The St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans scored on its first five possessions and held on in the second half to beat Monticello 40-28 in Illini Prairie Conference season-opening high school football action Saturday afternoon in Monticello.

Saturday's action was a postponement of Friday night's season opener due to weather in central Illinois. 

The Spartans scored on the first play from scrimmage when junior quarterback Kodey McKinney found Tim Blackburn-Kelly for an 80-yard touchdown on a wide receiver screen pass.

On the ensuing possession, Monticello was driving but a twice tipped ball was picked off by St. Joe and McKinney ran in a touchdown from 68 yards out to put the Spartans up 13-0. 

St. Joe would add scores of four and seven-yard passes from McKinney to Tanner Siems and Coy Taylor scored his first of two touchdowns to round out the first half from one yard out. 

The Spartans led 34-7 at the intermission. The only Sages touchdown came with 1:32 left when senior quarterback Ike Young ran in a touchdown from 13 yards out. 

However, in the second half, Monticello grinded back into the game thanks to a four-yard touchdown pass to Nolan Buehnerkemper and a three-yard pass to Carter Foran to bring Monticello within 34-21. 

However, St. Joe would find the end zone on one final touchdown reception by Taylor to put the Spartans ahead 40-21.

The Sages got one final score on a quarterback sneak by Young to make it 40-28 late in the game.

McKinney finished an efficient 13-for-15 for 177 yards and threw four touchdowns while running for another. He finished with 89 yards on the ground on six carries.

Taylor had four receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown while he had ten carries for 82 yards and a score.

Young finished 20-for-48 passing for 303 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. In his first varsity start, the senior ran for 84 yards on 16 carries with another two scores. 

Buehnerkemper had eight receptions for 61 yards while Foran had ten receptions and 158 yards and a touchdown.

Senior Russ Brown also had six catches for 53 yards for Monticello.

St. Joseph-Ogden goes to 1-0 on the season and takes on Tolono Unity next week.

The Sages start 0-1 for the third straight season and travel to IVC next Friday night. Kickoff is at 7 pm and can be heard on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

As heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons defeated the East Alton Wood River Oilers by a score of 57-0. The Maroons were led by quarterback Keaton Graves, who had a stand-out night. 

The Oilers struggled to make anything happen on offense, with a big but weak offensive line it was hard for them to make any progress downfield. 

Clinton's blowout gives them a 1-0 start to the season, and the Oilers fall 

Tune in next week as Clinton takes on Marquette Catholic at 7 pm on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM WHOW.

Friday night's season-opening football game in Monticello has been postponed to Saturday at noon.

Severe weather rolling through the area delayed the teams getting on the field before the game even started and the decision to postpone the game came about 30 minutes before kickoff. 

Monticello was set to host St. Joseph-Ogden in Illini Prairie Conference high school football action for week one. 

Last year's game in St. Joseph was delayed around 90 minutes due to severe weather. 

The Spartans have won the last two matchups against the Sages.

Game time on Saturday is at noon and can be heard on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Last week was the Week 0 scrimmage for IHSA. The Clinton Maroons took on the Heyworth High Hornets in an interesting format. Each team was allowed 24 plays on offense, and 24 plays on defense. No special teams plays were allowed and IHSA officials were present. Head Coach Ron Bass believes this is good for the players to prepare for the season.

Tonight, Clinton High School takes on East Alton Wood River at home. Coach Bass says there will need to be some improvements on offense. They are still unsure on positions in the offensive line, and who will be playing quarterback. 

Clinton opens the season hosting East Alton-Wood River tonight at 7 pm. Hear the action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Heart of Central Illinois (Small)

Fisher at Heyworth
LeRoy at Central A & M
Meridian at MFieldcrest
Warrensburg-Latham at Tuscola

Heart of Central Illinois (Non-Conference)

Ridgeview-Lexington at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley
El Paso-Gridley at Braidwood-Reed-Custer
West Hancock at Dee-Mack
Newton at Shelbyville
Peru St. Bede at Tri-Valley
Seneca at Tremont

The Monticello Sages return nine of 11 defensive regulars from last year's 5-5 squad that lost a heartbreaker to DuQuion in the first round of the high school football playoffs.

It's going to the force that leads a generally offensively explosive Monticello team under Hall of Fame Coach Cully Welter. Coach Welter says it'll be important his team be very good on defense this year.

Monticello's offense will be led by senior quarterback Ike Young. While a first-year starter, Coach Welter says Young's athleticism is unquestioned with a commitment to play college baseball at Illinois.

Monticello hosts St. Joseph-Ogden who's had the Sages number of late, winning the last two matchups. While the Spartans graduate a dynamic quarterback, they bring back what Coach Welter calls one of the best receiving groups in 3A.

With 18 seniors on this year's team, Coach Welter is hoping the experience of his team will guide them this fall. 

Hear tonight's action starting at 7 pm on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

Tonight in the Illini Prairie Conference

Bloomington Central Catholic at Pontiac
IVC at PBL
Tolono Unity at Prairie Central

Week 1 high school football matchups

Big Twelve

Bloomington at Danville
Champaign Centennial at Peoria
Normal Community at Peoria Richwoods
Peoria Notre Dame at Normaly West

Central State Eight

Springfield Lanphier at Lincoln

Lincoln Prairie

Arcola at Nokomis
Argenta-Oreana at Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond
Oakland Tri-County at Sangamon Valley
Toledo-Cumberland at Cerro Gordo-Bement
Villa Grove at Sullivan-Okaw Valley

Sangamo

Auburn at Williamsville
Maroa-Forsyth at Athens
Petersburg-PORTA at Olympia
Pleasant Plains at New Berlin

Non-Conference action tonight

Canton at Eureka
Champaign Central at Springfield 
Charleston at Rantoul
Decatur MacArthur at Mattoon
Edwardsville at Chatham-Glenwood
Galesburg at Dunlap
Jacksonville at Pittsfield
Metamora at Sterling 
Morton at Mahomet-Seymour
Mt. Zion at Limestone
Richland County at Taylorville
Peoria Manual at Normal U-High
Rolling Meadows at Pekin
Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin at St. Louis Christian Brothers (MO)
Springfield Southeast at East Peoria
Streator at Decatur Eisenhower
Urbana at Decatur St. Teresa

8-Man Football

South Fork at FBlue Ridge
Pawnee at Champaign St. Thomas More (Sat.)

In a game heard here on WHOW, Luke Altmyer threw for 213 yards and a career-high four touchdowns to lead Illinois to a 45-0 victory over Eastern Illinois on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

Altmyer spread the wealth while completing 19 of 24 passes. Eleven receivers caught passes, three for touchdowns. Pat Bryant had two TD catches, giving him 11 for his career. Malik Elzy and Tanner Arkin also caught TD passes.

Kaden Feagin led Illinois’ rushing attack with 16 carries for 108 yards. It was his first career 100-yard game. He ran for a touchdown and so did Josh McCray. Aidan Laughery ran for 79 yards on 10 carries.

Illinois scored on all five of its trips to the red zone, out gained Eastern Illinois 486-196, and had 27 first downs to the Panthers’ nine.

Four Eastern Illinois turnovers were turned into 24 points. Miles Scott caused a fumble and had an interception.

Corey Seager hit his 200th career homer and Nathan Eovaldi pitched seven scoreless innings, leading the Texas Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the lowly Chicago White Sox on Thursday.

Eovaldi (10-7) matched his season high with 10 strikeouts in his second straight win. The right-hander was working on a no-hitter before Gavin Sheets hit a leadoff single in the fifth.

The White Sox (31-104) dropped their seventh consecutive game. They are 4-33 since the All-Star break, moving closer to the franchise record of 106 losses in 1970. The team also is on track to break the majors' modern record for most losses - 120 by the 1962 New York Mets.

Kirby Yates surrendered Andrew Benintendi's 15th homer with one out in the ninth, and then struck out Andrew Vaughn and retired Sheets on a grounder to second for his 25th save in 26 tries.

The Rangers have won three straight and five of seven overall. They finished a sweep of the season series against the White Sox.

Chicago rookie Nick Nastrini (0-6) retired his first 10 batters before Seager connected for his 30th homer of the season, a solo shot deep into the right-field patio in the fourth. A seated Seager also made a strong throw to first on Nicky Lopez's grounder to shortstop in the eighth, stranding two runners.
 

Masyn Winn hit a solo homer while Sonny Gray threw six strong innings in leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday to earn a split in the four-game series.

Winn, a rookie, scored the game-winning run Wednesday after he hit a two-out single to start the ninth inning rally. In the four games against San Diego, Winn produced nine hits in 17 at-bats.

Iván Herrera and rookie Victor Scott II each added two hits for St. Louis. Scott recorded his first career bunt single.

Gray (12-9), who had lost his three previous starts, checked the Padres to three hits and a run with no walks.

Ryan Helsley earned his MLB-leading 41st save in 44 opportunities by pitching a 1-2-3 ninth.

Michael King (11-8) pitched 4 1/3 innings before leaving with the bases loaded. He allowed two runs on six hits and four walks.

St. Louis struck for two unearned runs in the third. A walk to Alec Burleson and a two-base error by shortstop Tyler Wade on a grounder by Nolan Arenado set the table. Luken Baker grounded out, scoring Burleson. With two outs, Paul Goldschmidt doubled home Arenado.
 

New track, new colors and renewed confidence for Ferrari as the Formula One team heads into its home race at Monza.

Ferrari did better than expected at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc earning a second straight podium finish and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. surging from 10th on the grid to place fifth.

That was a surprise in what was expected to be a weekend of damage limitation before planned car upgrades at the Italian Grand Prix.

Although it was a well-timed morale boost for a team which started 2024 fighting for wins but had dropped out of contention, Leclerc was quick to temper expectations.

Indeed, Ferrari has only won one of the past 13 editions of the Italian Grand Prix, with Leclerc delighting the passionate red-clad fans in 2019.
 

The LeRoy football program is embracing the excitement and expectations this fall.

Coach BJ Zeleznik says his team had a tough ending with Althoff Catholic knocking them off in the second round of the 1A playoffs but that fueled his team in the offseason. He calls it a valuable experience.

The Panthers will be led by Bo Zeleznik who anchors the offense at quarterback. But Coach Zeleznik says he has a great supporting cast around him.

Coach Zeleznik says his team is very close. But he also has good depth this year. 

The Panthers will host Central A&M to open the season on Friday, Aug. 30.

A young group of offensive linemen surprised one of Central Illinois' elite high school football coaches last year and because of that, there's a lot of excitement in a Heart of Illinois football program.

Tri-Valley football coach Josh Roop says he had a very young group of offensive linemen last year but they exceeded his expectations en route to an undefeated season and a quarterfinal loss to the eventual state champions in Class 2A Wilmington.

Coach Roop says his team lost some dynamic players off last year's team but he has a lot of confidence in the kids he has coming back for this year.

The Vikings have had some really good players go through their program over the years and Coach Roop says they can sometimes get reliant on one or two guys to be the primary playmakers but he feels this year he has really good depth at his skill positions.

The Vikings host Peru St. Bede to open the season on Friday, Aug. 30. 

Rookie Victor Scott II had a career-high three hits and scored the run that snapped a scoreless tie in the seventh, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.

Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson each added two hits apiece in the nine-hit attack for St. Louis.

The Cardinals won the final two games to take the series after losing seven of their previous nine games. It was the seventh shutout win this season for St. Louis.

