What's next for the Yankees? Plus, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers continue to struggle

Championship Series - Houston Astros v New York Yankees - Game Four

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Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you're well.

Let's get right to it.

The Football Five 🏈

The Giants and the Jets keep winning. For the 6-1 Giants, Daniel Jones became the first player in franchise history to have 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards in a game, and Saquon Barkley joined him surpassing the century mark on the ground in a 23-17 win over the Jaguars. Jacksonville wide receiver Christian Kirk was stopped at the 1-yard line as time expired. The 5-2 Jets got a 16-9 win over the Brett Rypien-led Broncos. Rookie star Breece Hall, however, suffered a knee injury.
Dak Prescott returned, and the outstanding Cowboys defense forced five turnovers as Dallas cruised past Detroit, 24-6. Ezekiel Elliott scored a pair of touchdowns.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 423 yards and three touchdowns against the excellent 49ers defense as the Chiefs cruised, 44-23.
Joe Burrow threw for 481 yards and three touchdowns as the Bengals beat the Falcons, 35-17.
The Dolphins hung on for a 16-10 win over the Steelers on Sunday Night Football.

Good morning to everyone but especially to...

THE HOUSTON ASTROS

For the fourth time in six years, the Houston Astros are headed to the World Series. Houston finished off a dominant sweep of the Yankees with a 6-5 win in rainy New York.

After the Yankees took an early 3-0 lead, star rookie Jeremy Peña -- who won ALCS MVP -- hit a three-run home run in the third inning.
In the seventh inning, with the Astros trailing 5-4, Yordan Álvarez and Alex Bregman hit back-to-back RBI singles to tie and take the lead, respectively, after a brutal error from New York.
Four Astros relievers combined to throw four innings and allow just one run on one hit. The Houston bullpen posted a 1.42 ERA in the series. Closer Ryan Pressly had three saves and didn't even give up a hit over 3 1/3 innings.
Dusty Baker -- the only person with 2,000 managerial wins and no World Series rings as a manager -- gets his third shot in a Fall Classic.

From the depth of the lineup to the stars of the rotation to the dominance of the bullpen, the Astros showed (again) there's a huge gap between them and the Yankees -- and everyone else they've faced in the postseason so far:

... AND ALSO A GOOD MORNING TO THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

When the Philadelphia Phillies signed Bryce Harper to a record-breaking deal in 2019, they dreamed of moments like this. Now they're four wins away from fulfilling another dream.

Harper hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning, and the Phillies finished off the Padres with a 4-3 Game 5 win that sends Philadelphia to its first World Series since 2009.

Harper hit .400 with two home runs, four runs scored and five RBI to win NLCS MVP. He is now hitting .419 this postseason with five home runs, 10 runs and 11 RBI in 11 games.
Harper's 11 extra base hits are most ever by a Phillie in a single postseason.
Harper got plenty of support: Rhys Hoskins homered after homering twice in Game 4, and Zack Wheeler allowed just two runs over six innings pitched.

Not to be lost in all of the star power is manager Rob Thomson. The Phillies were just 21-29 through May, and they fired Joe Girardi shortly thereafter. Thomson has gone from interim to full-time with a two-year deal to now just the fourth manager to make the World Series after taking over midseason, joining Jack McKeon (2003 Marlins), Paul Owens (1983 Phillies) and Bob Lemon (1978 Yankees).

Our baseball expert Stephen Pianovich has 13 reasons Philadelphia is headed to the World Series, including Harper, Hoskins, Wheeler and a lot more. The World Series begins Friday. Here's the schedule.

Honorable mentions

Rory McIlroy is back to No. 1 in the world after winning the CJ Cup.
The Jazz -- yes, the Jazz -- are 3-0.

And not such a good morning for...

THE NEW YORK YANKEES

Game on the line, season on the line, and Aaron Judge at the plate. Because why not? The Yankees superstar, fresh off his AL-record 62 home runs and right on the brink of free agency, had one last chance. The result was a weak groundout, a fitting end to a weak ALCS showing from both the franchise and the face of it.

