down to Omaha. He had 20 homers and 64 RBIs at Omaha and hit .261 last season.

Clarke was in 51 games for Kansas City last year, posted a 3.25 ERA, had one save, and was 1-1. He’ll be 33 next year.

The Royals have offered contracts to their arbitration-eligible players: outfielder Kyle Isbel, infielders Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia, and Michael Massey, and pitchers Kris Bubic, Angel Zerpa, John Schrieber, Daniel Lynch IV, and Bailey Falter.

Now, the speedy stuff:

(INDYCAR)—Immortality, at least as long as sterling silver lasts, has come to Alex Palou, the winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500 as well as his fourth IndyCar championship. His image joins the images of all of other 500 winners of the race on the Borg-Warner Trophy.

He had never won a race on an oval until last May when he got past former winner Marcus Ericsson and led the last thirteen laps. He’s the first driver from Spain to make it to the trophy.

Seeing his image on the big trophy provoke emotions that other winners have felt when they saw their images for the first time. “I know that it’s always going to be there forever, if I race one more year or if I race 50 more years. And whatever the history of INDYCAR is going to be, it’s always going to be there. So, it’s great to be part of all those amazing drivers. And, yeah, I feel that now. I want to get that face again on that trophy. Try and be part again of the history of our sport.”

Palou’s image joins that of 2024 winner Josef Newgarden and 110 other images on the trophy created in 1936.

(Roger Penske and Josef Newgarden with their Baby Borgs after Newgarden’s 2024 win)

The trophy has the image of only one non-winner of the race. Long-time track owner Tony Hulman, who rescued the Indianapolis Speedway from destruction after World War II, and owned it until his death in 1977, is portrayed by a gold image.

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Another former Formula One driver is moving to IndyCar—Mick Schumacher, who has signed with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He’s the son of Michael Schumacher, a seven-time world champion. He’s part of a team that includes veteran Graham Rahal and IndyCar Rookie of the Year Louis Foster.

It’s a new chapter in Schumacher’s life after a career in F1 and in endurance races. He’s never raced on an oval. Six of next year’s races are on ovals. He’ll run his first race for RLL on the St. Petersburg, Florida street circuit on March 1.

(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen repeated his victory on the glitzy streets of Las Vegas, taking a first lap lead over points-leader Lando Norris and running away from any challenges. It was the third F1 race in the States this year as the series hopes to build its constituency in this country.

Norris crossed the finish line in second place twenty seconds behind Verstappen with George Russell third and Norris teammate Oliver Piastri fourth.

But Norris and Piastri were disqualified because the skid plates under their car were short of specifications, relegating them top 19^th and 20^th place in the race and allowing Verstappen to take a bite out of Norris’ points lead.

The results put Verstappen and Piastri 24 points behind Norris with two races to go.

(Photo Credits: Mahomes—KC Chiefs; Mevis: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images © Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images; Palou—Indycar; Penske and New Garden—Detroit News)

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”

The truth in that observation by newspaper humor columnist Erma Bombeck many years ago was carried out in our sports venues in the past several days.

In baseball, the World Series ended in laughter for the Dodgers and great pain for the Blue Jays, an underdog team that carried a dream of baseball superiority into the into the final two outs of the seventh game when the Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning, the first such blast World Series history. Scintillating defensive plays forced the game into the eleventh when the Dodgers got the winning run and the silent Toronto crowd realized their hopes for their first championship in 32 years were dead.

In football, the Chiefs played their way out of the playoff picture, for now, falling once more to the Buffalo Bills in Bufalo 28-21, dropping to 5-4. There was a time when Patrick Mahomes was unique and a unique offense generated points by the hands full.  But the game has caught up with them.  Joe Burrows at Cincinnati and Josh Allen at Buffalo also started displaying magic.  Last year it was clear the rest of the league had caught up to the Chiefs in terms of talent and innovation.  Last year’s run to the Super Bowl for the Chiefs was a matter of breaks. This year the breaks aren’t coming but opponents have adapted to the KC style and have gathered talent to be a stronger match for Kansas City. Burrows still is out with a turf tow problem but Allen was the superior quarterback with a better team last Sunday.

The thin line between laughter and pain was no better carried out in sports last weekend than in the NASCAR race at Phoenix Sunday.  Denny Hamlin, desperate to win his first NASCAR Cup championship in his 22-year career, wanting to win it for his dying father, had command of the race with only a couple of laps to go when a flat tire by one of  his competitors for the title, William Byron, that sent his car into the wall and brought out a caution flag.  While several drivers hit the pits for two tires, Hamlin’s crew gave him four—-a decision that put him eighth for the restart, with several cars between him and rival Kyle Larson—-too many to work around in those last two laps.

