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Early Week 17 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
With the final picks of the 2020 season, Andy Behrens touts these two players to help carry you to the championship.
With the final picks of the 2020 season, Andy Behrens touts these two players to help carry you to the championship.
The Raptors looked clueless against Miami's shorthanded zone defense on Wednesday.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe summed it up quite nicely after the game: "We didn't do anything."
Signing George Springer will not just help the Blue Jays win more ballgames, it represents an entire paradigm shift for the franchise.
The NHL revealed the Capitals broke protocols with close-contact social interactions and by not wearing masks.
Kyrie Irving looked fine after a seven-game layoff, but the Nets struggled to defend as James Harden took a deferential role Brooklyn's loss to the Cavs.
We're tracking every notable free agent signing in the 2020-21 MLB offseason and giving you the details on the deal. Plus: What it means for your fantasy team.
The conference's two best teams in the Chiefs and Bills meet after travelling a collision course to the AFC Championship game.
Hill insisted on Wednesday that he wasn't being a "hothead" or a "diva."
Maybe this concept expands to other fans, even other sports. In a time of division, there is something special about acknowledging a rival by kicking in a few bucks for a good cause.
Islanders team broadcaster Brendan Burke says the key to the team's surprise success over the past few seasons starts with Barry Trotz, the human.
Zion Williamson got a big win Wednesday.
A.J. Brown appeared to be feeling the effects of anesthesia when he took to Instagram live.
Nurmagomedov spoke after Dana White implied the fighter was considering a return depending on what happens at UFC 257.
The NFL playoffs are down to the final four with the Bills and Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game and the Buccaneers and Packers clashing for the NFC crown.
GENEVA — As UEFA prepares a final proposal to change the Champions League format in 2024, the governing body of European soccer joined FIFA on Thursday in warning clubs against breaking away to run their own competition. Players who take part in a Super League-type competition — likely limited to storied clubs — would be banned from representing their countries at the World Cup, FIFA and its six continental confederations said in a joint statement. Real Madrid and Barcelona were linked last year with planning a breakaway Super League inviting famous clubs to enter and increase their own wealth. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin denounced it as a “selfish and egotistical scheme” after Madrid president Florentino Pérez was reportedly seeking financiers to back the project. The reports were seen as trying to put pressure on UEFA during talks to make changes to the Champions League that would favour elite clubs. “Any club or player involved in such a competition would as a consequence not be allowed to participate in any competition organised by FIFA or their respective confederation,” the joint statement said. The UEFA negotiations restarted after initial talks stalled in 2019. Controversy was fueled by a club-backed proposal that would help successful teams retain their Champions League places. The European Leagues group said Thursday that breakaway plans were “similar to those franchise models operating in North America.” FIFA and UEFA reaffirmed Thursday the importance of promotion and relegation giving access to all clubs as a key principle of soccer. “Participation in global and continental competitions should always be won on the pitch,” the FIFA-led statement said. UEFA is expected to announce proposals in the coming weeks for modifying its club competitions’ entry paths and playing formats. The group stage of the Champions League is likely to be changed to give clubs who qualify 10 guaranteed games instead of the current six. ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press
When Diogo Dalot signed for Manchester United, the excitement was mixed with regret at missing out on the chance to play with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The veteran striker had departed for what appeared to be a career swan song at the Los Angeles Galaxy just before a teenage Dalot arrived at Old Trafford three years ago. “It was a little bit of a sad moment for me,” Dalot recalls in an interview with The Associated Press. “When you play football, you always want to play with the best players and, of course, Zlatan was a reference.” The opportunity had been missed, or so the Portuguese defender wrongly assumed. As the right back struggled for game time in Manchester, a loan move was needed at the start of this season. Now the 21-year-old Dalot is at the heart of the defence of an AC Milan side which has been propelled to the top of the Italian league by the 39-year-old Ibrahimovic. With 12 goals in eight league games, the Swede’s enduring quality is undisputed — and inspirational for a teammate giving his career a lift in Italy. “He’s very demanding on ourselves,” Dalot said in a video call from Milan. “He’s