Sports
Behind Kershaw, L.A. rights ship vs. rival Padres
LOS ANGELES — His teammates were reeling, their bitter rivals were surging, the division was slipping, and under those circumstances, Clayton Kershaw — clearly diminished but still every bit as determined — came through.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers riding a four-game losing streak, and hosting a San Diego Padres team that had won five straight to make up 10 games in a span of six weeks, Kershaw fired six innings of one-run ball Friday night, cutting through the tension of a keyed-up series to set the tone in a 3-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.
The National League West, a division the Dodgers led by nine games just six weeks earlier, is tied once more. The Padres and Dodgers will play five more games against one another over the next nine days.
“We had the right guy on the mound tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think we all know that.”
Kershaw made his debut with the Dodgers’ 2025 rotation around the middle of May, after fully recovering from offseason knee and foot surgeries, and helped stabilize a group that once again found itself beset by injuries. His initial results were merely decent — a 3.62 ERA in 12 starts, with 39 strikeouts and 18 walks in 59⅔ innings — but his availability was vital.
Over the past few weeks, as the Dodgers’ rotation has stabilized, Kershaw has tapped into another level.
All three of his starts this month have seen him go six innings while combining to allow just two runs. On Friday night, the only damage against him was a Ramon Laureano solo homer that clanged off the left-field foul pole. Kershaw featured a sharper-than-usual slider and allowed just two other baserunners while requiring only 76 pitches to complete 18 outs. Fifteen starts into his age-37 season, he’s 7-2 with a 3.01 ERA.
“It’s just what you’re supposed to do,” Kershaw said of being at his best lately. “As a starter, you’re supposed to pitch well. And when it’s your turn, step up. And our rotation is getting healthier. We got a lot of guys that can throw the ball really well, so I just want to do my part.”
Friday began with the news that Max Muncy, the Dodgers’ everyday third baseman and a critical middle-of-the-order bat, was nursing an oblique strain that would keep him out for the next several weeks. Muncy joined Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez and Hyeseong Kim on the injured list, prompting a rookie (Alex Freeland) and a journeyman (Buddy Kennedy) to fill in. The bullpen, meanwhile, was already down as many as six high-leverage relievers, severely limiting Roberts’ options to hold leads late.
The Dodgers desperately needed Kershaw’s six innings. But they also needed the contributions from Teoscar Hernandez, who was carrying an 0.673 OPS since the start of July but provided a critical insurance run with a seventh-inning homer. And they badly needed the production from their bullpen, where five relievers combined to allow just one run over the last three innings.
With Roberts unwilling to bring Kershaw back out for another inning, Ben Casparius successfully tackled the middle of the Padres’ lineup in the top of the seventh. The Padres then threatened in the eighth against Alex Vesia, loading the bases on a couple of hit by pitches and a walk, then cutting their deficit to one on Luis Arraez‘s sac fly. With two on, two outs and Manny Machado due up, Roberts turned to his best weapon, Blake Treinen, and watched him induce an inning-ending popout on one pitch.
Alexis Diaz, the former All-Star closer discarded by the Cincinnati Reds, and Jack Dreyer, the rookie left-hander who has been a godsend this season, closed it out in the ninth.
“It was a high-intensity game,” Roberts said. “It was certainly kind of tempered as far as internally, but I think that I could see it as far as on the field. I could feel it. Our focus was keen. They pitched really well. I thought we pitched really well. It was just a well-played ballgame.”
The last time the Dodgers and Padres faced off, it was the middle of June, amid a stretch in which they played seven games in 11 days against one another — on the heels of a tense NL Division Series the previous October. The Dodgers won five of those games, including three of four at Dodger Stadium. The four-game set in L.A. featured eight hit by pitches, half of which were dispersed to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei Ohtani. The finale saw Roberts shove Padres manager Mike Shildt while both dugouts and bullpens emptied.
At that point, the Dodgers were five games better than the Padres and seemed poised to cruise to a 12th division title in 13 years. The next two weeks only fortified that belief. Then the Dodgers navigated through one of their driest spells in years, losing 22 of 31 games after July 3 — including all three from Angel Stadium earlier this week. The bullpen was a mess, the offense was inconsistent, and the Padres, buoyed by a string of trade-deadline acquisitions from their aggressive general manager, were riding a high.
For one night, at least, Kershaw and his teammates put a stop to that.
“It just takes one to get going,” Kershaw said. “Hopefully this was it tonight for us.”
CHICAGO — The Los Angeles Rams are headed to the NFC Championship game to play the Seattle Seahawks, despite what head coach Sean McVay called “some bad coaching” by him in Sunday night’s 20-17 win over the Bears.
The Rams offense, a unit which led the league in offensive DVOA during the regular season, struggled to get into a rhythm for much of the game.
“Offensively, man, I did not do a very good job for our group tonight,” McVay said. “But I thought our guys were able to overcome it.”
After scoring a touchdown on their opening possession with a 14-play 85-yard drive, the Rams had just 174 yards at the end of the third quarter. According to ESPN Research, it was their fewest yards at the end of the third quarter in a game this season.
