This Week in Sports Talk (TWIST) is our weekly report on the big sports news headlines and major events, plus a preview of what’s up next. For September 25, 2022, here are the weekly top 10 sports news headlines to know: the big stories and major events in sports news this week in the NFL, MLB and more.

weekly top 10 big sports news headlines and major events: September 25, 2022

Here are 10 top headlines from the world of sports to know this first Sunday of the fall season.

1. NFL week 2 roundup

Here’s what happened during the rest of Week 2 of the NFL season, in case you missed it. The theme of the week seems to be blown leads of epic proportion and remarkable feats by individual players.

• In a major surprise, despite being without quarterback Dak Prescott (who is out following thumb surgery), the Dallas Cowboys scored a 20-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals and their quarterback Joe Burrow, thanks to a 50-yard walk-off field goal. That leaves the Bengals with the dubious distinction of being only the third team since 2000 to start a season 0-2 immediately after a Super Bowl appearance.
• The San Francisco 49ers have lost their starting quarterback Trey Lance for the season. Lance broke his ankle in the first quarter of Sunday’s 27-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo stepped in and scored one touchdown.
• Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady has finally beaten the New Orleans Saints as a member of the Buccaneers.
• Former Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw six touchdowns — tied for the most in Dolphins history — as Miami pulled off a historic comeback on the road, beating the Baltimore Ravens, 42-38.
• Adorable Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals quarterback, stepped up and outperformed all expectations with a comeback 29-23 overtime win over the Las Vegas Raiders. CBS Sports notes that the Raiders blew a 20-point lead, the largest in franchise history.
• In a truly stunning reversal, the Cleveland Browns gave up 13 points in the last minute and 21 seconds of the fourth quarter to give the New York Jets an amazing 31-30 victory.
• On Monday night, after dominating last year’s Super Bowl-champion LA Rams in Week 1, the Buffalo Bills demolished last year’s AFC 1-seed Tennessee Titans, 41-7.
• Also on MNF, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles continued their strong start to the season with a 24-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

2. Thursday Night Football: Browns 29, Steelers 17.

The Cleveland Browns are hoping to stay in the AFC playoff picture until their new quarterback Deshaun Watson returns from his 11-game suspension due to multiple charges of sexual assault. On Thursday they got one step closer with a decisive 29-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

3. Week 3 notable games to come:

As of this posting, there are only six undefeated teams left in the NFL this season. And one of them is the New York Giants! The others are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Philadelphia Eagles; Miami Dolphins; Buffalo Bills; and Kansas City Chiefs. Some of these you might have expected. And some really not.

On the flip side, there are five teams with no wins this season. The 0-2 teams are the Cincinnati Bengals (who were just in the Super Bowl!); Tennessee Titans; Las Vegas Raiders; Carolina Panthers; and Atlanta Falcons.

Personally, we’re worried about Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. He has been sacked 13 times in just the first two games of the season. If Cincinnati can’t protect him, it’s going to be a very sad outcome for a great young athlete.

Courtesy of SI, here are some of the big games of note for the rest of week 3:

• Arguably the top game today is a division battle: the Buffalo Bills (2-0) at the Miami Dolphins (2-0). Two undefeated teams who are also vying for division lead.
• Then again, maybe the biggest game is the star quarterback shoot-out between the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers, who take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady.
• The LA Rams visit the Arizona Cardinals for their first road trip of the season. The Cards have revenge on their minds, having lost last year’s wild-card round to the Rams.
• Monday night, its the Dallas Cowboys at the New York Giants, with all eyes on the Giants. Can they make it 3-0?

4. Aaron Judge makes it 60 homers this season; Pujols hits career 700.

Judge is just one homer away from tying the AL single-seaosn record

Yankees star slugger Aaron Judge hit two more home runs last Sunday to bring his season total to 59 in a 12-8 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Then on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, in a wild game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Judge hit his 60th homer of the season.

Judge is only the sixth player to reach 60 home runs in a season; the others are Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth. As of this posting, he’s one home run behind Maris for the AL single-season record.

Judge is way ahead of all other players in MLB for homers this season – but he’s also at the moment the best in the league in average and RBI’s. That’s the “Triple Crown” of baseball. What a season!

And in a seriously classy and generous move, Michael Kessler – the 20-year-old college student who got possession of Judge’s iconic home run ball – decided to give it back to Judge and the team. It would have been worth quite a lot of cash on the open market. Well done, you.

Albert Pujols joins the 700 Club

42-year-old Albert Pujols, who has said this is the final season of his 22-year career, joined Barry Bonds (762 home runs), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) as the only sluggers in AL/NL history to hit at least 700 home runs in a career.

The Cardinals slugger hit this milestone in a road game Friday night against the LA Dodgers, and the crowd at Dodger Stadium give him a well-deserved standing ovation.