Judge went 1 for 16 (.063 batting average) with just one walk in the ALCS. Then again, the Yankees hit just .162 as a team.
The longest outing by a Yankees starter was 5 1/3 innings. The shortest outing by an Astros starter was five innings.
The Yankees are now the only team to lose five straight League Championship Series, and the last three have been against the Astros.

As our MLB reporter Mike Axisa wrote even before Game 4, "the Astros are better than the Yankees at literally everything." That means the Yankees have plenty of questions to answer this offseason, but none is bigger than what happens with Judge, Mike writes.

Axisa: "The question is not can the Yankees keep Judge, the 62-homer man. Of course they can. They're the Yankees and they can match -- and beat -- any contract offer that comes his way this offseason. To pretend otherwise is folly. All indications are Judge wants to remain a Yankee and the Yankees want to retain Judge, though saying and doing are different things."

Judge didn't have much to say following the game, but you can follow his free agency tracker here.

Not so honorable mentions

The Lakers are 0-3 and shooting historically poorly.
Zion Williamson suffered a hip injury.
The NBA is handing down discipline from the Heat-Raptors fight.
Charlotte football fired head coach Will Healy. Here's our coaching carousel tracker.

Buccaneers, Packers continue to lose as Brady, Rodgers struggle 🏈

Tom Brady Getty Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Getty Images

Entering this season, the Buccaneers and Packers were among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Seven weeks later, they're both 3-4.

Let's start with the Buccaneers, whose lifeless offense and surprisingly soft defense were on full display in a 21-3 loss to the Panthers. Yes, the Panthers who fired their coach two weeks ago and traded their best player last week.

The Buccaneers closed as 13-point favorites. That makes this tied for the second-largest upset loss in Tom Brady's career.
This is the first time Brady's had a losing record through seven games since 2002, his first year as a starter.
The Buccaneers are averaging 17.7 points per game, the worst by any Brady-led team in any seven-game stretch within a season.

Tampa was sleepwalking from the start. Mike Evans dropped what would have been a walk-in 64-yard touchdown on the Buccaneers' third offensive play. The run defense, normally one of the league's best, allowed 173 yards on 6.4 yards per carry. Carolina's PJ Walker entered Sunday with two career passing touchdowns in 11 career games, and he matched that Sunday alone. It was a team-wide failure that earned an "F" in John Breech's Week 7 grades.

Breech: "The Buccaneers have now lost four of their past five games and a big reason for that is because the offense looks broken. Part of that is due to Brady, who threw multiple errant passes, but even when he was throwing accurately, his receivers couldn't hang on to anything... All of a sudden, it's starting to feel like the Buccaneers are going to be in a dog fight in the NFC South, a division most people thought Tampa Bay was easily going to win."

We'll have more on Brady in specific on CBSsports.com later today, but right now, three numbers stick out to me:

Brady's 7.2 air yards per attempt, on pace to be his lowest since tracking began in 2006
Brady's 2.31 seconds to throw, on pace to be his fastest since tracking began in 2017
The Buccaneers' 3.0 yards per carry, worst in the NFL

Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers fell to the Commanders, 23-21. The Packers have now lost three straight -- a first under head coach Matt LaFleur -- and they face the Bills next. Green Bay's playoff chances are in real danger, writes NFL expert Jeff Kerr.

This is the first time since 2014 that both Brady and Rodgers have been under .500 at the same time. This is also the first time it's happened after the month of September.

College football roundup: Three more undefeated teams fall, Clemson survives 🏈

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Nine teams entered this weekend undefeated. Six teams emerged still perfect. Ole Miss, UCLA and Clemson all took their first loss of the season, all in very different manners.

Ole Miss jumped out to a 17-3 lead and then fell apart in a 45-20 loss at LSU. Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels accounted for 369 yards and five total touchdowns -- two passing, three rushing. Even after a slow start under new head coach Brian Kelly, LSU could make some noise in the SEC West, writes college football expert David Cobb.
Oregon, meanwhile, blew out UCLA, 45-30. Bo Nix had nearly as many passing touchdowns (five) as incompletions (six), and the Ducks earned an A+ in college football reporter Barrett Sallee's Week 8 grades.
Finally, Clemson came back for a 27-21 win over Syracuse despite benching starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. Head coach Dabo Swinney called Uiagalelei "our guy" after the game, even though Cade Klubnik took the reins during the comeback.