Clayton Kershaw's Family Had Priceless Reaction to His 3,000th Career Strikeout

Los Angeles Dodgers longtime ace Clayton Kershaw made history on Wednesday night in a six-inning outing against the Chicago White Sox, becoming just the 20th pitcher to record 3,000 career strikeouts. Kershaw's family, including his wife Ellen and four children, were on hand at Dodger Stadium to witness the incredible feat—and their reactions didn't disappoint.

Facing White Sox third baseman Vinny Capra in the top of the sixth inning, Kershaw, on a 1-2 count, delivered a slider for a strikeout looking—and the historic achievement. Up in the stands, his wife Ellen raised one arm in the air and burst into tears as his children jumped up and down in excitement.

Then, in what was likely his favorite part of the night, Kershaw shared a sweet moment with his family in the clubhouse after the Dodgers' walk-off win capped off the memorable night.

Kershaw is just the fourth left-hander to accumulate 3,000 career strikeouts, and one of just three active pitchers, including Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, to achieve the feat.

حازم إمام: 3 لاعبين في كأس العرب سيفيدون منتخب مصر في أمم إفريقيا

يرى حازم إمام، نجم الزمالك السابق، أن هناك لاعبين في المنتخب الثاني يمكنهم تقديم إضافة حقيقية لـ منتخب مصر الأول بقيادة حسام حسن، مؤكدًا أن بعض الأسماء كانت مفاجأة له بمستواهم خلال منافسات كأس العرب 2025.

وقال حازم إمام في تصريحات عبر برنامج “الحريفة” على إذاعة “أون سبورت إف إم”: “عندما نتحدث عن اللاعبين الذين يمكن أن يستفيد منهم المنتخب الأول من المنتخب الثاني، أرى أن محمد بسام حارس المرمى رقم واحد، وأكرم توفيق”.

وتابع: “أكرم توفيق رائع، يلعب بقلب وروح، ويجيد اللعب في مركز الظهير الأيمن، خاصة أن المنتخب الأول يعاني في هذا المركز، فلا يوجد غير محمد هاني فقط، ولو تعرض لإصابة ستكون هناك أزمة”.

طالع أيضًا | “مش مرتاح”.. تعليق قوي من شوبير بعد تعادل منتخب مصر مع الإمارات في كأس العرب

وأضاف: “بالإضافة إلى أن أكرم توفيق يُجيد اللعب في وسط الملعب، ليس لديه مهارة عالية بالكرة، لكنه يلعب بقلب ويستخلص الكرة من المنافس، وهذان أكثر لاعبين فاجآني بمستواهما الجيد في المنتخب الثاني خلال البطولة العربية”.

وأشار: “أيضًا مروان حمدي كرأس حربة يأتي بعد مصطفى محمد كمهاجم رقم 9، وصلاح محسن جيد لكنه ليس طويلًا أو قويًا مثل مروان، فهو رأس حربة يمكننا الاستفادة منه في بطولة أمم إفريقيا المقبلة”.

واختتم: “منتخب مصر الثاني كان بإمكانه تقديم كرة أفضل، لو تم ضم 2 أو 3 عناصر هجومية إضافية كانوا سيحدثون الفارق”.

Sai Sudharsan prepares for stern test of his technique

The batter was working with coach Gambhir and captain Gill ahead of a potential Test debut against England at Headingley

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Jun-2025B Sai Sudharsan will be one the players in the spotlight over the next ten days as the countdown begins to the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, starting from June 20 at Headingley. If you didn’t know who he is or want to know more about Sai Sudharsan, you can read here.The focus will be on Sai Sudharsan because he is not only lining up for his Test debut, but is also the frontrunner to bat at No.3 for India. It is a spot that Cheteshwar Pujara made it his own and raised the bar before the baton was passed to Shubman Gill, India’s new Test captain. While India have not formally announced it, Gill is expected to bat at No.4, which was up for grabs following Virat Kohli’s retirement from Test cricket.Related