Larson finished third in the race and won the championship without leading a single lap in the final race, a circumstance that might emphasize the demands for NASCAR to change its playoff system after Joey Logano’s championship last year in which he got into the playoff field on a tecnicalty.

Hamlin, who started on the pole and led 208 of the 319 laps, got back to fifth. “We were 40 seconds from a championship. It’s just unfortunate,” Hamlin said. “…It’s just, gosh, you work so hard. It’s just this sport can drive you absolutely crazy because it’s just that sometimes speed, talent, all that stuff just does not matter.”

Someone who can appreciate Hamlin’s situation is Carl Ewards, who saw his championship hopes vanish in a late-final race collision, and left racing, feeling that he had accomplished all of his personal goals in driving a race car at its maximum level, and realizing he wanted to live a fully life after racing with all of his physical and mental faculties intact.

Hamlin earlier this year signed a two-year contract extension that he says will be his last contract, motivated by some of the same things that Edwards cites—-wanting to leave the sport on his terms.

Ryan Blaney won the race but he wasn’t among the final four that fought for the title in the last race of the year.  Blaney won his championship in 2023.

And finally, this week brought an end to the Andretti family’s hopes that one of them would win another Indianapolis 500.  Marco Andretti, grandson of 1969 winner Mario, announced that he would not be back for a 21^st 500 and would retire from racing at age 38 to spend time with his daughter, his outside-racing ventures, and writing a memoir he’ll call “Defending the Dynasty.”

Marco (on the right) with father Michael and grandfather Mario, finished second once and third three times in the 500. Father Michael, in fifteen 500s as a driver was second once, third twice. Mario ran twenty-nine 500s was the runner up twice and crossed the finish line in another race.

In 1992, when Marco was five, the Andrettis were the first family to have four drivers competing in the same racing series.

Jeff, John, Michael and Mario. Michael and Jeff were Mario’s boys. John, who died in 2020, was the son of Mario’s brother, Aldo.

Next years race will be the first 500 since 1954 without an Andretti in it.  The four Andrettis combined for 79 starts in the Indianapolis 500.  They finished in the top ten 32 times, in the top five 16 times, ran second four times and third six times. John also competed in NASCAR for seventeen seasons.

John was the first driver to try to do “the double,” competing at the Indianapolis 500 and then running the 600-mile race at Charlotte that night. He was tenth at Indianapolis and was 36^th at Charlotte after dropping out with engine trouble just past the halfway point.

Michael hold the record for the driver leading the most laps (431) in the 500 without ever winning. However, as a team owner, his drivers won six 500s.

(MIZFB)—The football Tigers had the weekend off, an important bye for their new starting quarterback, true freshman Matt Zollars, who finished the Vanderbilt game after the ankle injury to beau Pribula. His backup will be reshirt junior Brett Brown, who came back to Missouri in September.

Zollars showed outstanding composure in finishing the game 14 of 23 for 138 passing yards. One of the passe was for a game-tying touchdown. His last one, as time ran out, was compoete to the six-inch line. It would have sent the game into overtime.

The Tigers are at home against third-ranked Texas A&M Saturday afternoon. They’re now 6-2 with four regular season games and a bowl game left as they try to win ten games in a season for an unprecedented third straight time. They’ll go into the game ranked 17^th and 19^th in the polls.

(MIZBB)—Missouri’s basketball season opened with a win on the road, 88-67, against Howard University.

Seven-foot Center Shawn Phillips dominated on the inside with a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds—Missouri outrebounded the Bison 47-28.

Freshman Guard Jayden Stone came off the bench for 13. Transfers Luke Norweather and Jevon Porter combined to match Phillips’ totals. Anthony Robinson II had eight points, four assists, and three steals.

The women’s team opened at the Hearnes Center with a 78-71 win over Central Arkansas. Shannon Dowell had 21 points and a dozen rebounds. Jordana Reisman also had a double-double for Missouri with a dozen points and ten rebounds.

(MORE BASEBAL)—The best-fielding shortstops in major league baseball are from Missouri. The Cadinals Masyn Wynn and the Royals Bobby Witt Jr., have been awarded gold gloves, the first of the off-season awards presented.

Wynn is the youngest gold-glove winner in Cardinals history at 23 years and 191 days. That breaks the record of third baseman Ken Reitz, who was 24 years, 96 days in (can it be so long ago?) 1975.  He is the 100^th GG winner in Cardinals history. He’s the fourth shortstop to win it (Edgar Reneteria, Ozzie Smith, and Dal Maxwell). He had only three errors in 501 chances this year.

Witt has won two of the gloves. Also winning a Gold Glove teammate and third baseman Maikel Garcia, who joins George Brett as the only Third Basement gold glovers in Royals history.

