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Buccaneers' Shilo Sanders may have jeopardized chance to make 53-man roster
Saturday was not a good day for Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders, two players competing for a spot on the 53-man roster of their respective teams, the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hours after Shedeur took more sacks (five) than completions (three) and had a heated moment with Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, Shilo was ejected from the Buccaneers' preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. "Bucs S Shilo Sanders has been ejected from tonight's game following an unnecessary roughness penalty," Scott Smith of the Buccaneers posted on X. Shilo appeared to take exception to Zach Davidson hitting and blocking him after a play had ended before the rookie took a swing at the Bills' tight end. The ejection came at a bad time for Shilo, who was competing with Kaevon Merriweather and Rashad Wisdom for the No. 4 safety spot on the depth chart. Before the game, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles said that Shilo's output against the Bills would be big in his evaluation before the team has to trim the roster to 53 players by Tuesday. "Shilo's very aggressive, very young, very hungry," Bowles said. "He can make plays in the box and we know he can run down and give us 100% on special teams, so this last week is going to be very important for those guys to show up." Following the ejection, Shilo lost critical playing time to show his strengths on the field. He also showed the coaching staff a short temper and cost Tampa Bay with an unnecessary penalty. Shilo will end his preseason with four total tackles. He has shown he has the talent to be in the league, but Shilo's role will likely be as a practice squad player until his play and mental strength develop.
Phillies get terrible injury news on ace starting pitcher
The Philadelphia Phillies received the update they did not want to hear on Saturday. Starting pitcher Zack Wheeler is going to miss the remainder of the 2025 season due to thoracic outlet syndrome, the team announced. He will have surgery to correct the issue with a recovery time of six to eight months. There is no way to sugarcoat this for the Phillies — this is brutal news and a potentially crushing blow to their World Series chances in the National League. While they still have a strong rotation and two excellent front-line starters in Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez, Wheeler is their unquestioned ace and has been one of the best overall pitchers in the National League since he joined the Phillies prior to the 2020 season. The Phillies are still pretty much a playoff lock at this point and entered the weekend with a six-game lead over the New York Mets in the National League East standings. But taking a front-line starter away from them this late in the season is going to be impossible to replace. With Wheeler, Sanchez and Suarez, they would have had a fierce trio to throw at teams in a short series (or a best-of-seven series) that could have stacked up with anybody. Sanchez and Suarez are still going to give them a great chance, but it's definitely not what they wanted. Prior to Saturday's announcement, Wheeler had a 2.71 ERA and was leading the league in both strikeouts (195) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.7) pitched. He also has the lowest WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched) in the league (.935).
Big Ten's College Football Playoff expansion idea is 'absurd,' ESPN host says
Rece Davis doesn't want to see the College Football Playoff expand to two dozen or more participants. The longtime host of ESPN's "College GameDay" said on Saturday, per On3's Nick Schultz, that the Big Ten Conference's idea being floated around that could grow the CFP to 24 or 28 teams is "absurd." Davis made his comments on ESPN just before No. 17 Kansas State and No. 22 Iowa State were set to battle in the opener of the 2025 college football season from Aviva Stadium in Dublin. According to a recent report by ESPN's Pete Thamel, the Big Ten's idea is in the early stages of being discussed. This proposal would eliminate conference title games and offer a sizable number of automatic bids to the four power conferences. "I’m just going to say this flat-out: I don’t believe they’re serious about this,” Davis said on "College Football Countdown," per Schultz. "I believe this is like when you go to sell your house, and you say, 'I’m going to ask $1 million more than I’m willing to settle for.' They’re trying to get something back on the other side because on its face, this is absurd. It’s absurd, on its face. So they have to be looking for something else. That’s my guess." CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello reported on Aug. 18, citing sources, that the Big Ten's CFP expansion idea isn't off to a great start and has caught stakeholders off guard. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti recently floated the two expansion models to athletic directors in that conference, per Marcello. The Southeastern Conference, the other dominant league in college football, was later informed. Others conferences weren't told about the idea until reports leaked out, according to Marcello. A CFP executive said to CBS Sports, "We sound like immature children throwing garbage against the wall." Per Thamel, in the 28-team model, the Big Ten and the SEC would each command seven automatic bids, while the ACC and the Big 12 would both get five. There would then be two auto bids for non-power-four conferences and also two at-large teams. At the conclusion of the 2025 season, there will be a 12-team CFP. The event also had 12 participants last season, with Ohio State winning, and before that, four teams. Over the past year or so, stakeholders have discussed potentially expanding the CFP to 16 participants. However, an agreement hasn't been reached due to different conferences wanting a different number of automatic bids versus at-large teams, according to Thamel.
Kansas State HC defends controversial fourth-down call, blames field conditions in Ireland
Unexpected slugger challenging Shohei Ohtani for NL MVP
This season, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is on the cusp of two ultra-rare feats. In MLB history, Barry Bonds is the only player to win three straight MVP awards — he won four consecutively — and he is also the only player to win more than three in his career, as he won seven total. If Ohtani can manage another MVP season this year, he will have won his third straight and his fourth total, joining two separate clubs consisting of just one other player, though Bonds sits alone in two higher clubs of his own creation. But in Ohtani’s quest to make history, there is one surprising slugger standing in the way. When we think of Philadelphia Phillies power-hitter Kyle Schwarber, second-deck home runs are usually the first thing that comes to mind. Truth be told, Schwarber has never really hit for average. His career batting average stands at .232, and his career-high average of any season is .266. Still, this has never prevented him getting on base at a high rate. Typically, players who aren’t well-rounded in all major metrics don’t see as much consideration for MVP honors. However, the NL MVP race seems to be coming down to Ohtani and Schwarber. This season, there aren’t many players excelling at hitting for both power and average. Currently, there are no hitters in the NL with a home-run total of at least 30 and a batting average of at least .290. This leaves an opening for Schwarber, who received MVP votes every year for the past three years, peaking at 15th in the voting. Below are Ohtani and Schwarber’s 2025 stats and their NL rankings in each: In most major stats, both these stars sit at or close to the top. And the fact that Ohtani’s stats lag far behind last year’s blowout performance only works to Schwarber’s advantage. Even Schwarber’s success rate in stealing bases is higher than Ohtani’s this year — and Schwarber’s sprint speed is in the mere 14th percentile. But is Schwarber really the frontrunner for NL MVP? Although Schwarber is having an incredible year, his numbers fall short of Ohtani’s. With 34 games left, there is still time to close the gap, but there is one other aspect of Schwarber’s game that makes his intriguing MVP case just slightly doubtful: He is primarily a DH. There has only been one primary DH win an MVP, and that was Ohtani last season. This season, the Dodgers’ two-way star is both a DH and a pitcher. But that raises yet another question. Ohtani returned to the mound on June 16, having missed over an entire year (in terms of pitching) due to an elbow injury which required Tommy John surgery. Since his return, Ohtani owns a lackluster 4.61 ERA in 10 starts. The Dodgers have been cautious with Ohtani, who is yet to have an outing that lasted at least 4.2 innings, and it isn't clear if Ohtani will be able to return to form before the season is over. Whether or not this will hurt his MVP case remains to be seen, but it surely won’t help unless he can improve. Pitching aside, Ohtani is the current MVP frontrunner. But to say that Schwarber is far behind would be an exaggeration.
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