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Buxton, Martin Down Red Sox

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Byron Buxton and Austin Martin hit two-run home runs in the seventh inning as the visiting Minnesota Twins came from behind for an 8-6 win over the Boston Red Sox to begin a three-game series Friday night.

The Twins rallied from deficits of 4-0 and 6-3 to win on the strength of the four-run frame, tagging Boston reliever Justin Slaten (0-2) for his first earned runs of the season.

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Buxton and Martin both went 2-for-5 and combined for five RBIs. Ryan Kriedler and Luke Keaschall also had multi-hit games and an RBI apiece.

An inning after making a leaping catch to rob a potential Caleb Durbin extra-base hit, Martin knocked the go-ahead shot into the left-center field seats. Luke Keaschall had led off the frame with a single, preceding Buxton’s towering blast to center.

The Twins jumped back in front after batting around for the second time in the game but needed until the ninth to extend their lead. An error, Martin single and a hit batter loaded the bases before a walk to Trevor Larnach forced in a run.

Travis Adams (1-0) earned the win with two innings of relief behind starter Connor Prielipp, who worked the first four stanzas.

Anthony Banda escaped a two-on jam in the eighth and finished the game with a four-out save.

Wilyer Abreu (2-for-5) and Nick Sogard (2-for-3) both had multiple hits for the Red Sox.

The Red Sox roared out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, which began with Jarren Duran drawing a leadoff walk and scoring on Abreu’s double to deep center field two batters later.

A Willson Contreras triple off the Green Monster and Andruw Monasterio’s chopping single over the head of Minnesota third baseman Brooks Lee capped a string of three straight run-scoring hits. After Sogard singled, Marcelo Mayer’s sacrifice fly to center capped the frame.

The visitors wasted little time cutting into their deficit. In the second, the first five Twins reached before all nine stepped to the plate against Tolle.

After Josh Bell singled and Gabriel Gonzalez walked in his first career plate appearance, Kriedler sent a bounding double down the third-base line to bring in the Twins’ first run. Kody Clemens then reached on a mishandled comebacker to Tolle before Keaschall and Buxton knocked in RBIs.

The Red Sox restored a multi-run lead with a pair in the fourth, as Sogard’s leadoff single and a Narvaez knock two batters later set up two runs without the benefit of another hit. Durbin’s squeeze bunt plated one run, and Prielipp’s throwing error moved Carlos Narvaez up a base before he scored on Duran’s groundout.

–Field Level Media

Derrick White Earns All-D Honors

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NEW YORK – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Celtics guard Derrick White was named to the 2025-26 NBA All-Defensive first team. White, who led all guards in contested shots (552) and blocks per game (1.3) this season, earns his first career All-Defensive First Team honor and becomes the 11th Celtic in franchise history to be named to an All-Defensive starting five.

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An All-Defensive second team selection in 2022-23 and 2023-24, White tallied 37 games this season with at least one steal and one block, ranking first among all guards. The 2025-26 NBA Sportsmanship Award recipient ranked third in the NBA in defensive win shares (11.9) and was a combined +598 on the season, ranking fourth in the NBA. White became one of two Celtics guards in franchise history (Reggie Lewis) to tally at least 75 blocks and 75 steals in a single season.

White, a key member of the 2024 Celtics NBA championship team, averaged a career-high 16.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, a career-high 5.4 assists, a career-high 1.1 steals, and a career-high 1.3 blocks per game this season. In his fifth season with Boston, the 31-year-old anchored a Celtics defense that ranked second in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage (44.2%) and fourth in defensive rating (111.7). He finished the season by posting a 39.5% defensive field goal percentage in the 2026 playoffs, ranking fifth among players with at least 100 attempts against.

 

White is just one of 17 Celtics players to be named to an All-NBA Defensive team. A global media panel of 100 voters selected the Kia NBA All-Defensive teams. Voters selected five players to the first team and five players to the second team regardless of position. Players received two points for each first team vote and one point for each second team vote. White earned first team honors after receiving 58 first place votes and 30 second place votes.

Darkness on the Edge of Causeway

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The house is dark. The ghostlight is on, but Bruce Springsteen is coming.

