Nick Castellanos makes history for Phillies in NLCS clincher over Braves; Chiefs roll past Broncos ... again

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⚾ Good morning to everyone but especially ...

THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Baseball has been played for a long, long time. Thursday's contest was the 1,769th postseason game in MLB history.

Until then, no one had accomplished the feat Nick Castellanos achieved.

Castellanos became the first player in MLB history with consecutive multi-home run playoff games, and the Phillies got massive contributions elsewhere to beat the Braves, 3-1, in Game 4 to advance to the NLCS.

Castellanos' first home run came in the fourth inning, a frame after Austin Riley's solo homer had given the Braves the lead. Trea Turner earned the lead back for the Phillies with his own solo shot in the fifth, and Castellanos made it 3-1 in the sixth.
Turner made some history, too, as the first Phillies player with a four-hit playoff game.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh, Craig Kimbrel got likely NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. to fly out thanks to a leaping warning-track catch from Johan Rojas.
Bryce Harper escaped injury on an awkward play at first in the eighth.
Matt Strahm inherited runners on the corners and no outs in the ninth and locked down the save.

This Phillies team is awesome: The players, the crowd, the vibes. It's something intangible and magical, writes Stephen Pianovich from Citizens Bank Park.

They'll meet the Diamondbacks with a World Series trip on the line.

👍 Honorable mentions

We got an all-time ending in Houston-West Virginia with the Cougars' Stephon Johnson Jr. catching a Hail Mary as time expired ... just 12 seconds after West Virginia scored a 50-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10 to take the lead. Do yourself a favor and watch it.
For the first time since 2017, Gonzaga isn't the West Coast Conference men's basketball preseason favorite. That honor belongs to Saint Mary's.
AJ Dybantsa, one of the most highly touted basketball recruits in recent memory, reclassified from 2026 to 2025.

😖 And not such a good morning for ...

THE ATLANTA BRAVES

There's a great rivalry going between the Braves and Phillies, but when it comes to winning when it matters, there's no question: The Phillies have dominated the Braves the last two postseasons. The cumulative score is 44-21. Philadelphia has hit 16 home runs compared to eight for Atlanta. Philadelphia has led for 49 innings; Atlanta has led for six.

Still, every postseason exit is different. This time, Atlanta had a variety of disappointments.

Acuña went 2 for 14 with no home runs or RBI. He went 0-4 in Game 4 despite all four outs being hard-hit (95-plus miles per hour). That's baseball.
The Braves never scored fewer than nine runs in any four-game span this season. They scored eight in this four-game series.
The starters posted a 6.05 ERA in this series.

I talked about the Dodgers' disappointing exit yesterday, and this one is similar. The rotation, filled with injuries -- Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Kyle Wright -- ran out of gas. The Braves had the third-worst ERA in the majors in the final month of the season, but because they were so far ahead, no one paid much mind. It turns out we -- and they -- had reason to worry. Add in the offensive woes, and the Braves have months to stew over another loss to their hated division rival. As they know from last year, that's never fun.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

Deshaun Watson (shoulder) is out again.
DK Metcalf poked the bear ... well, the Bengal, technically.
Andre Reed says he had valuables -- including his Hall of Fame ring and passport -- stolen from his hotel in London.
NFL players are not fans of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turf.
LIV Golf members are unhappy with the OWGR.

🏈 Chiefs ease past hapless Broncos

Make it 16 straight. The Chiefs continued their dominance over the Broncos with a businesslike 19-8 win in Kansas City. The 16 straight wins tie the third-longest winning streak by one NFL team over another.

The much-maligned Broncos defense did an outstanding job. Kansas City managed just one touchdown on five red-zone trips -- a Patrick Mahomes pass to Kadarius Toney -- and Justin Simmons picked off Mahomes.

But my goodness is this offense hard to watch. There's nothing going on downfield. Russell Wilson's average depth of target was 5.3 yards. On throws at least 15 yards downfield, he went 1 of 5 with an interception to Nick Bolton. Denver's final offensive play, fittingly, was a Samaje Perine fumble, one of three Denver turnovers on the night.

Oh yeah, Taylor Swift was in attendance to see Travis Kelce's 127-yard night. That was the most exciting part of the evening.

🏈 NFL Week 6 picks: Ravens-Titans in London; Bengals back?

