Afternoon Edition

September 22, 2026

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This weekend’s Cubs–Red Sox series—and several playoff games—could hit some snags with much of the Northeast, and the Boston area in particular, projected to be hit with a nor’easter beginning late this week. There are no finalized contingency plans for the weekend games at Fenway Park yet, but MLB sources said the league will lean on its established structures to deal with unplayable weather.

—Eric Fisher

First Up

Shohei Ohtani is expected to be activated from the injured list as soon as Wednesday, which could be a boost for Fox, while Aaron Judge heads back to the IL.
Among the most notable provisions in the Protect College Sports Act: It would double the amount of money schools could pay players, from about $21 million to $48 million.
Jazz and Mammoth owner Ryan Smith knows sports betting and prediction markets aren’t going away but tells FOS there should be some “moderation.”
Betting on an online sportsbook looks and feels very similar to trading on a prediction market, but market makers are what sets them apart. What exactly are they?

Incoming Nor’easter Could Scramble MLB’s Playoff Seeding Picture

Eric Canha-Imagn Images

A messy weather situation expected this weekend in New England could wreak havoc on the MLB playoff race.

Much of the Northeast, and the Boston area in particular, is projected to be hit with a nor’easter beginning late this week, bringing significant rainfall and high winds over the final weekend of the 2026 regular season. The Red Sox will complete their home schedule with a series against the Cubs scheduled for Sept. 25–27, but how and when those games get played is still an open question.

The Red Sox have already clinched their American League playoff spot, and are all but certain to have the No. 5 playoff seed and play the No. 4 Yankees next week in a three-game wild-card series at Yankee Stadium. The winner of that series would move on to play the top-seeded Rays in the AL Division Series.

The Cubs’ situation, conversely, is far less solidified. Chicago currently holds the top National League wild-card spot and the No. 4 NL playoff seed, and is in line to host a first-round playoff series next week at Wrigley Field. Chicago, however, could still finish the regular season anywhere from the No. 4 seed to No. 6, or possibly out of the postseason altogether. That makes every remaining game critical for the club.

Looking Ahead

As of now, there are no finalized contingency plans for the weekend games at Fenway Park, but MLB sources said the league will lean on its established structures to deal with unplayable weather. Game times could be moved, in consultation with the MLB Players Association, if updated weather forecasts reveal more favorable windows to play.

A more drastic solution would be to play the final game, or games, on Monday if the Cubs, and MLB broadly, still need those results for playoff seeding purposes.

A similar situation occurred in 2024, when the Mets and Braves required an extra day to complete their regular season due to impacts from Hurricane Helene in the Atlanta area. The two clubs played a doubleheader to make up two rain-delayed games, and each secured playoff spots during that twin bill, in turn eliminating the Diamondbacks.

The lack of an off-day before the start of the wild-card round was then seen as a factor in the Braves being quickly swept by the Padres. While the Mets went on a feel-good run to the National League Championship Series that year, the compressed schedule still generated plenty of criticism.

MLB has often sought to give itself more scheduling flexibility by having plenty of intradivision games in September, but the odd number of teams in each division, and each league, makes that impossible to do in full. And without a dome on every MLB stadium, some type of weather uncertainties are all but inevitable. MLB, meanwhile, has generally reserved moving games to neutral sites for the most drastic situations such as hurricanes or extreme snowfall.

Connecting Athletes and Small Business Owners

With the goal of uplifting small businesses and their communities, AT&T launched the AT&T Small Business Contest, awarding one small business owner and four finalists AT&T services and resources to grow their business. This year, AT&T is proud to welcome the Top 5 Small Business Contest finalists—Dope People Meet, Prosperity Market, Flovara Inc., Mission Valley Track & Field Club, and TRES J—to the AT&T Small Business Community. Stay tuned for a special episode of She’s Connected later this year featuring a superstar athlete and the winner of the 2026 AT&T Small Business Contest. Learn more about the Top 5 finalists, and check out the latest episode with Sabrina Ionescu on the She’s Connected by AT&T website.

ONE BIG FIG

Pay for Play

Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

$25.5 million

That’s the amount the Presidents Cup will reach this week in cumulative player stipends.

This week’s competition is the third Presidents Cup that the PGA Tour, which operates the event, is paying participating players, captains, and assistant captains $250,000 each.

Those payouts come out to $4.25 million total per team across the 12 players, captain, and four assistant captains on both the U.S. and International squads at the tournament, which begins Thursday at Medinah Country Club just outside Chicago. The annual $8.5 million combined sum for both teams per Presidents Cup now adds up to $25.5 million paid out in stipends for the three events since the current format began in 2022.

LOUD AND CLEAR

Just Joking?

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn, and you know, sometimes you have a dumbass coach that makes travel plans that put you in a bad spot.”

—Rams coach Sean McVay after Los Angeles’s 28–6 win against the Giants on Monday night. It was a lighthearted sentiment after his previous comment last week ahead of the game against New York, where he said the team is “not playing in Australia ever again, I hope. Not because it wasn’t a great atmosphere. That’ll get taken out of context.”

The Rams sought to stay on their normal routine as much as possible for the Melbourne game, but the strategy backfired as the team was blown out by the 49ers, 27–7, in the NFL’s first regular-season game hosted in Australia.

College Football’s Biggest Videoboard

The University of Illinois is raising the bar for game day with the largest video display in college football from Daktronics. Totaling more than 17,300 square feet, the new end-zone videoboard at Gies Memorial Stadium is the highlight of an installation that includes 16 LED displays combining for more than 26,750 square feet and 30 million pixels. The main display itself is nearly double the size of the next-largest screen in college sports. This season, Illinois debuted its larger-than-life technology to enhance the live event experience and create an immersive atmosphere for Illini fans.

👉 Take a look at Illinois’s new videoboard.

STATUS REPORT

Two Up, Two Down

Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Red Sox ⬆ After officially clinching a playoff berth, Boston named Chad Tracy its full-time manager after Tracy served as interim manager since April, when the club fired Alex Cora. It’s the second year in a row the Red Sox have made it to the postseason. The team also announced it picked up two contract options on chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, keeping him under team control through 2030.

Peloton ⬆ In a bid to regain momentum, the connected fitness company announced three new treadmills and new features for its Peloton IQ artificial intelligence platform with tools for runners, walkers, and hikers. Earlier this year the company cut 11% of its employees in a cost-cutting effort; Peloton shares are down nearly 20% so far this year.

Blue Jackets ⬇ NHL training camps are open, but Adam Fantilli hasn’t participated. Remaining without a contract for the upcoming season, the 21-year-old restricted free agent has stayed off the ice due to stalled negotiations between his team and agent. The roadblock stems from the unprecedented paydays young phenoms have collected in the offseason due to the rising cap, including fellow RFAs Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson, who both re-signed with their respective teams at $15 million–plus. The stalemate is a blow to Columbus, whose young star—coming off a career-high 59-point season—is a critical piece of its roster.

LIV Golf ⬇ The league’s exemption category into the 2027 Open Championship “remains under review until the 2027 LIV Golf schedule is confirmed,” the R&A announced Tuesday as part of its qualifying criteria for the major. The Open has had a qualifying spot available for LIV players not otherwise exempt to earn the past two years. The 2027 Open Championship will be played at the Old Course at St Andrews. LIV remains in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with a goal to emerge from the process in January.