The Central Division-leading Brewers had won six straight games before the consecutive losses to the second-place Cardinals, who still trail Milwaukee by 10 games.

Andrew Kittridge (2-4) picked up the win with one inning of work. Ryan Helsley pitched the ninth to earn his major league-leading 39th save in 42 opportunities.

Miles Mikolas went six innings. He gave up no runs and allowed two hits with three strikeouts and a walk, throwing 90 pitches. He hasn't defeated the Brewers at Busch Stadium since Aug. 14, 2022.

Cardinals RHP Andre Pallante (5-6, 4.07) will face Minnesota RHP David Festa (2-2, 4.96). Pallante will be making his first career start against the Twins and at Target Field. Pallante is 0-3 in four interleague starts this season.

Miguel Amaya hit his first career grand slam and drove in a personal-best five runs, and the Chicago Cubs pounded the Detroit Tigers 10-2 on Thursday to take the three-game series.

Justin Steele (4-5) struck out a season-high 10 in seven innings, and the Cubs came away with an easy win as they try to make up ground in the race for the National League’s third wild card. They are 11-7 in August.

Amaya provided a huge spark from the ninth spot in the batting order, giving the Cubs a 4-0 lead in the second inning with his drive to left against reliever Kenta Maeda (2-6). He also capped a four-run seventh with an RBI single off the ivy in left-center, though he got thrown out stretching for a double.

Cody Bellinger doubled and scored in the third. He also singled in a run in the fourth to make it 6-0.

Steele gave up two runs and four hits. He threw 94 pitches without a walk, helping the Cubs improve to 25-15 in interleague play.

Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run homer in the seventh. Maeda got tagged for six runs and nine hits in five innings, and the Tigers dropped two of three against Chicago after winning six of seven.

Things took a bad turn for Detroit after Tyler Holton retired all three batters in the first.

Amaya connected against Maeda in the second after Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson singled. He came through with two outs, driving the first pitch he saw out to left for his sixth homer this season.

Bellinger added to the lead in the third when he led off with a double and scored on Hoerner’s bases-loaded groundout. The Cubs scored again in the fourth when Ian Happ doubled off the center-field ivy and Bellinger drove him in with a two-out single.

NASCAR docked Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin 75 points and 10 playoff points Thursday, eliminating any shot he had at winning the regular-season title and making his path toward a championship more difficult.

The hefty penalty was handed down because Hamlin’s race-winning engine from Bristol Motor Speedway in March was rebuilt by manufacturer Toyota before NASCAR could tear it down and inspect it. The sanctioning body also fined Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, $100,000.

Toyota Racing Development self-reported the “grievous mistake,” as TRD president David Wilson called it, and NASCAR issued the same penalty that would get handed to any team that alters its engine before being inspected.

Hamlin, who was third in the Cup standings and 28 points behind leader Tyler Reddick, drops to sixth and out of contention for the regular-season title with two races remaining. His playoff points fell from 21 to 11, leaving him less room for error in the opening three races of the postseason.

Wilson said the manufacturer takes full responsibility and added that Hamlin’s team, Joe Gibbs Racing, was not involved in the engine disassembly.

NASCAR has just two races remaining in the regular season and a pair of competitions are on the line.

Tyler Reddick earned his second win of the season Monday at Michigan International Speedway, giving him the points lead in a closely contested, four-driver race for the regular-season championship.

Reddick is 10 points ahead of Chase Elliott while Kyle Larson is within striking distance.

Reddick moved past Larson into the top spot in the Cup standings, and his win opened another spot in the playoffs because he was one of 12 drivers who already earned an automatic bid with a victory.

That leaves four spots available in the 16-car playoffs with races left at Daytona on Saturday night and Sept. 1 at Darlington.

Five drivers have a shot to get in without a win, but at least one will be left out.

Martin Truex Jr. is No. 13 in the playoff standings with a 77-point cushion over the cutline, but no lead in the format can be considered safe.

Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain currently have the final three spots and Bubba Wallace slipped to 17th, one point behind Chastain.

Kyle Busch, who won his first stage of the season on Sunday and finished fourth, is among the drivers who have to win to get in.

Austin Dillon will be among the desperate drivers, needing to get to a checkered flag first to extend the season, unless he wins an appeal on Wednesday or a subsequent option to fight NASCAR’s decision to revoke his spot in the playoffs.

Dillon was 17th in the FireKeepers 400, a week after he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap to win at Richmond.

Reddick, meanwhile, is at the front of the pack in points thanks to his consistency, leading the series with 11 top-five finishes and 17 top 10s out of 24 races.

He also won at Talladega four months ago in his No. 45 Toyota for 23XI, which is owned by Hamlin and Michael Jordan, to put himself and team No. 1 in points for the first time.

One wreck, as a slew of drivers experienced at Michigan, can change a lot of things in any race and in the standings.

Larson, who was the BetMGM Sportsbook favorite to win the race, lost control of the No. 5 Chevrolet on lap 115 and several cars were tangled up in the mess.

A few laps later, Logano took his damaged No. 22 Ford to the garage and Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota took a hit to stunt the relative success the on-the-bubble driver was having in the race.

The pileup led to Logano finishing 33rd, with Larson one spot behind and Wallace 26th, pushing him from No. 15 to 17 in the playoff standings for the 16-car field.

Practice and qualifying for Daytona is at 4 pm this afternoon and race time is at 6:30 pm Saturday.

There are five races left in the regular season before Xfinity’s 12-team playoffs begin..

Riverton native Justin Allgaier came back from the back of the field and came through a side-by-side battle with Sheldon Creed on the final overtime lap to win Daytona’s summer race last year. Allgaier won by 0.005 seconds, a edge of about 12 inches at the 2.5-mile track. Daniel Hemric was third, followed by Parker Kligerman and Cole Custer was fifth.

After Daytona, there’s Darlington, Atlanta, Watkins Glen and Bristol. Defending series champion Custer continues to hold the lead this season with a 12-point edge of Allgaier. 

There are eight drivers locked into the playoffs, led by Shane Van Gisbergen who’s won three times on the series. Others with wins include Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Custer, Allgaier, Riley Herbst and Jesse Love. Ryan Sieg is 12th on the grid, three points ahead of Sammy Smith.

The XFinity Series races tonight at 6:30 pm.

The Craftsman Truck Series begins its ten-team playoffs this weekend when they race on the Milwaukee Mile Sunday afternoon at 2 pm. 

Last year, Grant Enfinger dominated in the series return to the Milwaukee Mile, winning the pole, taking both stages and leading 95 of 175 laps for the victory. The win was a boost for the team last year, which earlier in the week learned that owner GMS Racing was shutting down the program. Enfinger is racing this season for CR7 Motorsports.

Corey Heim, with five victories this season, leads the field at the Milwaukee Mile. Christian Eckes is second and Ty Majeski third. The rest of the championship field is Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Enfinger, Tyler Ankrum, Taylor Gray, Ben Rhodes and Daniel Dye. 

After Milwaukee, the playoffs go to Bristol and Kansas before the field is cut to eight.

Last year, Heyworth football had a season to remember, going 7-2 in the regular season and hosting a first-round playoff game.

Under first-year Coach Scott Godfrey, the Hornets are working towards an encore performance. Coach Godfrey indicates the summer has been spent getting to know his new athletes and installing his system.

Coach Godrey will want his Heyworth football team to control the football in the running game. Defensively, he wants his kids flying to the ball. 

The Hornets will return their quarterback from last season who has multiple years playing varsity football as well as several players on its offensive and defensive lines.

The Hornets will open the season hosting Fisher on Friday, Aug. 30. 

Korey Lee hit a tiebreaking two-run single that highlighted a four-run ninth inning as the Chicago White Sox snapped a four-game skid with a 6-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.

Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi drew consecutive walks off Erik Miller (3-4) with one out in the ninth. After Andrew Vaughn reached on an infield single, Miller struck out Gavin Sheets. Then, Lee singled on a 2-2 fastball from Spencer Bivens, giving the White Sox a 4-2 lead. Lenyn Sosa followed with another two-run single to help seal the win.

Robert and Sheets had two hits apiece and Vaughn added two RBIs as MLB-worst Chicago won for just the third time in nine games.

Rookie Fraser Ellard (1-1) retired three batters and earned his first win in the majors. Former Giants reliever John Brebbia, the last of five Chicago pitchers, worked the ninth as the White Sox closed out a 2-4 road trip.

White Sox leadoff hitter Nicky Lopez tripled off the wall in center field to begin the game and scored on Benintendi's groundout.

After a sacrifice fly by Vaughn in the fourth inning made it 2-0, the Giants tied it in the bottom of the inning with two runs off White Sox starter Garrett Chrochet.

San Francisco's Jerar Encarnación and Thairo Estrada drove in runs off Crochet in the fourth.

Crochet allowed two runs and four hits in four innings, striking out four and walking one.

Following an off day, Sox RHP Chris Flexen (2-12, 5.46 ERA) faces the Detroit Tigers on Friday. The White Sox have lost each of Flexen's previous 18 starts. Hear Friday's action on WHOW. 

Nolan Arenado hit a grand slam in the 10th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 10-6 comeback victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

Arenado’s fifth career walk-off homer and sixth career grand slam gave the Cardinals their second win in their last eight games and snapped the Brewers’ six-game winning streak.

The Brewers led 6-4 after Joey Ortiz’s two-run double in the eighth inning.

But the Cardinals capitalized on Devin Williams’ control issues as the Brewers’ closer suffered his first blown save of the season. Williams hit Willson Contreras to start the ninth and St. Louis tied the game at 6-all with bases loaded walks to Matt Carpenter and Tommy Pham.

Ryan Helsley (5-4) pitched a scoreless 10th. Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson pitched 5 1/3 innings, while allowing two runs on seven hits, striking out five and walking two.

Brewers starter Tobias Myers allowed two runs on six hits in four innings. He struck out five and walked two. Trevor Megill (0-3) took the loss.

Pham’s sacrifice fly scored Arenado to break a scoreless tie in the fourth. Masyn Winn followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0 Cardinals.

Arenado had three hits and a walk to extend his on-base streak to 20 games.

Ortiz had a sacrifice fly in the fifth and William Contreras’ RBI double for the Brewers in the sixth tied the game at 2-all.

Jackson Chourio’s two-run single in the seventh gave Milwaukee a 4-2 lead. The rookie went 4 for 5 with 2 RBIs, scored a run and stole his 18th base of the season. At 20 years, 163 days, he became the youngest player with a four-hit game since Juan Soto on June 20, 2018, according to MLB.com.

Luken Baker’s two-run homer in the seventh tied the game at 4-all. It was Baker’s first career pinch hit homer and the third straight game that a Cardinals pinch hitter has gone deep. St. Louis is also the last team to turn the feat in a stretch from April 29-May 1, 2021.

It was Baker’s first at bat this season since being called up from Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday.

The Brewers will start RHP Freddy Peralta (8-7, 4.00 ERA) on Thursday against Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (8-10, 5.41 ERA).

 Riley Greene, Trey Sweeney and Kerry Carpenter homered, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 8-2 on Wednesday night.

Detroit won for the seventh time in nine games, bouncing back nicely after losing 3-1 to Chicago in the series opener on Tuesday. Greene, Sweeney, Carpenter and Parker Meadows, who had three hits from the leadoff spot, were among seven left-handed batters in the Tigers' starting lineup for the matchup with Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon.

