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Geoff Burke / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters The Year of the Home Run Reaches October
After a record-setting regular season, the MLB playoffs figure to host offensive fireworks and long-ball fatigue.
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Mitch Stringer / USA TODAY Sports Lamar Jackson and the NFL’s Quarterback Double Standard
As the league looks to the future, the way many analysts talk about black players such as the Baltimore Ravens passer still belongs to an ugly past.
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Ken Blaze / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters How the Cleveland Browns Are Bucking NFL Convention
In trying to reverse a generation’s worth of losing, the team is loading up on stars and embracing the hype.
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Matthew Emmons / USA Today Sports / Reuters Why Is Trevor Lawrence Playing College Football?
The Clemson quarterback and Heisman favorite, seen by many as NFL-ready, is all but forced by the mechanisms of amateur sports to play for free.
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Thomas J. Russo / USA TODAY Sports / ... What Andrew Luck’s Retirement Says About the NFL
The Colts quarterback is leaving the game at age 29—a move that reaffirms the danger of the sport and the willingness of some players to walk away from it.
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Benoit Tessier / Reuters One Question Hanging Over the World Cup Final
As the United States and the Netherlands prepare to face off, teams and fans wonder whether VAR—or instant-replay reviews—will decide the champion.
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Tyler Kaufman / AP Why the Anthony Davis and LeBron James Pairing Will Be Different
Two of the NBA’s best players have teamed up in the league’s glitziest and most history-rich locale, each with a legacy to burnish and an unhappy narrative to reverse.
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Kyle Terada / USA Today Sports / Reuters A Historic NBA Championship for the Raptors
The Golden State Warriors were hampered by injuries, but the league’s newest victors were built to seize on the opportunity.
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Kyle Terada / USA TODAY Sports Kevin Durant’s Disastrous Comeback
After Golden State’s star forward injured his Achilles tendon in the NBA Finals, the team’s decision to let him play is facing scrutiny.
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Troy Taormina / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters Kevin Durant’s Inessential Greatness
The Golden State Warriors forward is an unstoppable scorer and matchup nightmare—and without him, the team is on the doorstep of another championship.
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Aaron Gash / AP Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Thinking Like the MVP
The Milwaukee Bucks’ do-everything prodigy has simplified his approach and become the NBA’s best player.
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Why Tiger Woods’s Masters Win Was Different This Time
The most appealing aspect of the golf pro’s 15th major championship is that it doesn’t quite signal a return to dominance.
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Brad Mills / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters MLB’s Bold Efforts to Remake Baseball
Opening Day 2019 finds the league tinkering with the sport to draw younger audiences—and weighing which aspects of the game are essential.
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Rick Scuteri / USA Today / Reuters Baseball’s Best Player Deserves More Than $430 Million
Mike Trout just signed a record-breaking contract extension with the Los Angeles Angels. What he really needs is a team that can win championships.
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Dale Zanine / USA Today Sports / Reuters The Patriots’ Super Bowl Victory Was Boring—Yet Inimitable
In a tedious championship game against the Los Angeles Rams, New England confirmed that the ingredients of its success can’t be replicated by the rest of the NFL.
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Elise Amendola / AP Photo Rob Gronkowski and the Cost of Greatness
As the ageless Tom Brady and Bill Belichick lead the Patriots to another Super Bowl, the star tight end shows signs of wear and tear.
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Butch Dill / AP How the Showtime Saints Became Championship Favorites
With shrewd drafting and a style adjustment, New Orleans built a team capable of helping out its star quarterback—and winning a Super Bowl.
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John David Mercer / USA Today Sports / ... In the New College Football, Alabama Is Still Out Front
As the sport gets faster and scores climb higher, a formerly traditionalist program and its star quarterback embrace the future.
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Jon Durr / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters If the Dodgers Win the World Series
A championship victory for Los Angeles would mean the team’s sustained ability to make it to the postseason—year after year—has finally paid off.
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Charlie Riedel / AP Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid Are Torching the NFL
The Kansas City Chiefs’ upstart signal-caller and oft-imitated coach have the league buzzing.