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Among the qualities that have impressed the Indian selectors and the team management about Sai Sudharsan is his defensive game. The left-hander, who is just over six feet tall, is well-organised in his set-up which is side-on. Experts like former England captain Alec Stewart, who brought the Tamil Nadu batter to Surrey as one of the club’s overseas players, attest Sai Sudharsan has a good eye to pick length, a solid back-foot game necessary on seaming pitches in England and plays late and with soft hands while meeting the ball under his eye as far as possible.0:28

Watch – Gill faces Bumrah at the nets

Over the last two days in Beckenham, where the main Indian squad has been training, Sai Sudharsan displayed those skills while dealing with the Indian fast-bowling quartet of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep Singh. Not that he was fluent throughout – on Monday especially, thick and faint outside edges flew towards the slip and gully area.Standing few yards behind, India head coach Gautam Gambhir, in his trademark arms-folded-across-the chest stance, made a few observations during his chats with Sai Sudharsan on both days. One of the points Gambhir, from a distance, seemed to be pointing out to Sai Sudharsan was to keep his back heel firmly planted to give him probably more balance.Sai Sudharsan also has Gill as a sounding board. On Sunday, well after both had finished their initial batting session, the duo was seen discussing the technical aspect of the forward defence. It appeared as if Sai Sudharsan was talking about his left hip opening up while lunging forward.Sai Sudharsan’s technique will be tested over the next two months, but if he can show the composure and the assurance he has shown in first-class cricket and IPL for Gujarat Titans, he will keep ticking the boxes.

Bangladesh bowl first against Pakistan in virtual semi-final

Toss Bangladesh’s stand-in captain Jaker Ali won the toss and elected to bowl against Pakistan in what is a virtual semi-final in the Asia Cup. The winner of this game will face India in the final on Sunday.Bangladesh’s regular captain Litton Das missed a second game in two days with a side strain. Jaker took over the captaincy once again and will stay as the wicketkeeper.Bangladesh also made three changes. Nurul Hasan, allrounder Mahedi Hasan and fast bowler Taskin Ahmed replaced Tanzid Hasan, seamer Mohammad Saifuddin and left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed.As for Pakistan, they were unchanged from their win against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi earlier this week. Jaker’s decision at the toss went down well with his counterpart Salman Agha, who said Pakistan wanted to bat first. The slower bowlers could thrive on what looked like a dry Dubai surface.Bangladesh: 1 Saif Hassan, 2 Parvez Hossain Emon, 3 Towhid Hridoy, 4 Shamim Hossain, 5 Jaker Ali (capt), 6 Nurul Hasan, 7 Mahedi Hasan, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Tanzim Hasan Sakib, 11 Mustafizur Rahman.Pakistan: 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Saim Ayub, 4 Salman Agha (capt), 5 Hussain Talat, 6 Mohammad Haris (wk), 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Abrar Ahmed.

Braves Acquire Relief Pitching Help in Trade With Rockies

The Colorado Rockies are trading right-handed reliever Tyler Kinley to the Atlanta Braves, according to a report from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

The trade will send a prospect back to the Rockies.

The 34-year-old Kinley has accumulated a 5.66 ERA this season, but advanced analytics suggest he's been a better pitcher than his ERA shows. The Braves are hoping that he can be a reliable righty out of the bullpen for the second half of the season, while also giving the franchise the option to add another year of team control. Kinley is earning $3 million this year in the final year of his contract, but has a $5 million club option that Atlanta could exercise for 2026.

The Braves are a disappointing 45–61 this season, and sit in fourth-place in the NL East.

New Video Shows Blue Jays Coach’s Subtle Move That May Have Cost Them a World Series

The Blue Jays came mere inches away from a World Series win against the Dodgers this year, with one particular series-defining play likely haunting the franchise for quite some time.