Week 6 of the NFL season is here, and the Sunday slate starts early for the third straight week with the Ravens and Titans in London. I'm having trouble figuring out these teams. Baltimore has run 188 plays with the lead this season, tied for fourth-most in the league through five weeks behind the 49ers, Eagles and Chiefs. Yet Baltimore is only 3-2 thanks to drops, turnovers, bad luck and special teams gaffes.

On the other hand, the 2-3 Titans are doing what they seemingly always do: Hang around, even with a significant talent deficit on paper. This season, they've beaten the Chargers and Bengals -- the only teams they've faced that made the playoffs last year -- and Sunday they'll look to make it 3 for 3.

Jordan Dajani's picks are in, and he's thinking how I'm thinking.

Dajani: "Tennessee's defensive front could be banged-up, the secondary is already questionable and the offense averages 17.6 points per game. Betting against Mike Vrabel as an underdog can be dumb, but the Ravens are the better team. The pick: Ravens -4 | Projected score: Ravens 26-20"

The Ravens' inability to close games has been good news for the Bengals, who might finally be picking up some steam as Joe Burrow's calf heals. Can they get to .500 for the first time this season? Pete Prisco says ...

Prisco: "The Seahawks are coming off a bye, so they will be rested. But Cincinnati seemed to find its way at Arizona last week. Joe Burrow is back healthy, which showed up in his play. That will continue here. The Bengals will even their record heading into the bye with another big offensive showing. Pick: Bengals 31, Seahawks 23"

Here are our experts' picks:

Pete Prisco | Will Brinson | John Breech | Tyler Sullivan | Jordan Dajani

🏈 College football Week 7 predictions: Major Pac-12 showdown

The dismantling of the Pac-12 looms, but the conference isn't going quietly with seven teams in the top 25 -- most of any conference -- and three among the top 10.

All three top-10 squads face huge challenges this weekend with two facing one another. No. 8 Oregon visits No. 7 Washington on Saturday afternoon (preview) hours before No. 10 USC takes on No. 21 Notre Dame (preview).

Tom Fornelli's Ducks-Huskies pick leads off The Six Pack.

Fornelli: "The problem for the Huskies is that of all the teams they'll play this season, Oregon is their most difficult matchup. ... The Huskies allow only 3.8 yards per carry, but their success rate ranks 97th from a down-to-down perspective. This will be a problem against an Oregon offensive line that is one of the best in the country and especially strong along the interior. The Pick: Oregon +3 (-105)"

As for the Trojans and the Fighting Irish, our experts are as split as can be.

Elsewhere on top 25 slate is No. 25 Miami at No. 12 North Carolina with the Hurricanes looking to bounce back from one of the most mind-numbingly dumb losses ever. Will Backus has a best bet there as part of his value plays. Meanwhile, Barrett Sallee has SEC picks.

⚾ What's next for Dodgers?

If once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern and thrice is a trend, are the Dodgers' playoff exits here to stay unless drastic changes are made? For a third straight year after winning a title, Los Angeles has big questions to answer, both internally and externally.

First, internal: Is this it for Clayton Kershaw? The future Hall of Famer left that door open after the sweep loss to the
Diamondbacks. Whether he's back or not, the Dodgers have an even more pressing issue: Should Dave Roberts return? Matt Snyder says "yes."

Then, of course, there's the Shohei Ohtani question. Matt says even if they get Ohtani in Dodger blue, they'll have more work to do.

📺 What we're watching this weekend

Friday

🏈 Fresno State at Utah State, 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
🏈 Stanford at Colorado, 10 p.m. on ESPN

Saturday

🏈 Syracuse at No. 4 Florida State, Noon on ABC
⚽ USMNT vs. Germany, 3 p.m. on TNT
🏈 No. 8 Oregon at No. 7 Washington, 3:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Texas A&M at No. 19 Tennessee, 3:30 p.m. on CBS, Paramount+
🏈 No. 10 USC at No. 21 Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. on NBC
🏈 No. 25 Miami at No. 12 North Carolina, 7:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 No. 18 UCLA at No. 15 Oregon State, 8 p.m. on Fox

Sunday

🏈 Ravens vs. Titans, 9:30 a.m. on NFL Network
🏈 Seahawks at Bengals, 1 p.m. on CBS, Paramount+
🏀 Aces at Liberty, 3 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Eagles at Jets, 4:25 p.m. on Fox
⚽ NWSL Decision Day, 5 p.m. on Paramount+
⚾ Rangers at Astros, 8:15 p.m. on Fox