The Celtics were up three-games-to-one against a Philadelphia 76ers team that hadn’t beaten Boston in a NBA Playoff series since Billy Cunningham coached a 1982 team, and they blew it. It was so long ago, longtime Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy had just started his first “big” beat covering the NBA. The hometown team – once invincible in Game 7s – has left the TD Garden dark. The Sixers moved on to meet the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and were mowed down by a superior team. The Knicks will face Cleveland for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics “Owe Us One.”

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But, it gets worse.

The TD Garden was witness to a suspect Boston Bruins team losing to the once-lowly Buffalo Sabres a night before the Celtics were sent to see St. Peter. The Sabres hadn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in 19 years, while the Sixers hadn’t beaten the Celtics in the playoffs since 1982, a mere 44 years. The Sabres lost to Montreal who are now playing Carolina for right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s understandable how the Bs lost, but how could the Celtics collapse in such epic fashion?

Let us count the ways:

o Live by chucking 3s, die by chucking 3s. In their four losses to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics shot 49-for-191, or 25.7%.

  • Game 5 (April 28): Shot 28.2% (11-of-39) from three in a 113-97 home loss.
  • Game 6 (April 30): Shot 29.3% (12-of-41) from three in a 106-93 loss in Philadelphia.
  • Game 7 (May 2): Shot 26.5% (13-of-49) from three in a 109-100 series-clinching loss at home.

o Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Sixers and a champ when he coached at every level, including an NBA Finals title with the Toronto Raptors, can flat-out coach. Yes, he was graced with a resurgence from one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, but Nurse guided the Sixers masterfully. NBA Coach of the Year, Joe Mazulla of the Celtics, was out-coached.

o Face facts: A starting five of: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman could not cut it in a decisive NBA Playoff game.  That group will never be compared to Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The team of Celtics so many NBA pundits expected for 2025-26 finally showed up. The absence of true “bigs” caught up with the team of green. Remember Al Horford? He was pretty good.

Two Boston pro teams were whooped on their home turf. They’re gone by May 2 and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band can bring life to the backstreets of the West End (May 24th), because on Saturday night, it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying. Springsteen might say, “Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.”

The truth was the fact the Celtics could not endure a full season without their best player, Jayson Tatum.

While Tatum orchestrated a miraculous (and quick) return from the devastating right Achilles’ injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and performed quite well from his March 6 return to active duty right on through to an incredible Game 3 shooting performance against the Sixers in Philadelphia, a sore left knee and discomfort that forced him to leave Game 6, also ruled him out just hours before Game 7.

Nine years into his NBA career, the 28-year-old Tatum is feeling the effects of 729 NBA regular season and playoff games.

Boston’s wonderkid GM, Brad Stevens, cannot be blamed for inactivity.

Stevens was faced with a choice of trading one of his “Big Two” of Tatum or Jaylen Brown, and possibly dismantling the 2024 NBA championship team somewhere short of a total rebuild. Instead, being faced with an aging Celtics team and a double secret probation by far exceeding the NBA’s agreed upon maximum team salary zones – the Cs – via Stevens’ surgical strike on salaries – dipped under both the First and Second Aprons of the NBA’s salary cap structure by reducing the team payroll for the 2025-26 season to a mere $187,885,254.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are all over $200 million and face limitations in their wheeling and dealing. Stevens and the Celtics do not.

The cost (saving) came when the Celtics jettisoned veteran bigs Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both players contributed mightily in the 2024 NBA Finals with Porzingis’ astonishing Game 1 performance which won the most important game of the series at Boston.  If you remember, with Porzingis coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game (June 6) since he had sustained a calf injury in late April, Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 to send a statement to the Texans.

Horford provided even more. The veteran center was an influential presence in the locker room, an intangible for NBA teams destined for good things to come, for chemistry, for facing and conquering adversity, and for winning championships. Horford was the whole package, plus, he hit three-pointer after three-pointer, drawing opposing centers away from the basket and allowing Tatum and Brown to operate inside.

Horford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in September 2025, signing a multi-year deal, and continuing into his 19th NBA season.

Boston’s other cost-saving move was to send multi-talented guard Jrue Holiday and his $32.4 million contract to the NBA outskirts of Portland, Oregon (not Maine). Holiday was another veteran, positive influence and key contributor to the 2024 championship, especially on the defensive end of the basketball court.

