FRIDAY · OCTOBER 16, 2026 · SPORTS, IN SMALL SIPS

Last Saturday, before Oregon played UCLA, the Oregon Duck mascot jumped out of a giant Trojan horse at Autzen Stadium as audio from Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey played. The horse was meant to poke fun at USC, the Trojans, who Oregon had beaten two weeks earlier. That day, though, it was UCLA on the other side, and they left with a 17-15 win.

Flip the script. Cleveland rookie Petey Halpin hit a go-ahead two-run homer on Thursday, tossing his bat high into the air as the Guardians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2. Cleveland now leads the ALCS 2-1. Game 4 is tonight in Cleveland.

Hat trick, hat trick. Just two nights after his first Panthers hat trick, Brady Tkachuk scored three more goals on Thursday. He tied the game with 13 seconds left and then scored the overtime winner in Florida's 3-2 victory over Vancouver. No one had recorded back-to-back hat tricks since Auston Matthews did it in February 2024.

Swap meet. The NFL suspended Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson for two games after he hit Buffalo's Bradley Chubb in the face during a postgame scuffle on Monday night. The incident happened while players were trading jerseys.

The tables have turned. Last October, the Los Angeles Dodgers swept Milwaukee out of the NLCS. On Thursday, the Brewers completed a four-game sweep of the Dodgers, becoming the first team ever to sweep the club that had swept them the previous postseason.

Game 4 got off to a rough start for Milwaukee, as Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer to put them down 4-0 after two innings. Garrett Mitchell’s home run in the sixth gave the Brewers the lead, and David Hamilton, batting ninth, added a solo shot off Edwin Díaz in the ninth. Hamilton had hit just four home runs during the regular season.

One team’s long wait will finally end. Milwaukee now waits to face either Cleveland or Tampa Bay, with the World Series starting Friday, Oct. 23, on Fox. No matter who wins, it will be a historic moment: the Brewers and Rays have never won a World Series, and Cleveland’s last championship was in 1948.

— Landen Hull

Alabama will play at Tennessee on Saturday, and both teams will wear their home jerseys—crimson and orange—for the first time since 1970. The Crimson Tide just lost 20-17 to Georgia, and in this rivalry, the winner celebrates with victory cigars.

All times ET.

Bottoms up. See you Monday.