Brant Hurter (1-1), the second of five Detroit pitchers, worked 3 2/3 innings for his first win in his fourth major league appearance. The 6-foot-6 left-hander was struck by Seiya Suzuki's comebacker in the sixth, but he stayed in the game for one more batter.

Chicago, which is trying to make up ground in the race for the third NL wild card, dropped to 10-7 in August. It had won three of four.

Christian Bethancourt hit a two-run homer off Hurter in the fifth, but the Cubs (62-65) left six runners on base on manager Craig Counsell's 54th birthday. Taillon (8-8) pitched five innings of six-hit ball.

The Tigers broke it open when they scored four runs in the ninth against Jack Neely in his big league debut. Greene singled home Zach McKinstry before Carpenter hit a three-run shot on a 3-0 fastball for his 12th homer of the season.

Detroit (62-65) jumped in front on Sweeney's first homer in his third major league game. With Jace Jung aboard on a leadoff walk in the second, Sweeney drove a 2-1 curveball into the basket in center at Wrigley Field.

The ball bounced back onto the warning track and Sweeney stopped at third before the umpires confirmed it was a home run.

Sweeney, a first-round pick by the New York Yankees in the 2021 amateur draft, was acquired in the Jack Flaherty trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers last month. The Louisville, Kentucky, native played college ball at Eastern Illinois and had his parents in the stands Wednesday night as part of a large contingent of supporters.

Greene capped Detroit's four-run second with his own two-run shot, a 422-foot drive into the bleachers in right-center for his 18th homer. It was the first hit for the All-Star slugger since he was activated from the injured list on Sunday after being sidelined by a right hamstring.

Justin Steele (3-5, 3.10 ERA) pitches for Chicago on Thursday in the finale of the three-game series. The left-hander has a 1.23 ERA in 14 2/3 innings over three August starts. The Tigers hadn't announced their starting pitcher.

The Taylorville Tornadoes have what it takes to take a step forward in 2024 after a 5-5 playoff-eligible season last fall.

But Coach Jeb Odom says a step forward is not a guarantee. His team made it through the gauntlet that is the Apollo Conference in 2023 and they'll have to do it again this fall. 

While Taylorville brings back a good amount of talent and they have confidence in that talent, Coach Odom recognizes the Apollo Conference boasts some pretty good football teams this season.

The Tornadoes bring back four offensive linemen, a quarterback with multiple years of varsity experience, and a good group of linebackers.

Coach Odom likes the competitiveness of his team. He says this may be a season his team could potentially platoon in some spots. 

The Tornadoes open their season hosting Richland County on Friday,  Aug. 30. 

In a game heard on WHOW, Robbie Ray matched his season high with nine strikeouts, and the San Francisco Giants beat the lowly Chicago White Sox 4-1 on Tuesday night.

The Sox are back on the WHOW airwaves Friday night.

Cody Bellinger hit a two-run double and Dansby Swanson homered to lift the Cubs over the Tigers, 3-1, on Tuesday night.

Bellinger went 2-for-4 to lead Chicago. Javier Assad (6-3) pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Cubs, allowing just one run on six hits and striking out seven.

Tyson Miller, Drew Smyly and Porter Hodge threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, each allowing a hit, to close the game. Hodge earned his second save.

Swanson hit a solo home run in the sixth, his 10th of the season, to left-center field to extend the lead.

Detroit’s series opener at Chicago was Tigers shortstop Javier Báez’s first game at Wrigley since he was traded by the Cubs to the New York Mets in July 2021. The 31-year-old Báez spent his first 7 1/2 seasons in the majors with Chicago, helping the franchise to a historic World Series championship in 2016. He went hitless in four attempts with four strikeouts. He was greeted with a standing ovation prior to his first at-bat.

Jameson Taillon (8-7, 3.62 ERA) is set to start for Chicago in the second game of the series, while the Tigers had yet to announce a starter.

Frankie Montas pitched seven sparkling innings and Devin Williams escaped a jam in the ninth, helping the Milwaukee Brewers beat the reeling St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Montas (6-8) allowed one hit - Alec Burleson’s single in the fourth - in his fourth start since he was acquired in a trade with Cincinnati. He struck out three and walked one.

William Contreras had three hits for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who earned their sixth straight win. Sal Frelick added two hits.

Montas' seven innings matched his season high and the one hit allowed matched his season low.

Matt Carpenter homered for St. Louis in its seventh loss in eight games. Erick Fedde (8-7) was charged with two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Carpenter’s fourth homer of the season - a pinch-hit drive with Lars Nootbaar aboard in the eighth - got St. Louis within one.

The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but Williams struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman - both swinging - for his fifth save.

Frelick drove in Willy Adames with a two-out single in the second. Frelick also tripled and scored on Joey Ortiz’s single in the fifth.

Contreras doubled home Garrett Mitchell for a 3-0 lead in the eighth.

The Brewers will start RHP Tobias Myers (6-5, 2.81 ERA) on Wednesday night against Cardinals RHP Kyle Gibson (7-5, 4.26 ERA). Myers received a no-decision in the Brewers’ 7-1 win over the Cardinals on May 9 at Milwaukee. Gibson allowed a career-high four homers in his last start, a 9-2 loss at Cincinnati.

In a game heard on WHOW, Matt Chapman hit his 20th home run, Kyle Harrison pitched six strong innings and the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Monday night.

Hear tonight's action on WHOW. 

Sometimes the health of a high school football team can make or break a season.

For Central A&M, that was the tale of the 2023 fall football season. Coach Brent Weakly says his team battled through quite a bit of adversity last year but credits his players for never giving up on the season.

The Raiders will return a lot of experience up front and Coach Weakly feels that will be a huge boost to his team this year.

One thing Coach Weakly has learned over time is the guys up front are what makes your offense go and because he's experienced up front, he likes the potential for his team this fall. Defensively though, he notes they will be young.

Central A&M will start its road to get back to the postseason hosting LeRoy on Friday, Aug. 30.

In a game heard on WHOW, Framber Valdez threw seven sharp innings for his eighth straight win and Yainer Diaz and Jose Altuve homered to help the Houston Astros to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

Hear tonight's action on WHOW.

Rookie Joey Loperfido homered, Bowden Francis threw seven scoreless innings, and the Toronto Blue Jays shut out the Chicago Cubs 1-0 on Sunday.

Loperfido’s solo shot off Shota Imanaga (9-3) in the second was all Toronto needed to end a two-game skid.

Chad Green, the last of three Blue Jays relievers, worked the ninth to secure the shutout and record his 13th save in as many chances.

Imanaga allowed four hits, walked one and struck out six in the first five innings. It was his first loss since June 21, a span of nine starts.

Cubs RHP Javier Assad (5-3, 3.19) is scheduled to open a three-game series against visiting Detroit on Tuesday night.

Shohei Ohtani hit his National League-leading 39th home run and Clayton Kershaw tossed six shutout innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

Miguel Rojas and Gavin Lux had three hits apiece as the NL West leaders won for the seventh time in 10 games.

Lars Nootbaar provided a pinch-hit homer in the eighth for the Cardinals, who have lost six of seven.

Ohtani drilled a first-pitch offering from Sonny Gray over the wall in the fifth to break a scoreless tie. Rojas added a run-scoring single later in the inning.

Kershaw (2-2) allowed four hits and struck out two. The three-time Cy Young Award winner threw 70 pitches in his fifth start since undergoing shoulder surgery in November. It was the longest outing of the year by innings for the left-hander, who made his season debut on July 25.

Michael Kopech picked up his 11th save and second for the Dodgers with a scoreless ninth. He got Nolan Arenado to hit into a game-ending double play.

The Dodgers took two of three in the series to finish a 4-3 trip. They split four games at NL Central-leading Milwaukee.

Gray (11-8) gave up two runs and seven hits over five innings. He struck out six.

Cardinals RHP Erick Fedde (8-6, 3.40 ERA) pitches against Milwaukee RHP Frankie Montas (5-8, 4.86) on Tuesday in St. Louis. Fedde was acquired in a three-team trade from the Chicago White Sox on July 29.

NASCAR suspended the FireKeepers 400 until Monday, running out of time Sunday to run a race that was delayed and interrupted by rain.

On Lap 51 of the 200-lap Cup race, cars went to pit road to wait and see if the rain would go away in time to get at least half of the race completed to make it official and avoid having it spill over into an extra day for the second straight year at Michigan.

The race was set to resume at 11 a.m. EDT.

During driver introductions under dark clouds, Austin Dillon drew some boos and responded by kissing his right palm and waving to the crowd a week after he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin en route to a win at Richmond Raceway.

Hamlin started on the pole after rain washed out qualifying Saturday and precipitation delayed the start of the race, sending cars to pit row after a few pace laps.

Jet dryers did laps to remove at least some of the moisture to make racing potentially possible, but the weather didn’t cooperate.

Two-plus hours later, drivers got back into their cars and Kyle Larson took the lead on the opening lap and was kept it by going 200-plus mph on straightaways and about 180 mph in the turns.

When Larson and Hamlin raced side by side on Lap 36, Bubba Wallace went low and passed them both.

Michael Jordan, who co-owns 23XI Racing team with Hamlin, was seen smiling after Wallace made the move.

A few laps later, Hamlin tried to make up ground behind Wallace only to lose control of the car to bring out the yellow.

Wallace chose to take a pit stop and gave up a chance to win 10 points for the first stage — aiming for a strategy with fuel and tires that might help him win — and Ryan Blaney took advantage to finish first after 45 laps.

There are 12 drivers with a spot secured in the playoffs, leaving four spots open with three races remaining at Michigan, Daytona and Darlington.

Drivers and teams will have a quicker turnaround following the FireKeepers 400 to qualifying on Friday for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday night in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Last year, Argenta-Oreana let a couple of opportunities slip away and just missed out on a playoff appearance.

This year, the Bombers are determined to not miss those opportunities as they look to turn the corner this fall. Coach Clay Haurberg says he is noticing something different about his team this summer.

This year's seniors were thrust into a difficult situation coming out of COVID when Argenta-Oreana made the commitment to bring football back. As freshman, many of this year's seniors were playing varsity minutes but Coach Haurberg believes it is those experiences that have made this group better.

The Bombers have revamped its offense and Coach Haurberg indicates they are very focused on controlling the ball through the run game. He believes the fact his kids are bigger, faster, and stronger should help improve that.

Coach Haurberg called coaching this group 'a blast' and says it is fun to see the football IQ grow as much as it has. 

Argenta-Oreana will open the season at Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond on Friday, Aug. 30. 

Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing brought drama and controversy to an otherwise uneventful Richmond race by spinning Joey Logano and sending Denny Hamlin into the wall at the end to win in overtime and clinch a playoff berth. 

Last week's finish was the talk of the racing world all week and now the top circuit heads to Michigan. 

Two races remain in NASCAR’s regular season after Michigan, with Daytona and Darlington next. Toyota claimed four of the top six spots at Richmond with Dillon and Ross Chastain (fifth) taking the other spots in Chevys. 

NASCAR announced this week Dillon would retain the victory at Richmond however, his spot in the playoffs was revoked after spinning Logano and turning Hamlin in the final turn for the win.

NASCAR's playoff format states a win guarantees a driver a spot in its 16-driver playoff. 

Ford has won the past 10 starts at Michigan, including season sweeps from 2018-20 when the track held two races annually. Rochester Hills, Michigan, native Keselowski seeks his first career Cup win at his home state track after eight top-fives and 14 top-10s in 26 starts. He won in 2009-10 in the Xfinity Series in a Chevy and Dodge, respectively.