All of those moves put together allowed the Celtics to avoid the NBA’s punitive luxury taxes. The more stable payroll paved the way for new ownership as the franchise was sold by the longtime ownership group headed by Wyc Grousbeck for a then-record $6.1 billion. The new group, led by Bill Chisholm, paid an amazing amount of cash considering Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002.

A look over to the Fens, just past the Longwood Medical Center, and the prognosis isn’t much better. The Red Sox are floundering in the AL East basement. The offense is anemic and the middle relievers count runs against, ERA and Whip as though they were all MIT graduates. The brown paper bags are making a fashion statement and Jason Veritek’s wife is pouring on the sarcastic quips aimed at Sox GM, head of baseball Craig Breslow. Veritek “is being re-assigned” within the organization after Breslow leveled the coaching staff, including manager Alex Cora. There’s no AC and no DC in the Sox bats. No static at all.

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But, there’s one thing worse than a dark June at the TD Boston Garden, and that was a dark May. Only Bruce Springsteen’s rock show on May 24th will bring some “glory days” back to Boston.

The memories of 2018 and a club record of 108 wins is long gone. as those were, indeed, the glory days.

And, one thing’s sure of the glory days.

They’ll pass you by.

 

 

Red Sox Sweep KC Royals

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KANSAS CITY – (Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Jarren Duran hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning, and the Boston Red Sox completed a three-game road series sweep of the scuffling Kansas City Royals with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday.

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Boston trailed 3-2 entering the seventh, when Carlos Narvaez opened the frame with a single off Kansas City reliever Steven Cruz (0-2). Two batters later, Duran barely cleared the left field fence with an opposite-field home run to put the Red Sox ahead for good.

Duran was batting .181 after the series opener on Monday, but he clubbed a three-run home run in the ninth inning of Boston’s 7-1 victory on Tuesday, then had a second consecutive two-hit  game on Wednesday.

Connelly Early (4-2) allowed three runs on two homers plus four other hits over 6 1/3 innings for the Red Sox, who posted their second road series sweep of 2026. Early struck out five and walked one.

Aroldis Chapman worked around a leadoff single in the ninth inning to post his 12th save.

Royals starter Michael Wacha allowed two runs, one earned, in six innings. The veteran right-hander yielded six hits and two walks but struck out eight before leaving with the lead.

Kansas City got homers from Salvador Perez and Elias Diaz but still lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

The Royals opened the scoring in the first inning. With two outs, Salvador Perez sent an Early pitch inside the left -field foul pole for career homer No. 311 — six shy of the franchise’s all-time record held by George Brett.

The Royals opened the scoring in the first inning. With two outs, Salvador Perez sent an Early pitch inside the left -field foul pole for career homer No. 311 — six shy of the franchise’s all-time record held by George Brett.

Boston answered to take the lead in the second. Willson Contreras (three hits) led off with a triple into the right field corner, and he stayed at third when Ceddanne Rafaela reached on an error by Kansas City second baseman Nick Loftin.

Nick Sogard’s single to right field drove in Contreras and moved Rafaela to third. After a walk, Rafaela scored on Narvaez’s double-play grounder for a 2-1 Red Sox edge.

The Royals got Early with the long ball again to regain the lead in the fifth. After Starling Marte opened with a walk, Elias Diaz drove the ball in the vicinity of the left field fountains for a 3-2 Kansas City lead.

–Field Level Media

Can Suarez Push Sox Winning Ways?

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KANSAS CITY – (Wire Service Report) – Ranger Suarez has been dominant on the mound of late, but he needs some run support from his Boston Red Sox teammates. Having not allowed a run in three straight starts, Suarez will aim to help the Red Sox to a second consecutive victory and a road-series win over the struggling Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

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Suarez (2-2, 2.44 ERA) has allowed eight hits and three walks and struck out 21 over 17 1/3 scoreless innings of his past three starts. The left-hander last yielded a run in the third inning of Boston’s 4-1 home loss to the New York Yankees on April 22 — a string of 19 consecutive scoreless frames overall.

“(It’s a good feeling) when you’re able to command all your pitches and throw (them) for strikes, and be able throw it how you want it,” said Suarez, who has a win and two no-decisions over his past three games.

“I think I felt very good (in) the last three starts.”