After Toronto's Game 7 loss, many Blue Jays fans pointed out a pivotal moment in the ninth inning that might have won the team the title right then and there. At the bottom of the ninth with the game tied and the bases loaded for Toronto, Daulton Varsho hit a grounder in between first and second. The Dodgers were able to throw out a sprinting Isiah Kiner-Falefa just in the nick of time, in part due to Kiner-Falefa's small lead off the third-base bag.

Blue Jays fans directed their frustrations at Kiner-Falefa for not taking a bigger lead, though the utility infielder claimed his coaches told him to stay close to the bag.

A new video from that game-changing moment shows Blue Jays third base coach Carlos Febles not only presumably telling Kiner-Falefa where to lead off, but also marking that exact spot on the ground.

You can see him clearly make a mark in the dirt here:

"They told us to stay close to the base," Kiner-Falefa said after Game 7's loss. "They don’t want us to get doubled off in that situation with a hard line drive. … They wanted a smaller lead and a smaller secondary, so that’s what I did."

By all accounts, Kiner-Falefa isn't in the wrong here. Sure, he could have ignored Febles's alleged advice and taken the risk of getting doubled off, but it makes sense that during arguably the highest pressure point of the game he chose to heed his coaches.

The Blue Jays wound up losing, 5–4, after 11 innings, capping off an instantly iconic World Series that will go down as one of the best ever in baseball history—and, sadly, as one of the cruelest ever series in Toronto's history.

Harmer's six-for helps South Africa ease to series-levelling win

Harmer ran through Pakistan on the fourth morning before South Africa made short work of the chase

Danyal Rasool23-Oct-2025Ultimately, Pakistan’s overnight hope was built on a bed of straw. South Africa did not even need to huff or puff particularly hard to blow the house down. It took them five balls to dismiss an ostensibly back-to-form Babar Azam, nine runs to take four wickets that put the conclusion beyond doubt, and one session to dispatch the paltry 68 they had been set for victory. Along the way, Simon Harmer took six wickets to take his tally to exactly 1000 first-class wickets, becoming the fourth South African to do so.It took South Africa to a thumping eight-wicket series-levelling win, their first in their defence of the World Test Championship title. For Pakistan, it is their first home defeat after winning the toss since they resorted to spin-friendly tracks at home, their recent third innings malaise coming back to haunt them in its full splendour. Babar’s little tickle into the onside off the day’s second ball got him to a first home Test half-century since 2022, but what should have been the bedrock of his innings was instead its culmination point. Three balls later, he stepped back into his crease off a similar, gentle off spinner, but this one kept slightly low, and rapped him just below the knee roll to begin Pakistan’s slide.A superb Harmer kept the pressure on, but there was assistance aplenty from a Pakistan side that immediately began to go to pieces. Harmer gave Rizwan generous flight, who stretched out well beyond his crease try and get to the pitch to defend. Instead, he got an inside edge onto the pad, which looped up to Tony de Zorzi at short leg, and Harmer went to 999.Related

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  • Mahmood bemoans another Pakistan collapse: 'This is not acceptable'

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  • Deja Vu for Masood as SA's tail wags and Pakistan's plans unravel

The four-figure dismissal was all about Harmer, though, and a microcosm of what has made him so successful for so long. He went around the wicket to Noman Ali, flighting it well and landing on a sixpence into some of the footmarks the left-arm bowlers have created. It spat up and away from Noman, kissing the outside edge on its way into Kyle Verreynne’s hands. Harmer threw his head up into the sky and let out a roar to rouse any part of Pindi that might still have been asleep.But Pakistan kept hoisting themselves by their own petard. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Salman Agha worked themselves up into calling for a run, taking on Ryan Rickelton who dived forward to effect a direct hit that sent Shaheen on his way, and Pakistan had gone from 105 for 5 to 105 for 8 – yet another middle and lower order collapse in a series they have been sprinkled like confetti.Ryan Rickelton collided with Shaheen Shah Afridi while running him out•AFP/Getty Images