always one of the first to come in to training ground. So these kind of things help us to see that maybe we need to be as professional as him because, if you want to win as much as he won, you need to be doing this for a long time. “And this is a very good way to see how you want be a success in football, how you want to be in 10 years or in 15 years. And it’s been a very good surprise to work with him.” Surprising because Dalot had not envisaged leaving United — even temporarily — so soon after being acclaimed as the “best young fullback in Europe” when Jose Mourinho brought him to United from Porto in 2018. “It was one of the sentences that I keep with me until this day,” Dalot said. “Coming from him was even more special because we all know that is a fantastic coach, one of the best ever, and it gave me a little bit more responsibility.” A change in manager produced a change in circumstances and Dalot fell down the pecking order under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Ibrahimovic is helping Dalot believe in himself again and improve his game. “He can give you the confidence when he thinks you need (it),” Dalot said. That sometimes means being brutally honest. “'You’re not doing good enough to be at this level'” Dalot says Ibrahimovic will tell players in training or games. "Coming from him we need to listen.” Especially about what it takes to win titles, something Milan has not done in Serie A since Ibrahimovic lifted the trophy in 2011 before eventually moving on to PSG, United and the LA Galaxy. Almost halfway through the season, a resurgent Milan enjoys a three-point lead over city rival Inter and has an unexpected 10-point advantage on Juventus, which has slumped to fifth after eight successive titles. “It will be more special (winning the title), not just because of beating Juve or Inter ... but to put Milan back on the top again, winning titles after so many years,” Dalot said. “We like this kind of pressure. We like to have people down there pushing us and paying attention to us to see, ‘OK, if you lose, we are there.’ So we like these kind of challenges.” Dalot’s focus is on the Serie A prize. But there will be some uncertainty when the season-long loan expires whether he returns to United or secures a longer stay with Stefano Pioli’s Milan. United is also going strongly this season, sitting top of the Premier League and looking to end its own title drought stretching back to 2013. “I am completely focused on what is going on here,” Dalot said. “When I go home and I can rest, I can see Manchester games, Porto games and be happy with them, because they are winning and they are doing fantastic.” Dalot is delighted to be back on the field regularly again, playing 15 times since October and being a key part of a defence that has not conceded in four of the last five games. “I’m a confident person. I know my qualities. I know what I can do, but then if you don’t play that’s not enough," Dalot said. "Feeling the grass again, feeling the games again, winning games and playing 90 minutes ... it’s been fantastic.” ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Rob Harris, The Associated Press
The Winnipeg Football Club is banking on the COVID-19 pandemic improving enough this spring to allow the team to play in front of thousands of fans in fewer than five months. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are slated to open the 2021 Canadian Football League season at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on June 10. That is 140 days away. Football club president and CEO Wade Miller said he's confident Manitoba will allow outdoor gatherings to increase over that timeframe from the current maximum of five people to thousands of fans in the stands at Investors Group Field. "In November, before vaccinations, before drugs were approved, we were very hopeful that we would be able to have fans back. Now you're seeing vaccinations roll out and and there's still a lot of time," Miller said Wednesday in an interview. CFL slated to return after pandemic hiatus The COVID-19 pandemic forced the CFL, which relies more on ticket revenue than do other professional sports leagues, to cancel its 2020 season. This year's season was announced in November, which turned out to be the worst month of the pandemic in Manitoba. Code red restrictions imposed on the province in November are only slated to be relaxed now, more than two months later, starting with the tentative return of retail sales, hair salons and small household gatherings on Saturday. Miller said he is optimistic restrictions will recede more rapidly over the coming months, especially with vaccinations underway. The pace of immunizations has been slow in Manitoba, which plans to vaccinate 70 per cent of the adult population before the start of 2022. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, has repeatedly promised every Canadian who wants a shot will get one by the fall. "I'm going to listen to our prime minister that people could be vaccinated by September and everybody could get a shot that wants one," Miller said. "So I'm going to be very positive that we're going to be able to get back on the field with our fans in the stands, like our schedule is right now." Large gatherings likely last to resume The Bombers last played in Winnipeg during the regular season in 2019, weeks before their Grey Cup victory in Calgary. Public health officials, including Manitoba's chief provincial public health officer, have repeatedly warned that gatherings the size of sporting events will likely be last aspect of pre-pandemic life to resume. The Winnipeg Jets, for example, are not expecting any fans in the stands at Bell MTS Place at any point during the 2021 season, which started last week. Spectator sports do not just pose a transmission risk. They complicate contact-tracing efforts. Football games, for example, draw fans from all over the province and sometimes beyond, University of Manitoba community health sciences professor Dan Chateau pointed out last year. "You don't want those people to go back to their communities and eventually spread COVID-19 again through each of their individual spheres of social contact," Chateau said in an interview in April, when the pandemic was one month old. Miller said it's too early to entertain the possibility public health authorities won't allow fans in the stands at Investors Group Field in June. "It's January. You know we still have a lot of months ahead of us," he said. "Right now, we have to focus on stomping down the virus." Pandemic-proofing planned for stadium Miller said the football club is planning to make Investors Group Field more safe from a public-health standpoint. The Bombers are also preparing for the prospect of public health allowing the stadium to open at a reduced capacity. "We're contingency planning all the time and looking at every scenario and how we physically distance in the stadium," Miller said, adding the club is looking at reducing touch points and finding ways to keep fans apart as they enter and exit Investors Group Field. Dr. Jillian Horton, a hospital-based Winnipeg internist who was among hundreds of doctors who advocated for tougher pandemic restrictions in the fall, said she can't envision stadium-sized gatherings in the near future. "I struggle to imagine a scenario where hundreds or thousands of people in the stands is either possible or desirable," Horton said in an interview. "I relate to the deep desire people have to see these normal landmarks and milestones come back into our lives," she added. "I don't know how much more disappointment we want to set ourselves up for here. "A much slower, smaller, incremental rise in expectations may be a better idea."
Fourth downs in the NFL used to be reserved for kicks, except in the most dire of circumstances. But with teams scoring at a record pace and becoming more analytics friendly each year, teams are going for it on fourth down these days in scenarios that would have been unfathomable just a decade ago. Whether it was Kansas City’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 in its own territory to seal a win last week against Cleveland, or Indianapolis’ failed fourth-and-goal try from the 4 late in the first half the previous week, those decisions have taken centre stage this post-season. “You can make a very good decision and have a bad result and you can make a bad decision and have a good result,” said Frank Frigo, the co-founder of EdjSports, a data company that has created its own customizable model for decision making in the NFL. “That’s OK. That’s life. But you have to operate on the best available information. In the long haul, you will do much better making sound analytically based choices.” The data behind those decisions is more readily available than ever to fans with places like EdjSports and ESPN tweeting out the numbers that show which decisions are best and worst during games each week. Here’s a deeper look into the in-game decisions coaches make and what the numbers say about them. HOW FIGURE OUT There are several models for decision making and they typically agree on most calls, although there are slight differences. EdjSports models the win probability for teams based on the decisions they make based on historical play-by-play data and adjusts it for variables like the strength and weaknesses of both teams from Football Outsiders, injuries and other factors. Calls that increase win probability are good and those that decrease it are bad. WHY IS IT BENEFICIAL TO GO FOR IT The models are more aggressive than almost any coach, advocating going for it on almost fourth-and-1 no matter the field position, favouring more fourth-down tries over field goals in the red zone and even advocating for “riskier” calls like saying the Browns should have gone for it last week on fourth-and-9 from their 32 with more than four minutes left when trailing Kansas City by five. That decision cost Cleveland 5 percentage points in EdjSports’ win probability. The Browns punted and never got the ball back. “You’re voluntarily turning the ball over,” Frigo said. “You’re essentially trading it for field position. The model is very good at determining what the field position is worth compared to giving the ball up.” WHAT WAS THE BEST DECISION OF Post-season The best fourth-down call, according to EdjSports, came from Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, who went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 29 with Cleveland trailing by five with about six minutes remaining. The call increased Cleveland’s win probability by 7.3 percentage points. Baker Mayfield converted it with a sneak, but Stefanski squandered it when he punted on fourth-and-9 on the next series of downs. Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s call to go for it on fourth-and-1 on the next possession to seal the win was the second-best call of the post-season, increasing Kansas City’s win probability by 6.5 percentage points. WHAT WAS THE WORST DECISION OF Post-season There’s little surprise on this one. The analytics didn’t like Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel’s call to punt on fourth-and-2 from the Baltimore 40 in the wild-card round when trailing 17-13 with about 10 minutes left. That decision cost the Titans 13.7 percentage points in win probability. The Ravens took the punt and drove for a field goal, and Ryan Tannehill threw an interception on the next possession to seal the game. WHEN SHOULD YOU GO FOR 2 While fourth-down decisions have more impact, the decision on whether to go for a 2-point conversion after a touchdown can be difficult. Some choices are easy, like when a team scores a TD late in regulation and needs a 2-point conversion to tie the game or increase a lead from one to three points for example. Others are more complicated with one that causes controversy being what to do when a team trailing by 14 points scores a TD. Conventional wisdom has always been to kick the extra point to make it a seven-point game. But the analytics point to going for 2, which some teams now do in that situation, because making it gives a chance to win in regulation with a kick and missing leaves open the option to tie with a 2-point conversion. The difference is only a percentage point or two in win probability, according to Frigo. “The 2-point conversion decisions are interesting and certainly matter,” Frigo said. “But the more complicated ones tend to not have a huge amount of equity in the balance.” HOW DO THE FOUR CHAMPIONSHIP GAME COACHES FARE Three of the four coaches this weekend rank in the top 10 in EdjSports’ Critical Call Index, which grades the decision making during the season. Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur is third, followed by Reid (sixth), Buffalo’s Sean McDermott (eighth) and Tampa Bay’s Bruce Arians (30th). ___ More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL Josh Dubow, The Associated Press
Going all-in on star power was an easy decision, assuming Irving stays onboard and unexpected absences won’t become the norm. But staying pat could have the Nets on the outside looking in, although smart money says Marks will be scraping the lint in Brooklyn’s pockets to cover the glaring holes.
ST. LOUIS — Tomas Hertl scored the only goal in a four-round shootout to give the San Jose Sharks a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night. Marcus Sorensen scored the tying goal late in the second period and Martin Jones made 22 saves for the Sharks, who snapped a six-game losing streak to St. Louis that started in the 2019 playoffs. Jones denied all four Blues shooters in the tiebreaker. Brayden Schenn scored in his second consecutive game and Jordan Binnington made 37 saves for the Blues. San Jose appeared to get the game-winner with 11 seconds left in overtime, but the officials quickly waved it off for goaltender interference on Ryan Donato. After a replay review, the call was upheld. John Leonard almost gave the Sharks the lead, ringing a drive off the post early in the second period. Instead, Schenn put the Blues on top at 4:27 of the second off Jordan Kyrou's feed. It was the first time in four games that St. Louis scored first. Vince Dunn came close to building on St. Louis’ lead, but he hit the post late in the second. The Sharks took advantage, tying the game with 2:03 left in the second as Sorensen made a diving poke off Matt Nieto's shot to even the game 1-all. SPECIAL TEAMS The teams combined to go 0 for 12 on the power play. St. Louis is scoreless on its first 14 chances with the man advantage this season, while San Jose entered the game second in the NHL, scoring on 45% of its power-play opportunities. SEASON DEBUTS Sharks forward Dylan Gambrell was in the lineup for the first time this season. He centred the third line between Leonard and Stefan Noesen. Blues defenceman Niko Mikkola saw his first action of the season, filling in for Marco Scandella. Mikkola was paired with Carl Gunnarsson, who made his season debut on Monday for Robert Bortuzzo, who was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. WELCOME BACK Blues forward Sammy Blais was back in the starting lineup after serving a two-game suspension for a hit on Colorado’s Devon Toews in the season opener. Blais took Kyle Clifford’s spot on the fourth line with Ivan Barbashev and Oskar Sundqvist. WHAT’S NEXT Sharks: Continue their season-opening, eight-game road trip by starting a two-game set at Minnesota on Friday night. Blues: Continue their four-game homestand by hosting the Los Angeles Kings in the first of a two-game set Saturday night. ___ More AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL Joe Harris, The Associated Press