On Thursday against his former team, the Philadelphia Phillies, Suarez allowed four hits and a walk and struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings. However, the Red Sox fell 3-1 and have failed to score a run with Suarez on the mound in his past two starts.

In five of Suarez’s eight 2026 starts, his Boston teammates did not give him a run of support.

The Red Sox managed just three runs in the series opener on Monday, but it was enough for a 3-1 victory over the Royals. Willson Contreras hit a two-run homer for Boston, which has failed to score more than three times in any contest during its current 4-5 stretch.

“Whenever you can get the win, it’s great,” Boston catcher Connor Wong told Boston’s flagship radio.

Contreras is 4-for-11 with two home runs and four RBIs in the past three games. He’s batting .296 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 21 games vs. Kansas City.

The Royals got a pair of doubles from Jac Caglianone, the second of which drove home the club’s lone run of the night in the seventh inning Monday. Caglianone is 5-for-10 in the last three games for Kansas City, which has averaged 3.3 runs during its current 3-9 rut.

“Every night you play, it’s an opportunity to win a game. There’s always that sense of urgency,” Kansas City general manager J.J. Picollo said.

After the Royals announced that scheduled Tuesday starter Kris Bubic was placed on the injured list with elbow soreness, they’ll look at a bullpen game for this contest. Bailey Falter (0-0, 10.13 ERA), a longtime starter turned reliever, is expected to pitch first.

“We’ll certainly need somebody to step up (Tuesday),” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “You need depth, you need quality depth, and you need guys that are versatile. We think we have that.”

Falter, a left-hander, has made three career appearances (two starts) against Boston, going 1-2 with an 11.17 ERA.

Suarez has one career start against the Royals — on Aug. 24, 2024, in Kansas City. He allowed one run, four hits and a walk and struck out six over five innings in an 11-2 win for Philadelphia.

For Kansas City, Kyle Isbel is batting .304 during a six-game hitting streak.

–Field Level Media

 

Red Sox Hope to Regroup

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KANSAS CITY – (Wire Service Report) – While the Boston Red Sox continue to struggle, they have played well with Sonny Gray on the mound this season. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals haven’t enjoyed much success of late when Seth Lugo has pitched.

With those veterans squaring off, these last-place teams will open a three-game set at Kansas City tonight.

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Sitting at the bottom of American League East, Boston is 3-6 while dropping three consecutive series. The Red Sox have just 14 runs over the last eight games and — although they had nine hits on Sunday — they stranded nine runners during an 8-1 loss to Atlanta.

“It’s tough,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Flipside, there’s no consolation prizes here. We’ve got to win games. We are actually having better at-bats, but we’ve got to find a way to get runs.”

The Red Sox have 19 victories this season, with five coming among the seven starts made by Gray (4-1, 3.18 ERA). They’ve won the last three games started by the right-hander, who has yielded one run, six hits and three walks over 11 innings to win his two starts since coming off the injury list from a strained hamstring. Games

“You feel very confident with the guys that we have behind us. They’re elite,” Gray said of his teammates.

That run came via a solo homer Wednesday against Philadelphia, when Gray allowed one other hit, a walk and struck out six over six innings of Boston’s 3-1 home victory.

Though Gray has not faced the Royals since 2023, he’s 9-2 with a 1.76 ERA in 13 career starts against them.

Kansas City, which shares the basement in the AL Central with Detroit, snapped its six-game losing streak Sunday with a 2-0 win at St. Louis. Salvador Perez hit a solo homer and drove in both runs, while Stephen Kolek pitched 6 1/3 strong innings.

“Just try to forget how we played the last (few) days,” Perez told Royals.TV. “This group, we turn the page quick.”

Though Perez came up big Sunday, he’s 6-for-34 all time against Gray.

Seth Lugo (1-3, 3.76 ERA), Monday’s scheduled starter for Kansas City, allowed just five runs — four earned — and 19 hits over 31 1/3 innings of his first five starts this season. In four outings since, however, the right-hander has yielded 18 runs and a whopping 37 hits over 21 1/3 frames.

Five of those runs and eight hits were surrendered through five innings Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox, as Lugo dropped his second straight game. He did record his 1,000th career strikeout in that contest.

“(The milestone) means a lot, but that’s not my goal right now,” said Lugo, 36. “The goal is winning. That’s where my priorities are.”