(FREE AGENTS)—The end of the World Series is the beginning of the free agent and trade season.  Royals outfielder, and former Cardinals outfielder, Randal Grichuk declined a $5 million mutual option yesterday and is in the market for a new team.  The Royals also have exercised their $1.5 million buyout option for pitcher Michael Lorenzen, another mid-season addition who made 26 starts and one relief appearance and posted a 4.64 ERA.

The Cardinals and Mike Mikolas are parting ways. He is the only free agent listed in the first batch out.

(Photo credits: Chiefs vs. Bills—Paramount Plus; Three Andrettis—USA Today; Four Andrettis—RACER; Kyle Larson—Bob Priddy at Indianapolis)

(CHIEFS)—-The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense sputtered in the first half against the Washington Commanders last night but outran them with three touchdowns in the second half. The 28-7 win moves them to 5-3 for the year. Washington drops to 3-5, equaling last year’s loss total when the Commanders made it to the playoffs.

Patrick Mahomes, who had only two interceptions in the first seven games this year threw two picks in the first half against Washington.  Mahomes, who turned 31 on September 17 after breaking Peyton Manning’s record for young quarterbacks, connected for two touchdown passes in the second half.

One of those touchdown passes went to Travis Kelce, giving him 83 TDs to tie Priest Holmes for mot all-purpose touchdowns. Kelce finished with 99 yards receiving. Rashee Rice had nine catches for 93 yards and rushed for twelve more as Mahomes came up one yard short of 300.

Kareem Hunt has the other two touchdowns for Kansas City.

The Chiefs are one game behind Denver in the division standings. They’re at Buffalo next weekend. They’ll play the Broncos two weeks later.

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers have the next weekend off before facing Texas A&M, ranked third in both major polls this week.  When they take the field against the Aggies they will be without Beau Pribula and likely will not have him back for the rest of the regular season. Pribula tore three ligaments in his left ankle when it was dislocated during a tackle in last weekend’s game against Vanderbilt. In most cases, such injuries result in broken bones but not in Pribula’s case.  No surgical repairs are needed.

Recovery from the ligament injury generally comes after six weeks of being in a cast and/or a boot to immobilize the injured area and then rehabilitation sessions.  The Tigers play their last game before that recovery period is over. After being off this week, Missouri has five games left, making his return more likely for a bowl game than for a regular season game.

Before exiting, Pribula had passed for eleven touchdowns and 1,685 yards and had run for five more TDS.

His replacement, true freshman Matt Zollers, has played impressively in the limited time he has had, most of it in the closing minutes of the Vanderbilt loss. He has two weeks to take snaps as the number one quarterback. His performance in the last five games could determine how deeply into December the Tigers will go in the bowl schedule—and whether Coach Drinkwitz will have a difficult decision to make on who will start the bowl game.

Missouri is 19^th and 20^th after the tough loss to then-number 10 Vanderbilt, one of those games that often hinges on which team gets The Big Play.  Vanderbilt got it with the 80 yard touchdown run by Makhilyn Young that put the Commodores up 10-3 in the third quarter. Mizzou tied the game before Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia got the winning score on a one-yard plunge.

The win moved Vanderbilt up to ninth in one poll and dropped it to 11^th in the other.

(MIZ BIG QUESTION)—-With Mizzoui’s third-string quarterback now number one, who slots in as his backup. None of the other four quarterbacks listed on the pre-season roster have ever played a down in college. The two most likely number one backup to the number three quarterback are Tommy Lock, cousin Drew and nephew of Andy, who is 6-feet-3 and from Lee’s Summit, and Brett Brown, a Tennessee native who is 6-1, 185.  Both Lock and Brown are graduate students who got their degrees in August.

(MIZBB)—The game didn’t count but it was hardly the typical pre-season game we often see teams play as exhibition contests.  Missouri’s basketball exhibition against Kansas State had the look and the feel of a regular season game built on the rivalry intensified by Missouri’s defection to the SEC a long time ago.

It had a familiar feel—a full tilt race to get more points at the end that the other team got. The two teams combined for 105 points in the last twenty minutes.

The point total should not have been a surprise. Missouri has three returning starters and seven lettermen back from last year’s team that was ninth nationally in scoring (83.6 ppg).

The tendency in a 100-91 game is to wonder who was playing defense.  In this game, Missouri played enough defense to keep Kansas State down by double figures most of the way and  it looked pretty impressive offensively doing it.  Missouri shot 54.8% from the field, scored 54 points in the paint and got 29 points off of fast breaks. Missouri was also good at the free throw line, going 26 of 34.