At the other end stood Agha, not so much like a rock of resistance as a young oak waiting to be felled. Maharaj duly did the honours in his first over, the arm ball cutting Agha in half as he chopped back on. Sajid Khan tried to take him on the following over, only to find himself well adrift of his crease for Verreynne to do the honours.Pakistan turned immediately to spin, but there was no intimidating South Africa with a target this shallow. They were off and away with an Aiden Markram mow across the line for four, and Rickelton began to get his kicks in shortly after. Pakistan kept recycling through some combination of their three finger spinners, and South Africa kept putting them away for four, speeding towards the target as lunch approached.Noman got Pakistan the dubious consolation prize of a late couple of wickets when South Africa’s target was in single digits. Markram was trapped in front as he went for another one of his productive sweeps that had fetched him six of his eight fours in the innings, and found Tristan Stubbs’ outside edge for a duck three balls later. But Rickelton made the ignominy official with a whack over long-off for six in the following over.After the previous Test, Pakistan captain Shan Masood had talked about how Pakistan would look to play if they lost the toss to try and stay competitive. South Africa showed they had been listening carefully, and across these four days, executed that plan to perfection.

Afghanistan women's players to attend World Cup opener

Players due to also compete in some fixtures against Indian domestic sides

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2025When India take on Sri Lanka at the Women’s World Cup 2025 opener, the spotlight will not just be on the players on the field but also on some of those off it.A group of Afghanistan’s women’s cricketers, currently living in exile in Australia, will be in attendance at the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Stadium in Guwahati in one of the first attempts to integrate them into the global game. The players do not represent Afghanistan as they are not recognised by the ACB but are playing in league structures in Australia. They will have no formal role at the game, where they will be received as spectators.”[BCCI secretary] Devajit Saikia knows exactly what details about this,” ACA President Taranga Gogoi told ESPNcricinfo. “He will guide us and we are awaiting more details. The Afghanistan players will be here tomorrow and we will make arrangements for that.”Related

Form vs Spirit: Australia's world champions take on New Zealand's game raisers

World Cup offers an air of freshness to sombre Guwahati

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BCCI, ECB, CA to help fund ICC's plan to support Afghan women cricketers

Details surrounding the Afghanistan players’ trip to the World Cup have been kept under wraps, with no official announcement from the ICC. However, in April this year, the ICC confirmed it would form a “dedicated task force” to support Afghanistan’s female cricketers which would include coaching and mentorship. Funding for this initiative would be provided by the ICC, and the three most moneyed cricket boards: the BCCI, ECB and CA but exact amounts were never revealed.The idea for Afghanistan’s exiled female cricketers to travel to the World Cup was firmed up at the ICC’s annual conference in July. At the time, a loose plan was put in place for the cricketers to attend a training camp in Bengaluru, which was due to host the opening match of the tournament, play against Indian domestic sides and then attend a handful of World Cup games. As things stand, the players are still due to compete in some fixtures but may not attend any matches other than the tournament opener, although no information has been confirmed.It is also understood that the lack of publicity around the Afghanistan women’s arrival in India is a result of the ICC adopting a cautious approach to any retaliation from the government of Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, women have been increasingly excluded from public life, cannot attend university or secondary school and their voices cannot be heard in public. As such, the ACB is unable to ratify a women’s team, despite contracting 25 players in 2020.The majority of those players live in Australia but some are resident in the United Kingdom and Canada. Not all those living in Australia have made the trip to India as some faced visa challenges but most of them played in an exhibition match between an Afghanistan XI and Cricket without Borders in January.

Martin claimed Rangers star was a "huge asset", now he looks "rotten"

Glasgow Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has experienced almost every emotion in his first four matches in charge of the Ibrox giants since his move to the club.

The German tactician has lost 3-0 to Brann in Europe, won back-to-back games in the Scottish Premiership, and lost a League Cup semi-final in extra time.