Kyle Larson finished seventh at Richmond and leads Tyler Reddick by just five points in the standings with Chase Elliott six back in third. Hamlin - with three victories - finished second at Richmond and stands 21 points back in fourth with Logano 15th after finishing 19th.

Chris Buescher won the second of three consecutive starts before the playoffs, leading the final 12 laps of 52 overall after starting fourth for the victory. Martin Truex Jr. led 47 laps and finished second with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin third, followed by Keselowski and Larson.

Practice and qualifying is at 11:30 am Saturday morning. Race time is 1:30 pm Sunday afternoon. 

The XFinity Series returns this weekend racing at Michigan.

Riley Herbst made a daring last-lap pass of Aric Almirola to earn his first victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to give Stewart-Haas Racing its second consecutive victory on July 20.

Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas have won the last two Michigan races. Reigning series champion Cole Custer holds the points lead by 55 over Justin Allgaier. 

There are six races left in the Xfinity regular season. After Michigan, comes Daytona, Darlington, Atlanta, Watkins Glen and Bristol. The 12-driver playoff starts at Kansas on Sept. 28.

John Hunter Nemechek led twice for 65 laps in a Toyota after starting 10th to earn his fifth of seven victories last season. His laps-led total included the final 23 of a dominant race he won by 1.495 seconds over Josh Berry in a Chevy.

XFinity practice and qualifying is at 2:30 pm this afternoon. Race time is 2:30 pm on Saturday. 

The Craftsman truck series races next weekend at the Milwaukee Mile for the start of its ten-driver playoff. 

Ty Majeski earned his second consecutive victory in the regular-season finale at Richmond last weekend and aims to maintain that momentum when the series resumes with the start of the seven-race playoffs at Milwaukee on Sunday. 

Majeski seized the lead on the final restart with eight laps left and held off series points leader Christian Eckes. Majeski and defending series champion Ben Rhodes are the only Ford drivers in the 10-driver playoff. Eckes claimed the regular-season championship, though Corey Heim enters with a three-point lead by virtue of his five victories this season.

The Maroa-Forsyth football team is going to have to re-tool at some pivotal positions going into the fall but the central Illinois juggernaut feels confident in the options they have.

Coach Josh Jostes enters the fall 2024 football season having to revamp his offensive line and find a new quarterback. He says they can win with whomever they decide to turn to.

According to Coach Jostes, he will tailor his offense and defense to fit what he has in his program. He feels this year he has a lot of very talented playmakers they will look to get the ball to.

Coach Jostes says the credit for his team's success year after year goes all to the kids in his program. He praises not only their work ethic and desire to be successful but also how quality of kids he has.

Maroa-Forsyth opens the season against state-runner-up Athens on Friday, Aug. 30.

GCMS has all the makings of what could be a very fun fall football season.

Coach Chad Augspurger returns a three-year starting quarterback and his entire offensive line. While he will need to fill in some skill positions from a dynamic group that graduated last year, he feels very good about what he has coming into this fall.

Coach Augspurger enters his third year for GCMS and after years and years of a dominant ground game, the Falcons now spread the field. Coach Augspurger likes the way his team is starting to pick up his offense this offseason.

Coach Augspurger says despite a declining enrollment in the school, the turnout to play football in Gibson City is still very strong and the kids are working hard while they're at it.

GCMS opens the season hosting Ridgeview-Lexington on Friday, Aug. 30. 

In a game heard on WHOW, Aaron Judge reached 300 home runs faster than any other player, going deep in the New York Yankees' 10-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.

Judge hit the mark in his 955th game and 3,431st at-bat with a three-run drive in the eighth inning.. The six-time All-Star and 2022 American League MVP drove a 3-0 up-and-in sinker Chad Kuhl into the White Sox bullpen in left for his major league-leading 43rd homer.

Hear Friday's action on WHOW.

TJ Friedl homered twice on his 29th birthday, Jonathan India also hit two home runs and drove in four runs and the Cincinnati Reds completed a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with a 9-2 victory Wednesday night.

Tyler Stephenson also homered to help the Reds sweep a three-game series for the first time since July 2-4 at the New York Yankees.

The Reds have won their fourth straight - the first time that’s happened since they strung together seven in a row in early June - and moved into a tie with St. Louis for second place in the NL Central.

On a bullpen night for Cincinnati, six pitchers combined to allow two runs on 10 hits. Sam Moll (3-1) pitched a scoreless third for the victory.

With one out in the fourth, Will Benson walked and Noelvi Marte singled before India broke out of a 0-for-23 skid by driving a sweeper from Gibson into the seats in left field. Two batters later, Stephenson hit his 16th of the season.

India’s second homer came in the fifth, a 416-foot shot to center. Three batters later, Friedl hit a towering no-doubter to right, then hit another in the seventh off Kyle Leahy.

Elly De La Cruz had a two-out, RBI double in the eighth.

St. Louis starter Kyle Gibson (7-5) allowed seven runs and seven hits, including four homers, through 4 2/3 innings.

Alec Burleson and Nolan Arenado had RBI singles for the Cardinals in the sixth.

The Cardinals were last swept April 19-21 by division-leading Milwaukee.

After an off day, the Cardinals open a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. Starting pitchers haven’t been named.

Alex Cobb earned his first win in nearly a year and Andrés Giménez drove in three runs, sending the American League-leading Cleveland Guardians to a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

José Ramírez, Josh Naylor and Will Brennan also had RBIs for Cleveland, which swept the three-game series and extended its winning streak to five. The Guardians are 72-49 and have the best home record in the majors at 38-20.

Cleveland’s current surge began after it lost a season-high seven straight from Aug. 3-9.

Cobb (1-1) allowed one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and two walks, picking up his first win since a one-hitter for San Francisco against Cincinnati last Aug. 29.

The 36-year-old had left hip surgery last Oct. 31 and was traded to Cleveland on July 30. Right-hander Cobb and lefty Matthew Boyd -- another in-season acquisition coming back from a major injury -- combined to pitch 11 innings over two days.

Jameson Taillon (8-7) allowed four runs in six innings as the Cubs lost their third straight following a four-game win streak. Chicago is 5 1/2 games out of a National League wild-card spot.

Chicago had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Seiya Suzuki tripled high off the center-field wall and scored on Cody Bellinger’s sacrifice fly. The Cubs managed just five hits against four Guardians pitchers.

Naylor doubled in Ramírez, then scored on Giménez’s single in the fourth. In the eighth, Giménez doubled off Julian Merryweather to plate Ramírez and Lane Thomas.

Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (3-10, 6.60 ERA) faces Blue Jays RHP Yariel Rodríguez (1-5, 3.60 ERA) in the opener of a three-game home series Friday.

Austin Dillon’s automatic spot in NASCAR’s playoff was revoked — though he retained his victory at Richmond Raceway — after it was determined the driver “crossed a line” in his intentional last-lap wreck of drivers Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.

Dillon won for the first time in nearly two years in the Cup Series on Sunday night, but the checkered flag seemed out of reach before he spun Logano out of the way and then sent Hamlin into the wall as well — all in the final few seconds.

Logano and Hamlin railed against Dillon’s aggressiveness and the highlight-reel finish set off days of controversy in NASCAR.

NASCAR said Wednesday that Dillon committed “actions detrimental to stock car auto racing” in its decision to kick him out of a spot in the 16-driver field. There are three Cup Series races left before the field is set, starting Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Elton Sawyer, the senior vice president of competition, said NASCAR considered suspending Dillon for his actions. Dillon and the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 team also were docked 25 points in both the drivers’ and owners’ standings. Dillon dropped from 26th to 31st in the driver standings.

Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races for yelling “wreck him!” over the radio as the driver battled with Hamlin down the stretch.

RCR said it would appeal, stating on social media it was “ very disappointed ” in NASCAR’s decision.

In NASCAR’s view, Dillon’s moves went beyond the hard-racing ethos that’s been part of the Cup Series’ DNA since its 1948 inception.

Logano also was fined $50,000 for smoking his tires on pit road as he drove by Dillon and his team.

It was his first win since Aug. 28, 2022, at Daytona. He had just two top-10 finishes this year. Dillon emerged from all the chaos with a victory in his No. 3 Chevrolet. That number was famously driven — often aggressively — by Dale Earnhardt.

The win-and-you’re-in nature of postseason qualification means the difference between first place and second can be massive. In this case — in the moment, at least — it meant the difference for Dillon between another lost season and a championship chase.

He will — the fifth of Dillons’s career over 395 Cup starts. The victory won’t mean much if Dillon is just racing out the string once the final 10-race postseason starts Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NASCAR has run into a spate of contentious finishes over the last few years that forced the sanctioning body to step in and discipline drivers.

NASCAR suspended Bubba Wallace for one race in 2022 after an investigation determined he deliberately spun Kyle Larson at Las Vegas in a “dangerous act” of retaliation. A year later, Chase Elliott was suspended for one race after he deliberately wrecked Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600.

Sawyer apologized for the delay in ruling and said NASCAR would like to get to a point where there are more “on-the-spot” decisions when issuing punishments.

Dillon, of course, could regain a playoff spot with a victory in any of the next three races. Entering Michigan, 12 drivers have their spot secured with four spots open. Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Wallace and Chris Buescher hold the final four spots on points. Michigan, Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway close NASCAR’s regular season.

A semifinal football team in Class 2A last year, the Shelbyville Rams have some big shoes to fill if they are going to return to that place this fall.

Head Coach Bill Duckett says the summer was used to fill in the gaps left by a graduating three-year quarterback and four offensive linemen. He feels confident though because his JV team had a lot of success last season.

The Rams will lean on a very good group of returning skill players this fall. Coach Duckett explains because of the inexperience in some places, they will start basic and build out from there. 

According to Coach Duckett, his defense adjusts to the kids they have. He notes this fall they will be a little undersized so they are shifting back around again this fall.

Coach Duckett believes the athletes he brings back from last year's semifinal team are coming back hungry wanting and putting in the work to get back to that place. 

The Rams host Newton to open the season on Friday, Aug. 30.

Last fall, the Dee-Mack Chiefs had to overcome perhaps more adversity than any team in the Heart of Illinois Conference. 

They are hoping for much better luck this season and that the scar tissue formed from last year will make them better this fall. Coach Cody Myers was proud of the way his team responded to all the adversity of last fall to make the playoffs.

Coach Myers is pleased the numbers in his storied program are starting to recover and he is seeing some kids take the reigns and lead this summer - something he's very proud of.

Because of all the injuries on his team last year, Coach Myers saw several kids step up and get significant varsity snaps and some of those kids will now step into bigger roles this fall.

Coach Myers credits his team's knowledge of the ins-and-outs of the program - what they are doing and why they are doing it. 

Dee-Mack opens the season hosting West Hancock on Friday, Aug. 30. 

In a game heard on WHOW, Juan Soto had his first career three-homer game, Nestor Cortes tossed seven shutout innings and the New York Yankees held off the Chicago White Sox 4-1 on Tuesday night to take sole possession of the AL East lead.

Hear tonight's action right here on WHOW.

Hunter Greene allowed one run through seven innings, Jeimer Candelario hit a two-run homer and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 on Tuesday night to secure a win of the series between the NL Central rivals.

The hard-throwing Greene (9-4) allowed four hits while striking out eight and walking one in notching his third straight win in a game played in one hour and 59 minutes.

Spencer Steer had a two-out, RBI single in the first inning. Ty France led off the second with a homer off the roof of the Cardinals bullpen in right, his 11th of the season.