The game was the 238^th between the Missouri and K-Sate but the first one that doesn’t count in the season standings. Missouri and Kansas State were rivals through the Missouri Valley, Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and finally the Big 12. They’ll play another exhibition game against each other in Manhattan next year. (ZOU)

(THE BASEBALL)—a phrase used by Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea.  By this time next week, the season will be over and players and money will be moving.  Until then, the Royals and the Cardinals are watching prospects in the Arizona Fall League.  Anne Rogers with her Royals Beat newsletter has been keeping tabs on KC’s seven players.

Right-handed pitcher A. J. Causey, impressive in his first season out of the Universitys of Tennessee in High-A has found the AFL more challenging. Four appearances, seven runs in 4.2 innings, but with seven strikeouts.

Righty Dennis Colleran, who moved up three levels to Double A this year, pitching 66.1 innings with a combined 2.85 ERA has three scoreless AFL innings with four K’s and two walks in three games.

L. P. Langevin, a product of Louisiana-Lafayette missed part of the minor league season with a right lat strain has yet to allow a hit in limited action in the AFL, three and three in the strikeout-walk department and one unearned run.

Pitcher Logan Martin, a righty out of the University of Kentucky, started 22 games in High A this year and put up a 3.45 ERA in 91.1 innings. In Arizona he has pitched 5.2 innings, given up four runs with four walks and one strikeout.

Lefty Hunter Owens, a Vanderbilt product, spent this year in Double A, had nineteen starts and three relief appearances in which he gave up 3.8 runs per nine innings. He missed parts of the year with shoulder tenderness but struck out 107 batters in 94.2 innings.  In Arizona he’s had some problems in his two appearances. Six runs, 11 hits, four strikeouts and a walk in 4.1 innings.

Catcher Blake Mitchell, who signed out of Sinton Texas High School had surgery on a broken wrist but got into 49 High-A games. He struggled after coming back from the injury and hit only .209 with one home run.  In Arizona he also has struggled and is hitting .167 but has taken a dozen walks.  Defensively, he’s fine behind the plate.

Shortstop Daniel Vazquez, a 2021 International Free Agent, is making up for missed time in the regular season by hitting .357 in Arizona with five stolen baes and eleven RBIs in eleven games.

Center Fielder Carson Roccaforte has hit .294 in his first nine games of the AFL after posting an .862 OPA in High A. Bottom of Form

(SLUGGER)—Louisville Slugger has announced its finalists for its annual American League Silver Slugger Awards. National League winners will be announced on November 6, with American League winners announced the next day. Managers and coaches cast the ballots for the best hitters at each position.

Two Cardinals are on the National League nominees list, both listed as utility players: Alex Burleson and Brendan Donovan.

The Royals have first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., Catcher Salvador Perez, and utility man Maikel Garcia.

(ROONEY and BUCK)—-There’s a personal angle to a wonderful recognition for a kid who once asked the Missourinet for a job.  And I told our boss, Clyde Lear, we needed to hire him as our first sports director when we got ready to have one.  Somewhere in the company files now at the State Historical Society in Columbia is the pencil-written job application for John Rooney.

John is one of the ten finalists for the highest honor a baseball broadcaster can have—the Ford Frick Award at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

And there’s Joe Buck who has done baseball games on FOX Spors for 26 years. He also called 17 years of Cardinals games and has broadcast a couple-dozen World Series.

That kid has just finished his 39^th year broadcasting major league baseball games for the Twins, the White Sox, and now for the Cardinals. He’s also called some games for FOX Sports and in his younger days he was a CBS radio voice for the NCAA Tournament and for other games.

Also on the list is Skip Caray, son Harry, who was going sportscasts on Columbia radio station KFRU when this correspondent was in college.

The winner will be announced December 10 during the winter baseball meetings. Induction will take place in late July when the Hall announces its latest honored players.

One of those who nominated this year’s slate is another familiar name to Missouri sports fans: Bob Costas.  Among those who will make the selection is longtime Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews.

Another sport has a final four—

(NASCAR)—NASCAR has narrowed the number of drivers with a change at the NASCAR Cup to four. The big difference in this sport when compared to stick and ball sports is that the racing field remains full throughout the run-off. As many as forty drivers might be on the track at Phoenix next Sunday when the championship will go to one of those four who is highest in the finishing order.

Actually, eight of the biggest names in NASCAR will decide whose driver will be this year’s NASCAR Cup Champion:

Joe Gibbs Racing

Hendrick Motorsports

Chevrolet

Toyota

Byron

Briscoe

Hamlin

Larson

Three of the four drivers want their first Cup. Kyle Larson won the Cup in 2021. William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin are looking for their first.  Briscoe and Hamlin drive for Gibbs. Larson and Byron run for Hendrick.  Hendrick uses Chevrolet engines. Briscoe and Hamlin drive for Toyota.