Rohl has been thrown in at the deep end at Ibrox after replacing Russell Martin in the dugout, as the Light Blues had only won five games in 18 matches in all competitions at the start of the season after, what now looks like, a dismal summer window.

Russell Martin's worst Rangers signing

Working with sporting director Kevin Thelwell, the worst signing of the summer transfer window, with Martin in charge, currently looks like Youssef Chermiti.

Rangers reportedly paid £8m to sign the Portugal U21 international from Everton, which made him the club’s most-expensive signing since Tore Andre Flo arrived for £12m in 2000. The second-most expensive signing of the summer was Oscar Cortes for £4.5m.

Unfortunately, the Light Blues have not been rewarded with much output for that outlay, with one goal and one assist in 11 appearances for the club, per Sofascore.

Chermiti missed two huge chances to find the back of the net against Celtic on Sunday, which caused commentator and pundit Michael Stewart to describe him as being “so poor” in front of goal.

Given the money spent and the return on their investment so far, it is hard to argue against the young striker being the worst summer signing from Thelwell and Martin.

Another summer signing who should be in contention for that award, though, is central midfielder Joe Rothwell, who currently looks like he should be sold in January.

Why Rangers should move on from Joe Rothwell

The Gers signed the Englishman from Premier League side Bournemouth for an undisclosed fee to bolster their options in the middle of the park.

First Impressions

What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast’s ‘First Impressions’ series has everything you need.

At the time of his arrival, Martin described Rothwell as a “huge asset” who would “bring a real winning mentality to the group”, which was an exciting statement from the head coach.

Unfortunately, though, that has not played out on the pitch. Instead, the experienced midfielder looks like he should be sold in January because his performances have not been good enough.

Appearances

8

Starts

5

Goals

0

Assists

1

Tackles per game

0.9

Dribbled past per game

0.4x

Ground duel success rate

46%

As you can see in the table above, Rothwell has struggled to deal with the intensity and physicality of Scottish football, losing more than half of his ground duels and failing to make at least one tackle per game on average.

The Englishman has been an unused substitute in the last two Premiership matches, which resulted in two of the club’s three league wins this season, but did come on in extra time against Celtic.

That cameo did little to help his case to return to the team in the Premiership, though, as Heart & Hand content creator David Edgar described him as “rotten”.

Rothwell, at this moment in time, does not look suited to playing Scottish football, because of his lack of physicality and intensity, which seems unlikely to change, given that he turns 31 in January.

It has also been an issue for him on the European stage. Rothwell lost 100% of his duels and failed to win a single tackle in 64 minutes against Brann in the Europa League recently, per Sofascore.

Rohl has already opted against using him in the Premiership and waited until extra time to bring him on against Celtic, which suggests that he has not been overly impressed by his levels in training.

Rangers flop who was even worse than Butland is now on borrowed time

This Rangers flop who was worse than Jack Butland may be on borrowed time in the starting line-up.

ByDan Emery Nov 3, 2025

Therefore, Rangers should look to immediately move on from Rothwell when the January transfer window opens for business, unless he can finally start to show why Martin was so excited to sign him in the summer.

Fox Announcers Blown Away By Eugenio Suárez's Pregame Performance Ahead of Game 5

The Tigers and Mariners faced off in a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday night on Fox. The winner would move on to the American League Championship Series against the Blue Jays. The loser's season would be over.

During the Fox pregame show Eugenio Suárez was highlighted just as he blew a huge bubble. The studio crew of Kevin Burkhardt, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Derek Jeter were all very impressed. There were random noises and laughter in the studio with Ortiz noting that he would put that on his head.

How can you not be romantic about baseball? You've got one adult blowing bubbles at work while four other adults watch him in awe and cheer.

Suárez hit 49 home runs this season, including 13 with the Mariners after he was traded from the Diamondbacks at the end of July. Suárez entered Game 5 with just two hits in the postseason, but one of those was a home run in Game 3 against the Tigers.

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