Candelario smashed his 19th homer with two outs in the sixth.

Cardinals starter Erick Fedde (8-6) went six innings, giving up four runs and six hits and striking out two. He allowed both of Cincinnati's home runs.

Nolan Arenado led off the seventh with a 400-foot homer into the left-field seats to cut the Reds lead to three in what would be Greene's last inning.

Tony Santillan retired the Cardinals in order in the eighth, and Alexis Diaz got them in the ninth for his 24th save in 26 tries. He has 17 in a row.

Cincinnati won the series opener on Monday night 6-1.

Cardinals right-hander Kyle Gibson (7-4, 3.99 ERA) faces Reds right-hander Emilio Pagan (2-3, 4.22) in the finale of the three-game series Wednesday night.

Rookie Jhonkensy Noel hit a 430-foot solo homer in the sixth inning off Drew Smyly, providing the go-ahead run for the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians in a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

Noel’s drive onto the left field porch was his ninth home run in 32 games since making his major league debut on June 26. He had his first two-homer game Monday in the series opener, a 9-8 win by Cleveland.

The Guardians took sole possession of the best record in baseball at 71-49 with their fourth straight victory. They also own the top home mark in the majors, going 37-20 at Progressive Field.

Pedro Avila (4-1) retired two batters for the win, while Emmanuel Clase earned his fourth save in four days - for the first time in his career - to tie St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley for the major league lead with 37.

Guardians starter Matthew Boyd pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run in his first MLB game since June 26, 2023, with Detroit. The left-hander gave up three hits and struck out six without a walk in his return from Tommy John surgery.

Smyly (3-6) gave up one run in 1 1/3 innings for the Cubs, who are 4-3 in their ongoing stretch of 14 straight games against AL teams. They have won 20 of 34 overall since July 4, the third-best record in baseball during the timeframe.

Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon (8-6, 3.50 ERA) takes on Guardians RHP Alex Cobb (0-1, 7.71) in the series finale. Cobb went 4 2/3 innings in his season debut on Aug. 9 at Minnesota.

Having a Division I football prospect on a high school football team in central Illinois isn't unheard of - but to have two headed to a power five school is almost once-in-a-lifetime.

That's the privilege of Mt. Zion football Coach Patrick Etherton this fall. A senior class led by Brayden Trimble - an Illinois commit - and a junior class led by JC Anderson - headed to his choice of elite football schools in America - have expectations very high for the Braves.

Coach Etherton likes the talent he has on his football team this fall. While he graduated a lot of experience last year, he's very confident in the kids he has this fall.

Coach Etherton credits the selflessness of his talented weapons and their desire to win regardless of what their stat line is after the game. He also believes if opposing defenses take those two away, they have plenty of players capable of stepping up.

Mt. Zion travels to Limestone to open its season on Friday, Aug. 30.

For the second straight year, Normal West fell in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs to East St. Louis.

The Wildcats spent the offseason retooling looking forward to a new year. Coach Nathan Fincham says his team spent the offseason focused on getting in the weight room and making sure their scrimmage work was intentional for players stepping into new roles.

The Wildcats hang their hats on the fact they are physical, fast and put pressure on the quarterback on defense. Coach Fincham says they will spread the field on offense and then call an offense based on the strength of that year's team.

Coach Fincham was pleased with his team's preparation this offseason and credits his team's competitiveness. 

The Wildcats open the season hosting Peoria Notre Dame. 

In a game heard on WHOW, Gavin Sheets matched a career-high with four hits and drove in four runs, Korey Lee and Brooks Baldwin homered, and the Chicago White Sox gave interim manager Grady Sizemore his first win, pounding the New York Yankees 12-2 Monday night after losing 24 of 25.

The White Sox set season highs for runs and with 18 hits after dropping their first two games under Sizemore, who took over when the White Sox fired Pedro Grifol on Thursday. They had lost three straight since beating Oakland to stop a 21-game skid that matched an American League record.

Lee connected leading off a two-run fourth against Yankees starter Luis Gil. 

Baldwin capped a six-run seventh with a three-run drive against Enyel De Los Santos that made it 11-2.

After the Yankees got a run in the first, Andrew Benintendi stayed hot and tied the game with an extra bas hit in the first.

Sheets hit RBI doubles in a two-run first, in the fifth against Tim Hill and in the seventh off De Los Santos. 

He also scored in the inning on a single by Dominic Fletcher, and singled in a run in the eighth.

Andrew Vaughn had four hits and scored twice, helping the White Sox take out a team that came in tied with Baltimore for baseball's best record.

New York's Aaron Judge doubled in a run in the first against rookie Ky Bush. He came a few feet short of his 300th home run and a grand slam when he hit a fly to the warning track in the second. But the Yankees were 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 16.

Bush allowed two runs and six hits over 4 2/3 innings in his second major league start. The 24-year-old left-hander walked seven and threw 97 pitches, after losing at Oakland last week in his debut.

Touki Toussaint (1-2) got the win in relief, recording four outs.

Yankees LHP Nestor Cortes (5-10, 4.42 ERA) tries to bounce back from one of his worst outings of the season, while White Sox RHP Jonathan Cannon (2-5, 3.91) looks to win his second straight start. Cortes matched season highs with six runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels last week. Cannon went six innings at Oakland on Tuesday as the White Sox snapped their American League record-tying losing streak at 21 games. 

Hear tonight's action on WHOW.

Josh Naylor drove in José Ramírez with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Cleveland Guardians held on for a 9-8 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night in a back-and-forth matchup that evoked memories of their 2016 World Series.

Rookie Jhonkensy Noel hit a three-run homer and solo shot, and he made a diving catch in right field to save a couple runs for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who returned home after splitting a tense, four-game series at second-place Minnesota.

Steven Kwan added a two-run homer for the Guardians, who blew an 8-3 lead before improving the league’s best home record to 36-20.

Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong homered for the Cubs, who are in a stretch of 14 straight games against AL teams.

Ramírez opened the eighth with a double off Julian Merryweather (1-1) and pinch-hitter Will Brennan singled before Naylor bounced his base hit into left.

The Cubs led 3-0 and then fell behind by five before tying it with four runs in the seventh and one in the eighth off Cleveland's vaunted bullpen.

While the game didn't have the same drama as the ‘16 Series, won in seven games by the Cubs with a dramatic 8-7 win in Game 7 after Davis’ improbable homer off Aroldis Chapman and a rain delay that may have saved Chicago, it had plenty of momentum-swinging moments.

Nick Sandlin (7-0) got the last two outs in the eighth before Vogt brought in closer Emmanuel Clase for the third straight game. Clase set down the Cubs in order for his league-leading 36th save.

Noel's three-run blast in the fourth off Shota Imanaga - on a pitch that was just above the plate - came shortly after his sensational catch.

The Cubs were already up three and threatening in the fourth when Noel came up with his defensive gem.

With two on and two outs, Chicago's Seiya Suzuki lifted a ball to right that was tailing toward the foul line. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Noel got a decent jump and launched himself to make the catch before sliding face down in the grass.

In the fourth, Noel fell behind 1-2 in the count before he yanked a low splitter over the wall in left for his seventh homer to make it 4-3.

Kwan followed a one-out single by Austin Hedges in the fifth with his 13th homer, a towering shot to right.

Happ celebrated his 30th birthday by hitting a massive, 429-foot homer off Guardians starter Ben Lively as the Cubs, who stranded nine runners, jumped to a 3-0 lead.

Matthew Boyd makes his debut for the Guardians, who signed the left-hander as a free agent in June to give them starting depth. Boyd underwent Tommy John surgery last year. He'll face Cubs RHP Javier Assad (5-3, 3.24 ERA).

Spencer Steer homered in consecutive at-bats and drove in five runs, and Elly De La Cruz hit his team-leading 21st homer as the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Monday night.

Andrew Abbott (10-9) allowed one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings to snap his three-game losing streak. The left-hander was tagged for 12 earned runs over his previous 13 1/3 innings.

Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (11-7) struck out nine in five innings, but is winless in three career starts against his former club. He gave up six runs and five hits, including three homers.

Abbott retired 11 straight batters during one stretch and finished with six strikeouts. He escaped bases-loaded jams in the second and third.

Steer and De La Cruz homered on successive pitches from Gray to put Cincinnati ahead 3-1 in the third. It was the fifth time this season the Reds hit back-to-back homers.

Steer, who batted leadoff for the third time this year and the fifth time in his career, struck again in the fifth with a three-run shot to make it 6-1.

It was Steer's first career multi-homer game. He has 18 home runs this season.

Gray has given up 17 home runs this season, two shy of his career high set in 2017 with Toronto and 2021 with Cincinnati.

Carlos Marmol was ejected by plate umpire Stu Scheurwater in the fifth after arguing a called ball. It was Marmol's fourth ejection this season and the 13th of his career.

Cardinals RHP Erick Fedde (8-5, 3.28 ERA) pitches Tuesday night, his second start for St. Louis since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox in a trade.

Reds RHP Hunter Greene (8-4, 2.90) had a 24-inning scoreless streak snapped in his last start.

The Mahomet-Seymour Bulldogs were a young group last year and coming into this fall, it is about turning the corner.

Coach John Adkins is excited about what his young team showed last year and how they used a quick exit in the Class 4A playoffs to fuel them this winter and summer. He feels his kids this year have a lot of similarities to his 2022 team that was very dynamic. 

This summer, Coach Adkins was focused on giving his athletes the tools to be good leaders on the football field. He notes that is in addition to his team's regular schedule of scrimmages and workouts.

Coach Adkins has his entire offensive line from last year as well as kids that played siginificant snaps behind the starters - in addition to a group of skill players that have siginifcant experience.

The Bulldogs strength will definitely be its offensive line. Coach Adkins likes the flexibility that will give them to do what it takes to win a game and then the ability to lean on the defense to win games this fall.

Mahomet-Seymour will look to defend its Apollo Conference title of two consecutive years by hosting Morton to open the season and begins conference action in week four when they host Charleston. 

Desperate to win for the first time in nearly two years — and with the race suddenly slipping away — Austin Dillon sent two cars into the wall in rapid succession.

The result was a season-changing victory, an avalanche of controversy and at least two veteran drivers who were absolutely furious.

Dillon raced and bumped his way to victory Sunday night, sending Joey Logano into a spin on the final lap to win in overtime at Richmond. It was his first win since Aug. 28, 2022, at Daytona. He had just two top-10 finishes this year and entered the race ranked 32nd in the standings. Now he’s on track for the playoffs — but he didn’t get there gently.

Dillon appeared to be cruising to a victory when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece collided, forcing the first caution of the entire 400-lap, 300-mile race aside from the prescheduled ones after the ends of the first two stages.

So the drivers went to overtime, and Logano clearly got the better of Dillon on the restart. Then Dillon came up directly behind Logano and spun him.

The 11 was Denny Hamlin, who appeared to be moving past Dillon on the inside after Dillon bumped Logano’s No. 22 car. Then Dillon hit the back right part of Hamlin’s car and put him into the wall, too.

Dillon emerged from all the chaos with a victory in his No. 3 Chevrolet. That number was famously driven — often aggressively — by Dale Earnhardt. But times have changed since Earnhardt’s heyday, and Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, made it clear the end of this race would be looked at.

Dillon appeared on his way to a much less controversial win after passing Hamlin for the lead with 29 laps to go. But then the Stenhouse-Preece crash and subsequent restart left Dillon in danger of an agonizing defeat.