Byron raced his way into the final four with a dominating rim on the tight half-mile flat track at Martinsville, starting from the pole and leading 304 of the 500 laps, the last 44 after getting past Ryan Blaney, who had to win to make the final four.

Christopher Bell became the odd man out when Larson claimed the fourth and final slot, seven points ahead of Bell.  But with Hamlin, Byron, and Briscoe guaranteed in the final four by winning the three final cutdown races, Bell,  seven points behind Larson in the regular points standings, was  out of the finale.

(Photo Credits: Mahomes—NFL; Byron—Bob Priddy, Indianapolis 2025; Logo—Louisville Slugger; Zollars—Reddit; Rooney and Buck–St. Louis Cardinals)

(CHIEFS—-We seldom see one NFL team dominate another one as completely as the Kansas City Chiefs overwhelmed the Las Vegas Raiders Sunday. The final score of 31-0 with five minutes left in the third quarter was enough for Coach Andy Reid to pull many of his starters.

By then, Patrick Mahomes had throw for 286 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to the newly-returned Rashee Rice.   He completed passes to nine different receivers.

The Chiefs scored on their first five possessions and racked up 434 total yards. The Raiders ran only thirty plays, the fewest in more than two daces by an NFL team. They had only two first downs by plays and one on a penalty, and totaled only 91 yards of total offense.

The Chiefs had a 21-2 advantage in first downs. They had a 275-51 edge in yards, and that includes six meaningless yards that Jeanty gained on the final run of the half. And the Chiefs became the first team since at least 2000 to start a game with three TD drives of at least 80 yards, allowing them to consume nearly 21 minutes of the first half. At the end of the game, they had controlled the ball for more than 42 minutes.

The shutout was the first by the Chiefs’ defense in ten years.

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers played one of those games where both teams had a chance to put a dagger in the other team’s hopes but neither team could put the other one away.

So they played an overtime. And then they played another one before, at last, Missouri got the first big break, and the winning touchdown on a three-yard run by quarter back Bo Pribula and a second break with a sack of Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold to end the second overtime and let Missouri walk wearily away with a 23-17 win.  Missouri goes to 6-1 and is now eligible for an early December bowl.  How late in December they will play depends on their next five games. Auburn lost its fourth straight game after three season-opening wins.

For the second straight week, the other guys’ defense stopped Ahmad Hardy from any ground-gobbling runs, holding him to an average of less than three yards a carry although he did power his way to two short-yardage touchdowns.

Things don’t get any easier next week when the Tigers are on the road against Vanderbilt. The Commodores are no longer the conference door mat. They beat then 10^th ranked  LSU Saturday to also reach 5-1. It will be another match of ranked teams. Vanderbilt has climbed to 10^th in the AP sportswriters poll. Missouri is up two slots to 15^th.  In the Coaches poll, Vanderbilt is 12^th and Missouri is 14th.

(MIZEAST)—Former Tiger standout guard Sean East has signed with the Utah Jazz after spending a year with the Edmonton Stingers in the Canadian Elite Basketball Leag. He started 25 games, average more than 23 points a game, almost five assists and more than 4 rebounds each game.

East was a Tiger for two years and averaged 17.6 points per game in his second year, 2023-24, a down year for Missouri but a solid year for East, who led the team in scoring and assists and was the team leader from outside the arc. (ZOU)

(BASEBALL)—Until the World Series is over and the big time wheeling and dealing starts, the Arizona Fall League is offering a chance to see into the long-term future.  The Cardinals have nine players considered among their best in the minors: Five are right-handed pitchers: Chen-Wei Lin, Randel Clemente, Darlin Saladin, Tyler Bradt, and D. J. Carpenter. There are two outfielders: Travis Honeyman and Miguel Ugueto. Catcher Graysen Tarlow rounds out the group.

There might be some guys with better shots next spring to come north with the team, but the Fall League is giving the front office a chance to evaluate others with possibilities—

Some observers put Lin near the top of the field although he had a mediocre season at Springfield (AA). He made 15 starts but gave up more than six earned runs a game. He walked 37 batters in 46 innings but had 61 strikeouts. He’s from Taiwan, stands 6-7 and

Another one high on the evaluation list is Darlin Saladin, a starter/reliever this year who split his starts and his relief appearances equally through 26 games with High-A Peoria. 94.2 innings, 4.85 ERA. But they like his live arm.

Travis Honeyman missed all of the 2024 season but came back to hit .284 in 289 at-bats. The Fall League will give him mor at-bats to build on those numbers. He played in both LowA and High A ball last summer.

Then there’s Randel Clemente, right-hander from the Dominican Republic. He’ll be 24 soon who climbed through three levels of the minor leagues before finish the year at Springfield.