“I did not like the feel for the flow of the game that I had outside of the first series where our guys did a great job,” McVay said. “Defensively, it kept us in it in spite of how poor of a job I did for our group. But like I said, I’m really grateful for this group being able to find a way, stick with it and be able to overcome some bad coaching by me tonight.”
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw for a league-leading 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns during the regular season, completed 20 of 42 passes for 258 yards against the Bears. Stafford failed to throw a touchdown for just the second time in his playoff career, according to ESPN Research. It was the first time Stafford failed to throw multiple passing touchdowns in a playoff start for the Rams.
“I definitely didn’t get into a great rhythm today,” Stafford said. “There’s no question about that. I had some opportunities in the pass game, just some things that made it tough. Obviously I could be better.
“But playoff football is about winning the football game. Played great, threw for a bunch of yards last year in the snow and we lost, so that s— sucks. So I’m happy to have played a little bit worse today and going home with a win. So we’ll take that.”
Stafford had 11 off-target throws on Sunday, tied for his most as a member of the Rams, according to ESPN Research.
But despite the struggles for the offense for most of the night, Stafford led the Rams to his 55th career game-wining drive in the fourth quarter or overtime, which is 11 more than the next-closest player since he entered the NFL in 2009.
The victory for the Rams sent them to the NFC title game for the first time since Los Angeles won Super Bowl LVI during the 2021 season. The Rams will play the No. 1 seed Seahawks, who beat the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 on Saturday night to advance.
“[We’ve] got to be at our best,” McVay said. “You watched that game last night. They’re firing on all cylinders. They look really good and I’m excited to be able to dive into this tape and figure out how we can improve.”
The Rams split the season series in Seattle, winning 21-19 at home in Week 11 and losing 38-37 in overtime in Week 16. The Rams led the Week 16 game 30-14 in the fourth quarter.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, who had 5 catches for 56 yards on Sunday, said it felt fitting that Los Angeles will go back to Seattle next week for a chance to go to the Super Bowl.
“I think there’s no way the football gods would rather have it be than for us to go back up there and see the All Father [Cooper Kupp] and get a chance to right our wrongs,” Nacua said. “So it will be a great challenge for us and we’re excited for it.”
- Sri Lanka requestsmatches be held outside India over security concerns.
- Scotland set to be named replacement team based on current rankings.
- Pakistan stresses no country should face pressure, threats from India.
Bangladesh’s participation in the 2026 T20 World Cup, and specifically whether the team travels to India, will reportedly be decided by January 21, following discussions in Dhaka where the International Cricket Council (ICC) reportedly conveyed a deadline to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
During the second meeting in a week with the ICC on Saturday, the BCB reiterated its intention to play in the T20 World Cup but requested matches be held outside India over security concerns, suggesting co-host Sri Lanka as an alternative.
The ICC, however, rejected the request, keeping Bangladesh in Group C and assuring there is no security threat to the team while touring and playing in India, ESPNcricinfo reported.
The report claimed that the top cricketing body also turned down the BCB’s request to move Bangladesh to Group B, swapping places with Ireland.
It emerged that the ICC will wait for the BCB’s decision regarding participation in the tournament, and if Bangladesh chooses not to travel to India, Scotland is set to be named the replacement team based on current rankings.
The issue has remained unresolved for nearly three weeks after the BCB first formally conveyed its concerns on January 4.
With the T20 World Cup scheduled to begin on February 7, Bangladesh are currently slated to play their opening match against West Indies in Kolkata, followed by two more group games at the same venue, before concluding their group-stage fixtures in Mumbai.
The dispute traces back to the removal of Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL 2026 squad on instructions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), without any official explanation.
This development was followed by the Bangladesh government banning the broadcast of the IPL in the country, after which the BCB formally informed the ICC of its refusal to play T20 World Cup matches in India — a position it has maintained since.
It was also learnt on Saturday that Pakistan is expected to reassess its participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in India-Sri Lanka, following increasing concerns related to the Bangladesh cricket team.
The Bangladesh government has reached out to Pakistan for support over its decision to skip travelling to India for the tournament, citing security concerns, sources told Geo News.
They added that Pakistan supports Bangladesh’s legitimate concerns, emphasising that they should be addressed and acted upon.
Pakistan has also stressed that no country should face pressure or threats from India, assuring Bangladesh of its full support on the matter.
Sports
AFCON final in pictures – iShowSpeed, bloody heads, penalty fury, fan chaos, spectacular saves, and a goal
The Africa Cup of Nations final in Rabat on Sunday night was a fairly normal football match, for most of the first 89 minutes… and then it descended into utter madness as a penalty call (soft but right) had a domino effect across the stadium.
With celebrities and dignitaries in attendance, Morocco and Senegal played brilliant, defensively strong, attacking football. A showcase for the African game. And then a penalty call was made.
In the end, Senegal won 1-0 thanks to a Pape Gueye strike in extra time, leaving Morocco fans heartbroken in the stands.
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