Hamlin finished second, followed by Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain. Dillon’s victory was not good news for Wallace and the other drivers on the playoff bubble.

Christopher Bell won the first stage, but he was later penalized for speeding on pit road and finished sixth. Daniel Suárez won the second stage.

Martin Truex Jr. was knocked from the race by engine trouble early in the final stage. He remains the top winless driver in the standings.

Next week the series goes north to Michigan. 

After a special football season that started a very unique stretch of success at Normal Community High School, the Ironmen football team will look to defend its Big 12 title this season.

Coach Jason Drengwitz indicates his team used last year's run to the semfinals in the Class 7A high school football playoffs as fuel to get better this summer.

Coach Drengwitz will lean on third-year starter Kyle Beaty at the quarterback position this fall. He credits Beaty's ability to do so many things well.

The Ironmen will be turning to some new faces who played behind the core of last year's team. Coach Drengwitz hopes this year's guys learned a lot watching those players' approach.

Last year the Ironmen had a lot of experience on defense but this season they will have a lot of experience on offense. He likes his team's speed and calls his team smart and intelligent. 

Normal Community opens the season at Peoria Richwoods. 

The Bloomington Raiders are looking to return to the postseason under a first-year coach. 

The Raiders returned to the postseason for the first time since the fall of 2018 and Coach Niall Mulcahy takes over with the departure of Scott Godfrey to Heyworth. Bloomington returns a lot from last year's team, setting up a lot of expectations and excitement.

According to Coach Mulcahy, the Raiders are going to look to control the ball with the run game and play good defense. He says it is a week-at-a-time approach because the Big 12 is very tough.

Coach Mulcahy enjoys being around his team and has watched many of his players grow up having been in the program for six years and looks forward to the upcoming season for his team.

The Raiders open the season at Danville. 

The Chicago White Sox are on course to finish with baseball’s worst record of the modern era. Change clearly is needed.

The White Sox made a switch in the dugout, firing manager Pedro Grifol and three coaches on Thursday, two days after the team ended a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record.

Chicago began the day 28-89, on pace to finish 39-123, which would be the worst major league record since the National League’s Cleveland Spiders were 20-134 in 1899.

The White Sox ended the losing streak with a 5-1 victory at Oakland on Tuesday night, then wasted a two-run lead in a 3-2 loss on Wednesday. The 21 losses tied the mark set when the 1988 Baltimore Orioles started 0-21.

Grifol was in the middle of his second season as a major league manager after a long career in the game, lugging an 89-190 record.

He was the first manager fired this season. Getz said a replacement likely will be hired from outside the organization after the season and it would be someone currently in a major league uniform.

Major league coach Grady Sizemore will take over as interim manager, with his first game scheduled for Friday when Chicago hosts the crosstown Cubs. A three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove center fielder with Cleveland, he is in his first season as a White Sox coach after serving as a minor-league instructor with the Guardians and a coach with the Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks in 2023.

Chicago also fired bench coach Charlie Montoyo, third base coach Eddie Rodriguez and assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar. They have been replaced by Doug Sisson (bench coach), Justin Jirschele (third base coach) and Mike Gellinger (assistant hitting coach).

The White Sox had a 14-game losing streak from May 22-June 6, setting a team season record that lasted only until the skid that followed the All-Star break.

Getz plans to sell potential candidates on the idea of “building something special from the ground up.” But he doesn’t have a track record to fall back on, in his first full season on the job after being promoted in late August to replace longtime executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn.

The White Sox made the playoffs in 2020 and won the AL Central in 2021, but they’ve stumbled hard since. Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa stepped down late in the 81-81 season in 2022, and Grifol was hired to replace him. The former minor league catcher, who had four seasons of minor league managing experience in the Seattle Mariners system, spent 10 years in a variety of coaching roles with the Kansas City Royals from 2013-22.

The White Sox were one of baseball’s worst hitting teams last season, when Williams and Hahn were fired in August. And there hasn’t been much to work with on Chicago’s South Side lately.

Relievers Aaron Bummer and Gregory Santos were traded away in the offseason, and ace right-hander Dylan Cease was dealt to San Diego in March. Then, All-Star center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and key hitters Yoán Moncada and Eloy Jiménez were sidelined by significant injuries early this season.

The White Sox also have been hurt by lackluster production from first baseman Andrew Vaughn, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2019 amateur draft, and veteran outfielder Andrew Benintendi, who signed a $75 million, five-year contract for 2023.

At the trade deadline, the White Sox kept Robert and ace starting pitcher Garrett Crochet, but they dealt designated hitter Jiménez to Baltimore, pitcher Tanner Banks to Philadelphia and infielder Paul DeJong to Kansas City.

The White Sox are headed toward their sixth 100-loss season, which would be the first time in franchise history it’s occurred consecutive years. Their all-time worst winning percentage (.325) was recorded in 1932, when they went 49-102-1.

Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer and former Cardinal Dylan Carlson drove in two runs to help the Tampa Bay Rays avoid a series sweep by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Thursday night.

Lowe has hit seven home runs, nine doubles and has 18 RBIs in his last 26 games. He has driven in a run in five consecutive games, tying a career-high.

Ben Rortvedt added three hits for the Rays.

Nolan Arenado drove in a run, scored twice and had three hits for St. Louis. Arenado is 12 for 30 in August with three doubles and six RBIs. Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs for the Cardinals.

Richard Lovelady (3-4) pitched one inning for the win and Pete Fairbanks, a St. Louis native who pitched at Missouri, pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 24 opportunities.

JoJo Romero (5-2) took the loss.

Kyle Gibson pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk.

Shane Baz threw 4 1/3 innings giving up four runs on six hits and two walks.

The Rays scored three runs in the seventh. Yandy Díaz drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before Lowe's homer that just cleared the wall and the glove of leaping center fielder Victor Scott II.

Tampa Bay added a run in the ninth on José Caballero's single.

Arenado and Brendan Donovan had run-scoring hits as St. Louis took a 3-2 lead in the first. Goldschmidt drove in a run with a two-out single in the third.

Carlson drove in two runs with a two-out single to right in the first.

The Rays were 1 for 23 with runners in scoring position in the previous two games.

Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (8-9, 5.12) against Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-6, 3.69) in Kansas City on Friday.

After a two week hiatus for the Olympics, NASCAR returns to this weekend racing at Richmond Raceway in Virginia. 

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson held off Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick in overtime to collect the Indianapolis victory he tried to get at the Indy 500 in May. 

Larson’s try at the motorsports double two months ago ended as rain delayed the IndyCar event. Larson flew to Charlotte and the Coca-Cola 600, where rain also delayed that NASCAR Cup Series race. Larson never got on the track as rain and the late hour ended any attempt at finishing the race.

Last year in the summer race at Richmond, Chris Buescher pulled away on a restart with three laps to go to win and lock up his playoff spot. Buescher finished ahead of Virginia native Denny Hamlin. 

Kyle Busch took third, followed by Joey Logano and Ryan Preece. The victory started a strong run by Buescher, who won twice more (a week later at Michigan and at Daytona) before the playoffs.

Larson wasn’t going to stop racing despite NASCAR’s break and won a pair of sprint car races at Pevely, Missouri last weekend. 

There are four races left in NASCAR’s regular season with Michigan, Daytona and Darlington coming after the run at Richmond. Larson is 15 points ahead of Denny Hamlin in the driver standings. Christopher Bell is third and Larson’s Henrick Motorsports teammate William Byron is fourth.

Practice and qualifying is at 3:30 pm on Saturday. Race time is 5 pm Sunday evening.

The Xfinity Series has one more weekend free before racing at Michigan on Aug. 17.

Meanwhile, the Craftsman Truck gets back to racing this weekend in Virgina. 

Ty Majeski won for the second straight season at Indianapolis two weeks ago. 

Majeski overcame a restart violation on Lap 50 that sent him to the rear of the field, but he fought back for his first victory of the season and fourth of his career. Corey Heim finished second with Grant Enfinger third and Christian Eckes fourth.

The series has been on a mid-summer break since the Indianapolis race. 

Richmond is the final race of the regular season with the playoffs starting at the Milwaukee Mile on Aug. 25. Christian Eckes leads the driver standings by 50 points over Corey Heim, even though Heim has five victories this season to Eckes’ three. 

Seven drivers (Eckes, Heim, Majeski, Nick Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger) have qualified for the 10-team playoffs.

Practice and qualifying is at 1:30 pm Saturday afternoon. Race time is 6:30 pm Saturday evening. 

Normal U-High football coach Brody Walworth enters his fourth season at the helm of the Pioneers football program and says while his team turned the corner last year, the work isn't done.

After a 7-2 regular season and a shutout loss in the Class 4A playoffs, the Pioneers are not content. Coach Walworth says now the goal is to continue to 'level up'.

The Pioneers bring back the bulk of their experience from last year - led by quarterback Alek Weiland. Coach Walworth says his team has to get better in those short-yardage situations.

Coach Walworth has been focused on making sure his team understands what it takes to be a team that now has an expectation to meet because of its success last year.

This year's seniors will be the first group that Coach Walworth has been with since their first day of football. He likes the relationships among the athletes as well as between the athletes and coaches. 

He says the first priority for the Pioneers is to win its first game and get the season off to a good start. 

The IHSA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the football playoffs as a new season is set to kick off. Hall of Fame coach John Elder of Alexis helped create the first postseason format in 1974.

Elder and his Alexis team played for a state title in the first year of the playoffs in 1974.

The 2024 high school football season begins Monday with the first official day of practice.

Armando Alvarez and Zack Gelof hit RBI singles and Lawrence Butler knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly - all in the seventh inning - as the Oakland Athletics rallied past the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Wednesday.

Hear Friday's action on WHOW.

Ian Happ and Michael Busch homered and five Chicago pitchers combined for a six-hitter as the Cubs beat the Minnesota Twins 8-2 on Wednesday.

Javier Assad worked the first four innings and Jorge López (2-2) worked two innings and earned the victory. The Cubs took the last two games of the three-game series and have won six of their last eight.

Minnesota's Trevor Richards (2-2), who entered when starter Joe Ryan’ left in the third, didn’t make it out of the inning. Richards allowed three runs after walking five and throwing two wild pitches. One of the errant throws allowed a run to score and the Cubs added a run on Seiya Suzuki’s bases-loaded walk. Isaac Paredes added a sacrifice fly as the Cubs moved out to a 4-2 lead.

The Cubs’ relievers held the Twins to just three hits after Assad departed.

Ryan, who gave up Busch’s solo homer in the first, left four pitches into the third inning with right triceps tightness.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Ryan will be evaluated further after a few days and added the 28-year-old right-hander could miss some time moving forward.

Happ hit a two-run homer off Josh Winder in the fourth inning, a 376-foot shot that landed in the palm of the hand of a fan standing in the party deck in right field. Dansby Swanson and Christian Bethancourt added RBIs off Caleb Theilbar in the eighth.

Assad allowed three hits and both Minnesota runs. He walked two and struck out one. Matt Wallner had an RBI double in the first and Brooks Lee added an RBI groundout in the second.

The Cubs are off Thursday before taking on the crosstown rival White Sox on Friday. RHP Jameson Taillon (7-6, 3.25) faces White Sox righty Garrett Crochet (6-8, 3.19).