(ROYALS)—The AFL will give Royals catcher prospect Blake Mitchell is a non-roster invitee. He suffered broken wrist bone that shortened his minor league season. He missed spring training and had a setback that lasted until July 8. But in 2024 he was the George Brett Hitter of the year for the Royals farm system. He struggled in the batter’s box this year but the team liked his place discipline that saw his chase low and away pitchers only 20 percent of the a time. He walked almost 22 percent of the time although he had a 34% swing and miss percentage.

The Royals also will be watching shortstop prospect Daniel Vazquez who hit .260 for the Quad Cities last summer.

Outfielder Carson Roccaforte was the Frank White Defensive Player of the Year for the Royals. He hit .290 for Double-A Arkansas this year.

Four pitchers are in the fall league for Kansas City.  Left-hander Hunter Owens had some injury problems this year but when hew as healthy he had a 3.80 ERA for Nothwest Arkansas (AA) with 107 Ks in 94 2/3 innings. He’s 6-6.

A.J. Causey throws from the right side, a former University of Tennessee reliever who looked awfully good in High A ball—73 1/3 innings, 75 strikeouts. He had a whiff rate of better than 40%.

Right hander Dennis Colelran already has had Tommy John Surgery. He was a reliever for the first time this year who went 66.1 innings with 72 strikeouts and a 2.,85 ERA in three levels of work this year.

Right hander Dennis Langevin started the season on the injured list and only made 14 apperances but they were impressive enough to get him an invited for baseball in the desert.

And righty Logan Martin, who was a starter in High A Quad cities this year. 78 strikeouts in 91.1 innings. 3.45 ERA.

Now, from fastballs to fast cars:

(NASCAR)—A year ago at this time, Chase Briscoe was with a dying team and uncertain about his future. Today he’s with one of the premier teams in the sport and in two weeks will be one of four drivers running for the NASCAR Cup.

Briscoe’s survival of Talladega and his last-lap pass that brought him the win that puts him in the final four, along with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.  In the usual Talladega Superspeedway last turn scramble for the finish line, Briscoe beat Todd Gilliland to the checkered flag by .145 of a second.

The leaders coming into the green-white-checker two lap shootout began with William Byron and Kyle Larson on the lead row.  Larson ran out of fuel on the final lap after Bubba Wallace had grabbed the lead but Briscoe got to the front and took Gilliland and Ty Gibbs with him to the finish line ahead of Wallace.

The win is his third this year, the fifth of his career.

Next weekend is the last race to set the four-driver final championship field. More than 35 drivers will crowd the small Martinsville track with six drivers fighting for the last two spots in the Championship race at Phoenix in a couple of weeks.

Briscoe drives one of the two cars on the circuit sponsored by Misouri businesses.  Johnny Morris’s Bass Pro Shops sponsors his car.  Anheuser-Busch backs the car driven by Clay Chastain.

(INDIANAPOLIS)—2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power made his first race at Indianapolis since losing his ride with Roger Penske and moving over to Andretti Global for the 2026 IndyCar season.  But his return was in a Mercedes-AMG competing in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, an eight-hour endurance race on the Speedway road course.  He was one of three drivers in the car, joined by fellow Australians Kenny Habul and Chaz Mostert.  It was Power’s first sports car race in 22 years.

“I have been meaning to do, and wanting to do, some GT racing for some time,” Power said ina pre-race interview.”It’s different, and I’ve wanted to feel it and see how I go. This is a good start at a track I know, and if I do a good job and if I like it, I’d like to do some more.”

The race was stopped for two hours by lightning in the area.  Power and his teammates were running fourth at the end but wound up sixth after taking a 30-second time penalty for unauthorized work being done in the pits during the stoppage.

Another IndyCar veteran, Connor Daly, was part of the team that finished fourth

(Photo credits: Missouri vs. Auburn t-shirt: JNJ Apparel Store; Briscoe: Bob Priddy; Power at Indianapolis; Richard S. James, RACER Magazine.)

(CHIEFS)—It’s interesting what the Chiefs can do with a little speed in the lineup. The return of Xavier Worthy and his deep threats helped the Chiefs rack up their highest points total in two years in a 37-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Chiefs have evened their record at 2. It also is the first time since week twelve of last year that they have run up 30 points.

Worthy had five catches for 83 yards and he added 38 more on two carries in his first game since his shoulder injury at the start of the year. Patrick Mahomes threw for four touchdowns and became the young4est player ever to throw for 250 touchdowns.

The game was a milestone for Coach Andy Reid who has become the first NFL coach to coach more than 200 regular season games for two franchises. He was 130-93-1 in fourteen seasons in Philadelphia. He’s 145-55 with Kansas City. He also is the only coach to win 100 or more games with two franchises.

