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Miami No. 1
in CFP rankings
(AP) -- The undefeated Miami Hurricanes received top billing in the season’s first College Football Playoff rankings, with Georgia, undefeated Utah and defending national champion Indiana filling out the top four spots in the initial projected playoff bracket.
The biggest surprise from the selection committee was its choice to rank Notre Dame 11th -- seven spots lower than its spot in the AP Top 25 and the last team in the bracket if the playoffs started today.
The rest of the rankings: No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 7 Texas and undefeated UCLA at No. 8.
BYU was slotted in the ninth spot, followed by Ole Miss, the Irish and Ohio State.
MLB makes
its proposal
NEW YORK (AP) -- Major League Baseball has proposed delaying the start of a salary cap until 2028. The league says teams have too many commitments for the 2027 season to reduce spending quickly.
On Tuesday, owners proposed a hard cap of $258.2 million for 2028 and a mandatory floor of $180.2 million. The proposal uses luxury tax payrolls with average annual values.
MLB spokesman Glen Caplin says the delay allows a smoother transition without affecting key player benefits. These benefits include earlier free agency, a $1 million minimum salary and a 30% increase to the pre-arbitration bonus pool.
Marathon
runner dies
NEW YORK (AP) -- A young Pennsylvania woman running the New York City Marathon for the first time to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research collapsed just over two miles from the finish line and later died.
Authorities say 24-year-old Rachel Apa of Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, collapsed on Sunday as she approached the 24-mile marker in the 26.2-mile race. Her father told The New York Times she’d been stricken with rhabdomyolysis, a rare muscle condition in which muscles break down during exertion, poisoning the body. It was Apa’s first marathon.
Hocevar is
suspended
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Spire Motorsports has suspended NASCAR driver Carson Hocevar for Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, saying “racing at the Cup level is a privilege, and it comes with an expected level of professionalism.” Hocevar was accused of intentionally brake-checking Austin Cindric following a restart at Martinsville Speedway last Sunday.
He denied doing it on purpose. Cindric declined interviews after leaving the care center, but he radioed his team that Hocevar “had a mental breakdown” in the incidents.
Earlier in the race, Hocevar was accused of intentionally spinning his No. 77 Chevrolet to bring out a caution flag and potentially catch Christopher Bell and others on pit road, disrupting their race strategies.
Canada
bans Russia
(AP) -- Canada’s prime minister says Russia not allowed at world juniors after 6 countries threaten boycott
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that Russia will not be allowed to play at the upcoming world junior hockey tournament, adding to a growing boycott by the world’s hockey powers ahead of the men’s tournament next year in Germany.
Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Norway, Latvia and Denmark came out with statements Tuesday signing up for a boycott of games against Russia as long as the war in Ukraine is ongoing. A top sponsor of the world championships next year threatened to walk away, after Finland announced Monday it was rallying other nations to refuse to play Russia.
Mariners
hire Kanzler
SEATTLE (AP) -- The Seattle Mariners have hired Chicago Cubs farm director Jason Kanzler as manager. The 36-year-old Kanzler replaces Dan Wilson, who was fired after a disappointing 76-86 season that began with World Series aspirations.
Seattle reached Game 7 of the American League Championship Series in 2025. Kanzler was the Cubs’ director of player development, leading the organization’s minor league system, players and coaching staff. A former minor league player and coach, Kanzler has not managed a club at any level.
He was on the big league coaching staff for the Houston Astros in 2022-23, serving as assistant hitting coach in his final season when the club won its second World Series title.
Liberty fire
DeMarco
NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Liberty have fired coach Chris DeMarco after only one season. DeMarco came to New York in December after serving for more than a decade as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors.
He had no prior WNBA experience before guiding the Liberty to the eighth seed in the regular season. After an impressive first-round playoff sweep over the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx, the Liberty were ousted by the Dream in three games.
The Liberty coaching staff made a crucial mistake in Game 2 of the series not knowing that they had a reset timeout left in overtime with the team trailing by three.