Nolan Arenado and Alec Burleson each had two hits and drove in two runs to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Burleson has 26 RBIs in home games since June 20, the most in the majors. He was more exciting about getting to meet his wrestling idol in St. Louis' Randy Orton, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Erick Fedde (8-5) pitched five innings for the victory. Willson Contreras and Masyn Winn also had two hits apiece for the Cardinals.

After a rocky debut after being acquired from the Chicago White Sox, Fedde rebounded in his first start at home. He allowed a run on four hits with six strikeouts and a walk.

Ryan Helsley pitched the ninth for his majors-leading 36th save in 39 opportunities.

Josh Lowe had two hits for the Rays and scored a run.

Tampa Bay is 1 for 21 in the last two games with runners in scoring position.

Taj Bradley (6-6) was lifted after 4 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs on nine hits. He was the American League Pitcher of the Month for July when he went 3-1 with a 1.45 ERA.

The Cardinals opened the scoring in the first inning when Contreras singled with one out, scoring Winn, who led off with a double.

The Rays tied it in the third on a mistake by Fedde. Alex Jackson was on third after he singled and advanced on a single by Yandy Díaz. Brandon Lowe bounced a grounder to Fedde, who ignored Jackson and tried to get a double play. Lowe beat the relay.

Two, two-run doubles gave St. Louis a 5-1 lead after four innings.

In the third inning, Arenado hit a one-out bouncing double over third base, scoring Burleson and Contreras.

Burleson doubled home Nolan Gorman and Winn with one out in the fourth.

The Rays added a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by José Caballero.

Rays RHP Shane Baz (0-1, 3.60) was set to start against RHP Kyle Gibson (7-4, 4.04) on Thursday night.

The Washington Panthers were a win away from an appearance in the state title game in the Class 6A high school football playoffs last year.

It was an experienced group led by Darrell Crouch, who coached his final game in a tough defeat to East St. Louis in the semifinals at Washington High School. First-year coach Todd Stevens says that group provided a great example for the next wave of Panthers.

The Panthers offense will not look much different from its time under Coach Crouch. Coach Stevens says they are still going to rely on running the football and controlling the clock.

Coach Stevens believes the Mid Illini and their non-conference should prepare them well for the postseason. The Mid Illini in particular, he believes will be very balanced with good teams with good players up and down the area. 

Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run homer and the Chicago White Sox snapped their American League record-tying losing streak at 21 games on Tuesday night, beating the Oakland Athletics 5-1.

Jonathan Cannon gave up one run over six innings to end his personal drought while helping the White Sox to their first victory since early July.

Chicago on Monday matched the longest losing streak since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles lost 21 in a row, falling to the Athletics 5-1. The NL record since 1900 is held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 straight.

The major league low belongs to the 1889 Louisville Colonels, an American Association team that lost 26 consecutive games during a 27-111 season.

Even with the victory, the White Sox did little celebrating. They exchanged high-fives leaving the field then had soft music playing in the clubhouse afterward.

Benintendi hit his second two-run home run in three days off a fastball from A's starter Ross Stripling down the right field line into the stands in the fourth inning. Benintendi also doubled and scored in the ninth.

After Zack Gelof cut the lead in half with his 14th home run of the season in the fourth, the White Sox scored twice in the sixth to pull away.

Brooks Baldwin singled and scored on a wild pitch.

Andrew Vaughn hit an RBI single to make it 4-1.

Cannon (2-5) had been winless in six road starts this season. The rookie right-hander allowed six hits and had five strikeouts with two walks for the win, his first since July 10.

Luis Robert, Jr. made a terrific leaping catch for Chicago.

Dominic Leone and Chad Kuhl retired all six batters they faced, and John Brebbia pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to finish it.

Stripling (2-11) allowed four runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Lenyn Sosa added to the lead in the eighth for Chicago.

During warmups, Taylor Swift's song "22" played over the loudspeakers at the Coliseum in a taunting fashion as a crowd of 5,867 danced and sang along.

Chicago, which had last won on July 10 in a doubleheader opener against Minnesota, moved to 28-88. The White Sox have been held to one run or none 32 times this season.

Victor Scott II and Tommy Pham each hit two-run homers, Sammy Gray pitched seven innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series.

Scott, who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Sunday, hit his first big league homer in the four-run second inning.

Pham, who was acquired from the White Sox at the trading deadline, added a double in a 2-for-4 night. He has four multi-hit games in his eight games played since the deal.

Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Rays, who were visiting St. Louis for the first time since Aug. 27, 2017.

The Cardinals had lost four of their previous five games and eight of 12.

Gray (11-6) gave up four hits and struck out six, giving him 32 in his last four starts. Gray is 5-6 in 16 career appearances, including 14 starts, against the Rays.

Ryan Helsley gave up a run in the ninth on a two-out single by Jonny DeLuca after he allowed a leadoff walk and a single. He got Taylor Walls for the final out after a grounder deflected off him to shortstop Masyn Winn to end the game and earn his major league-leading 35th save in 38 chances.

Tampa Bay’s Jeffrey Springs (0-1) pitched five innings in making his second start since his return from Tommy John surgery. He allowed four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and three walks.

Lowe crushed a hanging curveball 423 feet into the stands in right field after Yandy Diaz drew a leadoff walk in the first inning for a 2-0 lead.

Scott sent a 2-1 fastball into the right-field bullpen after Pedro Pagés singled with two outs in the second.

Winn was hit by a pitch before Pham sent the first pitch he saw into the bullpen in left.

Cardinals RHP Erick Fedde (7-5, 3.34) will be making his second career start against the Rays. Earlier this season with the White Sox, Fedde pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings on April 28, allowing two runs on seven hits in a 4-2 win over the Rays.

Shota Imanaga gave up two hits through seven innings, Isaac Paredes hit a three-run drive for his first homer with the Cubs, and Chicago beat the Minnesota Twins 7-3 on Tuesday night.

Imanaga retired the first 10 hitters he faced before issuing his only walk of the game, then gave up a two-run homer to Royce Lewis, but the Cubs went on to end Minnesota’s five-game winning streak. The 30-year-old left-hander struck out 10 - nine swinging - to tie his career high.

Imanaga (9-2) credits improvement on his split-finger fastball for the jump in strikeouts. The lefty has 30 in his last four starts.

Paredes, acquired from Tampa Bay in a July 28 trade, finished with two hits and four RBIs. Dansby Swanson had three hits, including a run-scoring triple in the sixth, to help the Cubs win for the fifth time in seven games.

Paredes entered batting just .111 with three hits in his first seven games with Chicago.

Imanaga also yielded a double to rookie Brooks Lee with a gusty wind blowing in from center at Wrigley Field.

Christian Vázquez hit a solo shot off reliever Drew Smyly in the eighth.

Minnesota starter Pablo López (10-8) allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings. The Twins fell four games behind rained out first-place Cleveland in the AL Central, but remained in the second AL wild card.

Paredes put Chicago ahead 3-0 in the first with his 17th homer of the season. Michael Busch, running with two outs, scored all the way from first on Paredes’ bloop single in the third to make it 4-0.

Carlos Santana became the first Twins baserunner when he walked with one out in fourth. Lewis hit Imanaga’s next pitch, a high inside fastball, to cut it to 4-2.

Imanaga retired the next five before Lee doubled to lead off the sixth.

The Cubs upped it to 6-2 in the sixth on Swanson’s RBI triple to right center. Swanson scored on Randy Dobnak’s wild pitch.

Rookie Pete Crow-Amstrong singled in a run the eighth.

Twins RHP Joe Ryan (7-7, 3.59) faces Cubs RHP Javier Assad (5-3, 3.19) in the series finale on Wednesday.

In a game heard on WHOW, the Chicago White Sox lost their 21st straight game, tying the American League record with a 5-1 defeat to the Oakland Athletics on Monday night as Max Schuemann hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the fourth inning.

Hear tonight's action right here on WHOW. 

Sean Manaea won consecutive starts for the first time this season, Tyrone Taylor hit a three-run double from the No. 2 slot in the batting order and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0 Monday in the makeup of a May 8 rainout.

Manaea (8-4) allowed six hits in seven innings, struck out 10 and walked none. He has pitched 14 scoreless innings in his last two starts, giving up eight hits, striking out 21 and walking one.

New York has won eight of his last 10 starts.

Ryne Stanek and Edwin Díaz finished with hitless relief in the Mets’ fourth shutout -- all from July 11 on.

New York (59-53) won the season series 4-2 and holds the tiebreak advantage over the Cardinals should it be needed to determine a wild-card berth or postseason homefield advantage. The Mets are 10-7 since the All-Star break.

Jeff McNeil hit his 10th home run for New York, his sixth since the start of July.

St. Louis (57-56) has lost four of five and has dropped 16 of its last 24 games against left-handed starters. It was the fourth time the Cardinals have been shut out this season, all on getaway day games.

Andre Pallante (4-6) gave up five runs, five hits wand two wild pitches in 4 2/3 innings. He entered with a 0.93 in seven career relief appearances against the Mets.

Pete Alonso walked and scored on a wild pitch in the second inning.

Former Cardinal Harrison Bader was given an ovation before his first at-bat and hit an RBI double in a four-run fifth that included a double into the right-field corner by Taylor, who was moved ahead of Brandon Nimmo, J.D. Martinez and Pete Alonso in the batting order.

McNeill homered in the sixth off Shawn Armstrong, acquired from Tampa Bay on July 30 for outfielder Dylan Carlson. Nine of his 10 homers have come on the road.

Cardinals RHP Sonny Gray (10-6, 3.72) will be on the mound for the start of a three-game series against visiting Tampa Bay and LHP Jeffrey Springs (0-0, 4.91). Gray has struck out 26 over his last three starts.

David Festa struck out a career-high nine over five innings, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 on Monday night.

Minnesota drew within 3 1/2 games of AL Central-leading Cleveland, the closest the Twins have been to first place since before play on May 18.

Making his fifth big league start since his debut on June 27, Festa (2-2) allowed two hits and two walks while throwing 82 pitches, one more than the previous high for the 24-year-old right-hander.

Caleb Thielbar, Jorge Alcala, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax finished a four-hitter, with Jax getting three outs for his eighth save in 12 chances.

Royce Lewis hit a third-inning sacrifice fly and Manuel Margot homered in the fifth off Kyle Hendricks (3-10), who allowed five hits in six innings. Ryan Jeffers grounded into a run-scoring double play in the ninth.

Matt Wallner followed Lewis’ fly in the third with a drive that center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong lost in the twilight. Right fielder Mike Tauchman couldn’t react quickly enough and the ball fell on the warning track. Trevor Larnach tried to score from first base on what was scored a double, but Crow-Armstrong threw to shortstop Dansby Swanson, whose one-hop relay to catcher Miguel Amaya was in time for the tag.

Twins RHP Pablo López (10-7, 4.65) starts Tuesday seeking his third consecutive winning decision. LHP Shota Imanaga (8-2, 3.09) starts for the Cubs with three straight no-decisions following a July 10 win at Baltimore.

The woeful White Sox lost their 20th consecutive game Sunday, the majors' longest skid in 36 years and one short of the American League record, as Chris Flexen was chased early in a 13-7 defeat against the Minnesota Twins.

Hear tonight's White Sox action on WHOW.

Justin Steele pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning and the Chicago Cubs topped the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Sunday night for their fourth win in five games.

Mike Tauchman and Miguel Amaya both homered in the sixth and finished with two hits and two runs scored to help the Cubs overcome an early 2-0 deficit. Chicago took three of four from its NL Central rival at Wrigley Field.

