Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
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AL MVP: 1) Joe Mauer, Minnesota; 2) Derek Jeter, New York; 3) Mark Teixeira, New York; 4) Miguel Cabrera, Detroit; 5) Kevin Youkilis, Boston; 6) Kendry Morales, Los Angeles; 7) Michael Young, Texas; 8) Adam Lind, Toronto; 9) Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle; 10) Chone Figgins, Los Angeles.
The Twins getting to the postseason only helped Mauer — not that he needs it. The dramatic boost in power to go with a third batting title in four years and the Gold Glove defense should be more than enough.
When you're clearly the best team in the regular season, there is room for two — Jeter and Teixeira — near the top. Especially with Cabrera deserving to drop a few spots for his drunken issues with the division title on the line during the final weekend.
NL MVP: 1) Albert Pujols, St. Louis; 2. Hanley Ramirez, Florida; 3. Prince Fielder, Milwaukee; 4) Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado; 5) Ryan Howard, Philadelphia; 6) Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco; 7) Matt Kemp, Los Angeles; 8) Ryan Braun, Milwaukee; 9) Chase Utley, Philadelphia; 10) Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego.
The only question is if Pujols will be a unanimous winner. Ramirez and Fielder — the two who kept Pujols from a Triple Crown — come next in the absence of standout candidates on the other playoff qualifiers.
Tulowitzki's season mirrored the Rockies' climb under Jim Tracy, and imagine what Panda Sandoval could do with better hitters around him.
AL Cy Young Award: 1) Zack Greinke, Kansas City; 2. Felix Hernandez, Seattle; 3. Roy Halladay, Toronto.
What Greinke did on a very bad Royals team truly was special. A 2.16 ERA in the American League? Did they raise the mounds, and we didn't find out? Six complete games and three shutouts speak to his dominance — and he received only 4.83 runs per game of support, or he could have won 20.
That said, Hernandez won three more games than Greinke, and had very slight edges in innings, percentage of quality starts, opponents' batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Halladay threw nine complete games and four shutouts.
NL Cy Young Award: 1) Tim Lincecum, San Francisco; 2) Adam Wainwright, St. Louis; 3) Chris Carpenter, St. Louis.
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But Lincecum got 1.24 fewer runs per game of support, threw four complete games and two shutouts (as opposed to one complete game for Wainwright) and had a higher percentage of quality starts.
Lincecum also was far more dominant, striking out 49 more hitters, and posting significantly lower numbers in opponents' batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and WHIP.
AL Manager of the Year: 1) Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota; 2) Don Wakamatsu, Seattle; 3) Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles.
Hopefully, the thrilling play-in game will ram home what already should be common knowledge: Gardenhire's teams play the game the way it's supposed to be played.
It really would be interesting to see what Gardenhire could do with a $100-million-plus payroll, considering how much he gets out of the Twins' small-to-mid-market rosters: Five division titles, a 2008 play-in game loss, and two third-place division finishes in his eight seasons.
NL Manager of the Year: 1) Jim Tracy, Colorado; 2) Bruce Bochy, San Francisco; 3) Tony La Russa, St. Louis.
What Tracy did in turning around the Rockies in four-plus months is remarkable. From 18-28 and last place in late-May, all the way to the brink of erasing a 15 1/2-game division deficit before settling for the wild card and the league's third-best record.
Tracy is a players' manager and one of the nicest people in the game, but don't let the aw-shucks demeanor fool you. He's extremely tough-minded and has a knack for putting players into situations where they can succeed.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