The Chiefs have a Monday night game next week with the Jacksonville Jaguars who have opened 3-1.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers took care of business against the University of Massachusetts in their homecoming game Saturday with a 42-6 win that puts them 5-0 with an off-week ahead to get ready for the Alabama Crimson Tide squad that upset Georgia last weekend.

The win Saturday has moved the Tigers up one slot in the coaches poll, to 18^th. The Tigers also moved up one place in the AP poll, to 19^th.

Recruiting—

Mizzou has picked up a couple of top-level defensive recruits, one of them a big takeaway from an SEC rival. Micah Nickerson had verbally committed to Mississippi State but less than a week after watching Missouri beat South Carolina, he decided to be a Tiger. He’s a four-star defensive end, 6-5, 215, considered the 43^rd defensive end in the nation for the class of 2026.

Adding to the class is Hutchinson Community College DE Demarcus Johnson, the top junior college player in the country. He’s a 6-7 edge rusher.

(MIZBB)—Hard to believe…but basketball season is upon us. The new team already is on the court. The Tigers held their first official team meeting on September 22 and the first official practice was the next day. “Fight plus Focus” was the theme for the first workouts.

Here’s an interesting video of the beginning of the pre-season:

Bing Videos    (ZOU)

(BASEBALL)—For those who struggle to stay alert for the playoffs unless the Royals or the Cardinals are involved, this is it. After 162 games in eight months, the long winter already is settling in and only hope for a warmer future will get us through the cold and gray months ahead.

Our teams were mediocre at best all year long, a disappointment in Kansas City, unsurprising in St. Louis

(CARDINALS)—The season ended with a whimper for the Cardinals who lost six of their last ten games to finish six games under .500.  John Mozeliak is now history and Chaim Bloom will take a shot at rebuilding the team for 2025.

Two big names have indicated they might soften their no-trade stances. Nolan Arenado says he is willing to expand his list of teams for which he’d like to play. And Sonny Gray feels the same way.

Losing Arenado might not be too traumatic. His glove ass still good and he only struck out 49 times in 401 at-bats. But he hit only .237 with a dozen homers and only 52 RBIs.

Gray, however, was the biggest winner on the pitching staff at 14-8 despite his 4.28 ERA and 201 strikeouts. He tied for fourth in the National League in wins (the top NL pitcher had only 17), ranked sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (more than 10), led the league with 5.3 Ks for each walk, and was eighth in innings pitched (180.2)

But we might have seen he last of players such as fan favorite Lars Nootbar (.234 with as many hits as strikeouts—119 each—in 509 at-bats), Jordan Walker III (.215, with only 78 hits and 126 strikeouts), Victor Scott (.216, with 107 Ks in 396 at-bats), and Nolan Gorman, with 136 strikeouts in only 351 at-bats).

Bloom might be looking for more punch for a team with a .245 team BA and 1,321 strikeouts in 5433 at-bats. Only one NL team had a worse batting team batting average–.242. All of that being said, it should be noted the entire NL batting average this year was .247 and the batting champion, Trea Turner of the Phillies, set a new major league record for the lowest highest batting average for the season, .301. Eric Burlison and Brendan Donovan were sixth and eighth with averages of . 290 and .287.  Luis Arraez of the Padres had the most hits—only 181. But was a big year in MLB for home runs with Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies beating Shohei Ohtani 56-55 to win that contest.

Gray finished six games over .500. Michael McGreevy showed great possibilities by going 8-4 in 17 games with a 4.42 ERA.  The team was six games UNDER .500 although those two were ten ABOVE.  Ryan Helsley had 21 saves before leaving. The rest of the bullpen staff combined had that many.  Miles Mikolas surely is gone (8-11, 4.84, gave up 29 homers in 31 games). Andre Pallante (6-15, 5.31) and Matthew Liberatore (8-12, 4.21) didn’t live up to expectations. The Cardinals used 24 pitchers this year who had a combined 4.29 ERA and allowed 179 home runs in 162 games.

(ROYALS)—The Royals won six of their last ten to finish 82-80 but  missed the wild card slot by five games. Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino became the first Royals teammates to hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs each.

Six American Leagues batted above .300 with Aaron Judge’s .331 topping the list. The Royals’ Maikel Garcia was ninth at .286. Bobby Witt led the major leagues in hits with 186 and in doubles with 47. He was fourth in triples. Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh set several records as he led the league in homers with 62, becoming the seventh player to hit 60 or more, breakking Mickey Mantle’s record for switch hitter homers,  and breaking Salvador Perez’s record of 48 for catchers.

As a team, the Royals hit .247, three points above the league average. The Athletics led the league at .252.