A winning decision is not something Lugo has experienced against the Red Sox, going 0-3 with a 6.61 ERA in three starts — all with Kansas City.

Boston’s Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras each have three hits in the last two games. Those two, along with teammate Wilyer Abreu, who is batting .300 this season, are a combined 9-for-24 against Lugo.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox and Braves Battle it Out

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ATLANTA – (Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox and host Atlanta Braves have authored two dramatic finishes to begin their weekend interleague series.

What will Sunday’s rubber game have in store?

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Boston hands the ball to right-hander Brayan Bello (2-4, 6.46 ERA) as it looks to build off a 3-2 Saturday win, which came on the strength of a two-out, two-run home run by Willson Contreras in the eighth inning. Aroldis Chapman stranded the bases loaded in the ninth for a save, making the big swing and Payton Tolle’s eight-inning start stand tall.

“It feels great to be able to help the team,” Contreras said. “We’re trying to play better baseball, we’re trying to have better at-bats. … I come here every single day to play baseball and play for the guys. Tonight, we played for each other.”

Tolle and Bello have helped the Red Sox pitch the ball incredibly well in May, as their 2.34 team ERA for the month is tops in the American League.

Sunday is expected to be a true start for Bello, who has followed an opener in each of his last two outings. After going 1-4 with a 9.12 ERA through six starts to begin the season, Bello is 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his last two outings (13 1/3 innings).

Bello followed Jovani Moran into the game and ultimately tossed 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball in his Tuesday appearance against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“Sometimes you gotta flip something,” Boston catcher Carlos Narvaez said. “Flip that mentality, and coming out of the bullpen he probably thinks, ‘OK, I gotta be convicted right now. It’s not like, OK, I got five innings, 90 pitches.’ Something in his mind has changed.”

In three career starts against Atlanta, Bello is 1-1 with a 6.61 ERA.

The Red Sox started Saturday with shortstop Trevor Story being placed on the 10-day injured list with a sports hernia, but he is contemplating surgery that would sideline him for at least six weeks. Nick Sogard was recalled from Triple-A Worcester to take Story’s roster spot.

“He’s meant a lot to me in my transition here, the way he’s accepted me and pushed other guys to do so. So he’s a big piece of it,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said of Story.

The Braves were unable to duplicate their series-opening magic, as Mike Yastrzemski — a Massachusetts native and grandson of Red Sox legend Carl — hit a 10th-inning double to make the difference in a 3-2 Friday win.

On Saturday, they were held to just four hits by the duo of Tolle and Chapman. Drake Baldwin and Jose Azocar both had two, with the former leading off the bottom of the first with a home run. It was the team’s National League-leading 64th of the season.

“Bryce (Elder) was throwing the ball well, pitch count was OK. It’s unfortunate (to lose),” Atlanta skipper Walt Weiss said. “The game was going to be Bryce and Martin (Perez).”

Baldwin, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, has swung a hot bat of late. He has socked first-inning homers in the first two games of the series.

“There’s no egos here,” Yastrzemski said earlier this week. “Nobody feels like they own any piece of this team. We’re all pulling on the same rope together, the same direction. Whatever opportunities come for you that day, that’s good enough.”

Grant Holmes (2-1, 4.35) looks to earn his first win since April 24 against Philadelphia and lift Atlanta in the series. Last Tuesday, Holmes allowed two runs on one hit and four walks while striking out five in a four-inning start against the Chicago Cubs.

The Braves have won four consecutive Holmes starts.

Holmes is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA in two career starts against the Red Sox, both coming in May of last season.

–Field Level Media

Yaz! – “Say It Ain’t So”

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ATLANTA – (Wire Service Report) – Atlanta’s Mike Yastrzemski’s leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th inning propelled the Atlanta Braves to a 3-2 win over the visiting Boston Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night. The Massachusetts native and grandson of Red Sox legend and Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski lined a 1-2 pitch into left field and past Jarren Duran’s attempted cutoff throw, allowing automatic runner Ha-Seong Kim to score the deciding run from second base.

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Drake Baldwin went 2-for-4 with a home run that gave the Braves a first-inning lead. Michael Harris II also went deep before the Red Sox clawed back into a tie game with single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.