St. Louis rookie Masyn Winn lofted a two-run homer in the third for the only scoring off Steele. The shortstop’s ninth home run was his third in six games and second of the series.

Michael Busch and Cody Bellinger had RBIs as Chicago pulled ahead with two runs in the fifth. Dansby Swanson drove in a run and the Cubs plated another on a balk by Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.

Steele (3-5) rebounded from a rough outing at Cincinnati last Tuesday, retiring 12 straight Cardinals hitters during one stretch. The left-hander struck out six and walked two in 6 2/3 innings before being relieved by Porter Hodge after throwing 99 pitches on a humid evening.

Julian Merryweather tossed a 1-2-3 ninth, retiring the side on six pitches to finish a combined four-hitter.

Tauchman started in left field as the replacement for Ian Happ, a late scratch with left shoulder soreness. Happ, a two-time Gold Glove winner, got banged up crashing into the outfield wall in the ninth inning on Saturday trying to make a catch.

Heading into Sunday night, Tauchman's previous at-bat was on Thursday, when he pinch-hit in the ninth and delivered a game-ending double to cap Chicago's 5-4 comeback win.

Mikolas (8-9) yielded four runs on eight hits and two walks in four-plus innings.

Winn’s homer barely carried into the basket in right-center and put St. Louis ahead 2-0. His previous shot, on Thursday, narrowly reached the basket in left.

The Cubs tied it 2-all in the fourth. Isaac Paredes scored from third on Swanson’s groundout. Tauchman, who had doubled, came home from third on Mikolas’ balk.

The balk was called by plate umpire Clint Vondrak for an illegal movement toward the plate.

Chicago moved ahead 4-2 in the fifth. The Cubs took the lead with three straight singles capped by Busch’s RBI hit.

Mikolas walked Seiya Suzuki to load the bases and was relieved by John King. Bellinger followed with a sacrifice fly.

Tauchman hit his sixth homer leading off the sixth, then Amaya added his fourth as Chicago pulled away.

Cardinals RHP André Pallante (4-5, 4.04 ERA) faces Mets LHP Sean Manaea (7-4, 3.50) in St. Louis on Monday in a makeup of a May 8 rainout.

Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (3-9, 6.86) takes the mound against Twins RHP David Festa (1-2, 6.98) at Wrigley Field on Monday night.

Brett Rypien threw three touchdown passes, leading the Chicago Bears to a 21-17 victory over the Houston Texans on Thursday night in the Hall of Fame game.

The NFL’s exhibition opener was stopped with 3:31 left in the third quarter and was called off after a 36-minute delay.

All eyes were on the NFL’s new kickoffs rule at the start. The league dramatically redesigned the play, aiming to revive it after a record-low returns last season.

None of the eight kickoffs were returned beyond the 32. Three were brought back to the 26, a yard farther than the old touchback. There was one touchback that came out to the 30.

Tyson Bagent started for Williams, the No. 1 overall pick who has enormous expectations in Chicago. Davis Mills was under center instead of Stroud, the 2023 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Rypien finished 11 of 15 for 166 yards with TD passes of 20 and 9 yards to Johnson and 22 yards to Tommy Sweeney. Rypien, who was 2-2 as a starter in four seasons with the Broncos and Rams, entered camp as the third-string QB.

Mills, who was 5-19-1 as a starter in the two seasons before Stroud’s arrival, finished 10 of 13 for 102 yards and a 9-yard TD pass to Teagan Quitoriano to cap the opening drive.

Veteran Case Keenum threw a 4-yard TD pass to Cam Akers to give the Texans a 17-7 lead late in the second half.

Rypien led the Bears on a 72-yard drive in just 58 seconds in the final minutes of the first half. His TD pass to Sweeney cut it to 17-14. He put the Bears ahead with the 9-yard strike to Johnson in the third.

Houston’s Steven Sims fielded Cairo Santos’ opening kickoff at the 5 and ran 21 yards before he was tackled at the 26. After the Texans scored, Chicago’s Tyler Scott caught Ka’imi Fairbairn’s kickoff at the 7 and returned it 19 yards to the 26.

Touchbacks used to result in the offense starting at the 25.

Scott fielded the third kickoff one yard deep in the end zone and chose to return it instead of taking a touchback. He was tackled at the 20. The Bears were penalized for leaving early — only the two returners and kicker can move until the ball is caught — but the Texans declined.

The Texans went worst to first in the AFC South last year behind rookie coach DeMeco Ryans, Stroud and Defensive Rookie of the Year Will Anderson Jr. Houston finished with 11 wins, advancing to the divisional round of the playoffs.

The Bears are hoping to make a similar leap from 7-10 to the playoffs after selecting Williams first, adding wide receiver Rome Odunze with the ninth pick and revamping the roster in free agency.

Bagent, who went from undrafted rookie out of Division II powerhouse Shepherd University to 2-2 as a starter filling in for Justin Fields last season, only played one series. He completed 2 of 3 passes before Rypien took over.

Pinch-hitter Mike Tauchman doubled in Dansby Swanson for the winning run as the Chicago Cubs scored three times in the ninth inning to rally for a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

With Chicago down 4-2, Cody Bellinger hit a solo homer with one out. After Nico Hoerner singled and stole second with two outs, Swanson followed with an RBI double to tie it.

Tauchman lined St. Louis closer Ryan Helsley's 2-2 fastball down the left field line for Chicago's second straight win.

Both Swanson and Tauchman fell behind Helsley 0-2 in the count. The St. Louis closer had five saves in five previous appearances against the NL Central rival Cubs this season and 33 for the season, tied for tops in the majors.

With the Cubs down to their last strike, Swanson and Tauchman made contact and found some outfield grass.

Helsley (4-4) blew a save for the third time in 36 chances by allowing a season-high three runs.

Reliever Nate Pearson (1-1) tossed two scoreless innings for the win.

Rookie Masyn Winn hit a two-run homer, then Nolan Arenado added an RBI single in a three-run seventh inning to put St. Louis ahead 4-2.

Paul Goldschmidt hit his 17th homer in the first, then added a single and double. The veteran first baseman has nine hits in his last 20 at bats (.450) over five games.

Bellinger has seven hits in three games since coming back from a broken finger.

St. Louis starter Sonny Gray tossed seven effective innings, allowing two runs on five hits, striking out nine and walking one. Gray was sharp after yielding 24 runs over 28 1/3 innings in five previous starts for a 6.67 ERA during the span.

Seiya Suzuki hit a 459-foot solo shot in the sixth inning, the longest by a Cubs player this season.

Winn’s eighth homer, off a high, inside fastball from Shota Imanaga, barely made it to the basket in left field.

Tommy Pham added two more hits and is 5 for 10 in three games with St. Louis since being acquired from the White Sox on Monday. Arenado, Winn and Michael Siani each finished with two hits.

Imanaga yielded four runs on 10 hits. The left-hander struck out seven and walked none.

RHP Erick Fedde, acquired from the White Sox on Monday, and RHP Shawn Armstrong, acquired from Tampa Bay on Tuesday, joined the Cardinals and were activated. Fedde will start Friday and Armstrong was available from the bullpen. To make room, RHP Michael McGreevy and RHP Ryan Loutos were optioned to Triple-A-Memphis.

Cubs RHP Javier Assad (5-3, 3.23) starts Friday. 

Chicago Cubs right-hander Adbert Alzolay will need surgery on his injured right forearm, manager Craig Counsell said Thursday.

The 29-year-old Alzolay had 22 saves in 25 chances in 2023, but none after August 29, when his forearm problem first appeared to surface. The righty appeared in only five more games, finishing 2-5 with a 2.67 ERA.

Alzolay struggled early this season. He earned four saves but blew four opportunities and went 1-4 with a 4.67 ERA in 18 games. He was placed on the 60-day injured list with a right flexor strain on May 13. A day earlier, he walked a batter and then gave up a two-run homer to Connor Joe at Pittsburgh.

Alzolay tried to rehabilitate the injury but suffered a setback following a one-inning outing with Triple-A Iowa on Saturday when he allowed two runs on two hits and two walks.

Freddy Fermin launched a two-run homer among his four hits and the Kansas City Royals pounded the White Sox 10-3 on Wednesday, extending Chicago's franchise-record losing streak to 17 games.

Hear Friday's action on WHOW.

Tommy Pham started in left field for St. Louis, getting three hits and two RBIs, and Michael McGreevy pitched seven innings in his MLB debut to lift the Cardinals to a 10-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.

Pham returned to St. Louis on Tuesday and debuted with a pinch-hit grand slam after being part of a three-team trade Monday. Pham began his career with the Cardinals, who drafted him in the sixth round in 2006.

Brendan Donovan drove in three runs, and Michael Siani and Alec Burleson each had two RBIs. Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt added two hits apiece, and the Cardinals scattered 14 hits against four pitchers.

Marcus Semien had two of the Rangers five hits and drove in the lone RBI.

McGreevy, promoted from Triple-A Memphis, allowed five hits and one run in seven innings and walked off the field to a standing ovation.

McGreevy, the 18th overall pick in 2021, is the eighth player and sixth pitcher to make his MLB debut for St. Louis this season. The last Cardinals pitcher to debut in a home start was Mike Mayers on July 24, 2016, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He became the first Cardinal to win his debut at home since Jason Simontacchi on May 4, 2002.

Andrew Heaney (4-11) was lifted in the fifth inning with one out. Heaney allowed six runs on six hits and fell to 0-2 in three career starts against St. Louis.

The Cardinals, who recorded their largest margin of victory this season, finished their six-game homestand 3-3. The Rangers lost for the fifth time in six games following a five-game winning streak.

St. Louis scored three runs in the second inning. Donovan’s single to center scored Goldschmidt. Pagés grounded to first, but Nathaniel Lowe’s throw home didn’t get Pham. Donovan scored on Siani’s sacrifice bunt.

Cardinals RHP Sonny Gray (10-6, 3.79) will face the Cubs’ LHP Shota Imanaga (8-2, 2.95) in Chicago to open a four-game series.

Ian Happ launched a two-run homer and the Chicago Cubs banged out nine doubles among their 17 hits in routing the Cincinnati Reds 13-4 on Wednesday night to avoid a series sweep.

Seiya Suzuki, Patrick Wisdom and Pete Crow-Armstrong each had a two-run double. Nico Hoerner, Christian Bethancourt and Cody Bellinger also drove in runs for the Cubs, who set season highs for runs and hits. They struck early and never really let the Reds climb back into the game.

Chicago hammered one of Cincinnati's best pitchers, left-hander Nick Lodolo (8-4), who exited with two outs in the sixth inning. He tied a career high by allowing eight runs and 11 hits in his worst outing of the season.

The Cubs hit nine doubles for the sixth time and first since Aug. 30, 2010. They finished one shy of the franchise record.

The Reds cut Chicago's lead to 6-3 on a three-run homer by Jake Fraley in the fifth. Happ answered with a 424-foot shot in the sixth to provide more breathing room.

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (3-9) permitted three runs and four hits through five innings, striking out four and walking two. He said the offense gave him room to work.

Reds third baseman Santiago Espinal extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a fifth-inning single. He also doubled in the eighth and scored.

The Reds won 7-1 on Monday and 6-3 on Tuesday.

The Cubs host the rival Cardinals in a four-game series. Chicago sends lefty Shota Imanaga (8-2, 2.95 ERA, 111 Ks) against St. Louis right-hander Sonny Gray (10-6, 3.79, 138 Ks) in the opener on Thursday night.