Royals pitchers had a combined ERA of 3.73.  Rookie Noah Cameron was impressive with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts. The only other Royals rookies to finish their rookie season are Paul Splittorff with a 2.68 in 1971 and Kevin Appier, who finished 1990 at 276.

The Royals look to 2026 with a strong core pitching staff with Cole Ragans looking impressive in his last appearances of the year after coming off the injured list. Seth Lugo is solid, Michael Wacha pitched better than his losing record shows, and then there’s Cameron.

The season didn’t turn out as well as KC fans had hoped, given the playoff appearance last year. But the Royals look to 2026 far less unsettled than the Cardinals do.

Going around—

(NASCAR)—A furious final two laps at the Kansas Speedway finished with Chase

Elliott finding the right holes to go from eighth to victory lane and into a guaranteed position in the final eight drivers eligible for the Cup.

Elliott wove his way through a gaggle of fiercely-competing Toyota drivers to put his Chevrolet in the lead by a victory margin of less than seven-hundredths of a second over Denny Hamlin who seconds before had been in a fierce fight for the lead with Bubba Wallace. Hamlin finished second with Christopher Bell third.  Chase Briscoe, who started form the pole for the ninth time this year, was fourth and Wallace wound up fifth.

Hamlin drove the last segment of the race and held the lead until the last pit stops in which a problem with the jack slowed tire changing and put him sixth for the final run. He had worked his way to third and when Wallace and Bell were battling each other, Hamlin slipped past them into the lead. But as he and Wallace battled, Elliott slipped underneath them, the fifth lead change in the last two laps.

The series moves to the road course inside the Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend. Shane Van Gisbergen, who fell out of the championship field last week, has eon the last four road course races,

(NASCAR FUTURE)—Here’s a name to watch: Connor Zillisch. He’s just 19 year old and won his ninth race of the year on Saturday at Kansas, still racing with a broken collarbone.

(INDYCAR)—It sometimes takes a while for the winner of any sport’s most important event to fully absorbe the importance of what they have done.  The realization recently came to Alex Palou, the winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500 when he sat in a sculptor Willam Behrend’s studio in Asheville, North Carolina as his face emerged from clay.

Alex Palou, 2025 Indianapolis 500 race winner, during the formal sitting with William Behrends for creating the silver image on the Borg-Warner Trophy at William Behrends Studio on Sept. 18, 2025, in Tryon, N.C.

The clay bust will be used to cast in sterling silver a tiny image of Palou’s face that will be placed on the Borg-Warner trophy that is permanently held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His image will join those of Ray Harroun, who won the first 500 in 1911, Tommy Milton, who became the first driver to win two of the races in 1923, Louie Meyer, who in 1936  became the first to win three of the races—and who started the tradition that Palou followed this year of celebrating the win with a drink of cold milk—and A. J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., Rick Mears, and Helio Castroneves, the only drivers to win the 500 four times.

Eight winners of the trophy at the Indianapolis start/finish line: Front row (L-R) Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato. Back row: Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter Reay. Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya

“To know that I can come to the (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Museum in like 40 or 50 years, or wherever that trophy is, and see my face and hopefully remember the memories I’ve created this year, it makes it super special. I know my name and face will be there forever,” he said during the carving session.

For as long as sterling silver and the Borg-Warner Trophy exist, Alex Palou’s face will be part of it and the racing history it preserves.

There’s other stuff going on with IndyCar in the off-season—

The latest Formula One driver to check out an IndyCar is Mick Schumacher, wo will make test runs at the Speedway on October 13.  Schumacher is the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, who won five races when Formula One ran the Indianapolis road course in the early 2000s. He’ll test a car owned by Rahal Letterman Lanegan Racing. He has been running in the World Endurance Car circuit the last couple of years.

Although Alex Palou dominated the series this year with eight wins and 13 podium finishes, a record number of drivers finished in the top three places in the seventeen races this year.

IndyCar’s Curt Cavin records that it has been a decade since so many drivers posted podium finishes in the series. This year, 16 of the 27 regular series drivers had at least one change to spay the campaign, including Scott Dixon who had his 145^th top-three, extending his record.

Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard, celebrated six times. Kyle Kirkwood was on the podium three times this year, each time on the top step.

David Malukis will move into Will Power’s seat with Penske racing next year. Power has moved on to Andretti Global. He drove for Foyt Racing this year. Foyt has a technical alliance with Penske and it had been assumed that Malukis would move to Penske after Power’s contract expired. Malukis finished second in the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Indycar will be back on March 1^st with its traditional season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

(Photo Credits: Scott R. LePage, Indycar; Borg Warner, Trophy; Bob Priddy, Elliott)