The last of five Atlanta relievers to appear, Didier Fuentes (3-0) stranded two runners on base to post a scoreless 10th. Atlanta has won five of its last six  games.

Marcelo Mayer hit a game-tying homer while Mickey Gasper (2-for-5, RBI) and Ceddanne Rafaela (2-for-3, double) both had multiple hits to lead Boston, which has lost four of its last five.

Tyler Samaniego (0-2) gave up the game-winning hit.

Baldwin helped the Braves to a 1-0 start in the bottom of the first, knocking a one-out solo homer out to center field. Rafaela had the ball pop out of his glove as he attempted to make a leaping catch at the wall.

The Red Sox were held without a hit until Gasper knocked a leadoff single into right to begin the fourth, but Atlanta starter Spencer Strider wound up facing the minimum after Sandy Leon caught Gasper trying to steal second.

The bottom half of that frame saw Harris double Atlanta’s lead, crushing a leadoff line-drive shot into the bullpen in center. Boston starter Connelly Early retired the next two batters and worked around Jose Azocar’s two-out single to escape the inning without any further damage.

Strider also benefited from Rafaela being caught stealing following a leadoff double in the fifth and left with a lead after 5 1/3 despite the visitors coming within 2-1. After Carlos Narvaez knocked a leadoff double down the left field line, Gasper drove him home with a two-out RBI single off reliever Dylan Lee.

After Tyler Kinley induced back-to-back flyouts to start Boston’s seventh, Mayer’s towering blast out to right-center knotted the score.

The Red Sox had two on with two outs in the ninth with a chance to win the game, but Raisel Iglesias struck out Andruw Monasterio to end the inning. Aroldis Chapman then set down the Braves 1-2-3 to force extras.

–Field Level Media

NFL Schedule: Here’s a Top Ten

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LOS ANGELES – (Wire Service Report) – Not only do the Los Angeles Rams have a reasonable shot at becoming the first team to win the Super Bowl on its homefield twice, the NFC West runner-up is by far the easiest team to find on the NFL’s 2026 broadcast schedule.

Seven times the Rams are positioned for a primetime slot — tying a league record — barring a slip from contender status that would prompt networks to invoke the “flex” option and reassign Sean McVay’s team to an afternoon kickoff.

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You’ve got to appreciate McVay’s offensive machine as much as the next NFL fan, but let’s survey the broader landscape for the 10 games we are circling on the 2026 schedule.

1. Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, Friday, Dec. 25
Are the Packers still gutted by two heartbreaking losses to the Bears? They’ll never admit it. The drama on the field and sidelines restored one of the  game’s best rivalries. Chicago’s schedule strength adds a degree of difficulty the Bears didn’t face rising from the bottom of the NFC North to a division title in Ben Johnson’s first season. The Packers had owned this series in recent years and want to pull the pendulum northward.

2. Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys, Thursday, Nov. 26
Thanksgiving Day amplifies whatever the state of the Dallas Cowboys happens to be, and this one should be extra spicy. It hasn’t happened since 2014 and will be the third Turkey Day meeting between the teams. Cowboys fans are crossing their fingers the results will be better than the last time (33-10 loss in ‘14) and 1989, when the Eagles used two Randall Cunningham-to-Cris Carter TDs and Philly’s defense ransacked Troy Aikman at Texas Stadium, 27-0. Philadelphia hosts the first meeting of the 2026 season with Dallas on “Monday Night Football” in October.

3. Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots, Sunday, Dec. 6
Josh Allen ran the AFC East for nearly a decade and Drake Maye was more than the new kid on the block in 2025. He played like an MVP candidate — even winning in Buffalo — and the Patriots went 5-1 in the division. The only loss was a 35-31 barnburner at Gillette Stadium won by the Bills on Dec. 14. It was New England’s only loss between Sept. 28 and the Super Bowl.

4. Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks, Friday, Dec. 25
Fine, we can talk Rams, too Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, the NFL wrapped up a matchup between teams who combined for 26 regular-season wins and took the division duel down to the wire last season. Lumen Field won’t be a present for the Rams, but Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay have usually done just fine in enemy territory. The game falls one week after the one-year anniversary of Seattle’s memorable fourth-quarter rally from 16 down, forced overtime and walked it off with a 38-37 victory over the Rams.

5. Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals, Thursday, Dec. 31
Last season wasn’t a typical set of Bengals-Ravens games. The AFC North rivals split with an average margin of victory of 21 points. Rewind to 2025 and unleashed Lamar Jackson vs. bomb-happy Joe Burrow produced scores of 35-34 and 41-38 (overtime). If we get a New Year’s Eve snow game with division and playoff consequences, even better.

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6. New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks, Wednesday, Sept. 9
A Wednesday night opener ahead of the Thursday Rams-49ers matchup in Australia, we’ll find out if the Patriots are better prepared for a Super Bowl rematch with months to prepare. New England oscillated from disjointed to complete disarray in the February loss to Seattle and didn’t have all oars in the water during an offseason when Mike Vrabel’s off-field, ahem, affairs were a constant talking point.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears, Sunday, Nov. 8
Baker Mayfield vs. Caleb Williams piques our interest in a midseason “Sunday Night Football” matchup with the undercard of Buccaneers head coach and defensive maestro Todd Bowles against Bears coach and offensive brain Ben Johnson. The Bucs fell short of the postseason in 2025 for the first time since 2019, while the Bears are trending upward after the franchise won a playoff game (well, two of them, actually) in January to snap a 15-year drought dating to 2011.

8. Dallas Cowboys at Seattle Seahawks, Monday, Dec. 7
Crossover games with the NFC West add a degree of difficulty to the Dallas schedule this season. While we wait to offer judgment on the revamped defense, the Cowboys are likely to bring all the smoke to test Seattle’s versatile, attacking defense in a game sandwiched between matchups with the Eagles and Rams for Dallas.

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9. Jacksonville Jaguars at Denver Broncos, Sunday, Sept. 20
Some called the Denver AFC West run last season but far fewer anticipated Jacksonville winning 13  games and dealing the Broncos one of the team’s three regular-season losses. First-year head coach Liam Coen reflects many of Broncos head coach Sean Payton’s qualities as a play-caller and designer, adding built-in entertainment value.

10. San Francisco 49ers at Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Dec. 27
What will the 49ers have left in the tank? San Francisco is setting a record for miles traveled in a season thanks to international treks to Mexico and Australia and the closing stretch for the 49ers is some kind of minefield from NFL schedulers. Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy are familiar foes but 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has not beaten Andy Reid as a head coach (0-3). Two of those losses were agonizing Super Bowl defeats (LIV, 2020 and LVIII, 2024). After falling short of historical track and expectations in 2025, is the window closed on one or both of these longtime contenders?

–Field Level Media

Red Sox: Rafa to the Rescue

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BOSTON (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run homer and Trevor Story also went deep, propelling the Red Sox to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night. After Wilyer Abreu singled in the sixth, Rafaela pinch-hit for Masataka Yoshida and delivered his fourth home run of the season to put Boston in front 3-1.

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Story gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead when he homered against Andrew Painter in the second inning. It was his third home run of the season.

Boston received six innings from starting pitcher Sonny Gray (4-1), who limited the Phillies to a run on two hits. He struck out six and waked one. Justin Slaten, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman each tossed a scoreless inning of relief.

The Phillies had runners on second and third with two outs in the ninth thanks to two walks and a double steal, but Chapman earned his ninth save by striking out Alec Bohm to end the game.

Justin Crawford hit a solo home run for Philadelphia, which entered the matchup on a three game winning streak. Tanner Banks (0-3) was charged with a run in two-thirds of an inning.

Abreu collected three of Boston’s eight hits. Story finished 2-for-3 as the Red Sox ended a two-game losing streak.

Kyle Schwarber began the night with at least one home run in each of the past five games, but he went 0-for-2 with two walks. No Philadelphia player has ever homered in six straight games.

Painter exited the mound after five innings. He allowed a run on four hits and no walks with four strikeouts. He threw 62 pitches, 46 of which were strikes.

Shortstop Trea Turner wasn’t in Philadelphia’s starting lineup, but he drew a walk when he pinch-hit with two outs in the ninth. Interim manager Don Mattingly said Turner was ill.

After Story homered, Philadelphia made it a 1-1 game when Crawford hit his second home run of the season in the third inning.

Rafaela’s home run capped the scoring.

–Field Level Media