5. MLB Playoff berths filling up

The rule of MLB playoffs is that the 3 division winners are in automatically, and the next 3 teams with the best records in the league get wild card slots. There’s a huge incentive to have the best record, because the best two teams in each of the leagues get a first round “bye.”

national league

On Monday night, New York Mets ace Max Scherzer returned from 15-days on the injured list and proceeded to throw six perfect innings against the Milwaukee Brewers before being removed from the game by manager Buck Showalter. Oh, and the Mets went on to win the game, clinching their playoff spot at least as a wild card. They’re still in a heated battle with the Atlanta Braves for the divisional title – as of this posting, the Mets are just 1.5 ahead.

The LA Dodgers have locked up the NL West, and the St. Louis Cardinals are on pace to win the NL Central. That leaves the remaining teams fighting for one of the 3 wild card spots. One will definitely go to either the Mets or the Braves (whichever one loses the NL East race). The other NL wild card contenders are the Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres. Only two of those three will make the cut.

american league

On Monday, the Houston Astros clinched the AL West title. Later in the week, the New York Yankees also clinched their playoff berth – they’re guaranteed at least a wild card slot and will probably soon clinch the AL East. The Guardians are on track to take the AL Central.

That leaves the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners fighting for one of the 3 AL wild card spots.

6. Platform wars hit MLB – and many fans hate it.

As streaming services take on the world of live sports – having vanquished network and cable in entertainment programming – the early read is that it may be good for the coffers of MLB and the various platforms. But so far, it has not been a boon for fans.

where can I watch that Yankees game?

Take, for example, the New York Yankees. If you’re closely following Aaron Judge’s home run tally and you want to see every Yankees game, you have to have access to cable television’s YES Network; ESPN; Amazon Prime TV; Apple TV; and of course the broadcast networks Fox and NBC. And even if you have all of them, good luck figuring out which game is on which platform. There are local blackout rules that make it even more of a hot mess.

In addition to making finding the games difficult, this means that all the announcers are different. Many of the platforms are sending texts and notifications on mobile devices whenever something interesting is happening – like, for example, whenever Aaron Judge comes up to bat. Some might find this valuable. Others almost certainly find it maddening.

Viewing an MLB game on network or cable has become more disjointed in recent weeks, thanks to Aaron Judge’s historic home run season. Our Sports Desk reports that some networks (like YES) are allowing the MLB network broadcast to break in and televise all of Aaron Judge’s at-bats. So, you might be watching another ballgame, and when Judge comes up, they show the feed for the Yankee game for that at bat on their broadcast. Ugh! Again – great for some fans, and really annoying for others.

NFL Thursday Night has been a huge hit for Amazon Prime

In general, the streaming services are getting what they paid for with sports. Apple TV graciously allowed everyone to watch Friday’s Yankees game for free. Clever marketing tactic, that. In a related note,  Amazon Prime has seen the most new sign-ups to its service in recent weeks on Thursday nights. ‘Cause they have exclusive rights to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football. This is why sharp-eyed fans might have seen NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sharing a box with Jeff Bezos and his paramour during the first TNF broadcast. For the record, Goodell looked bored and Bezos appeared to be having a jolly time.

7. tonsorial transformations in MLB

In the category of fun facts to share over a beer or in conversation at the water cooler comes this update from our Sports Desk about just how hirsute a baseball player can be.

The New York Yankees have a policy prohibiting long hair and beards (although, oddly, mustaches are allowed). So when the Yanks make a trade, the tonsorial transformations can be dramatic. For instance, center fielder Harrison Bader went from sporting long hair and a beard while playing for St. Louis to a clean-shaven short haired guy when he joined the Yankees.

On the other hand, when a player leaves the Yankees, he may suddenly go all-in on facial hair.  The team traded Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals and he immediately grew a beard.

So, why do the Yanks continue to hold on to a policy that sounds straight out of the 1950’s? Your guess is as good as ours. We just want to see what Aaron Judge does if – heaven forbid – he leaves the Yankees after this season for greener pastures . . . Can’t really see him with a beard. But you never know.

8. Celtics head coach suspended for season after admitting to relationship with staffer.

Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka, 45, was entering his second year of coaching the Celts after leading the team to the NBA Finals last season. Now, he’s been benched for the season. The Celtics announced that he has been suspended for the entire 2022-23 season over “violations of team policies.”

According to multiple reports, the reason for Udoka’s suspension is an improper relationship with a team staff member.

Udoka’s suspension is effective immediately, and the Celtics organization said in a statement that they will make a decision about his future beyond this season at a later date. ESPN reports that assistant coach Joe Mazzulla will serve as interim coach.

9. Robert Sarver is selling his NBA franchise due to his workplace misconduct.

Owner Robert Sarver announced Wednesday that he has commenced the process of selling both the NBA franchise Phoenix Suns and the WNBA team the Phoenix Mercury.

Last week, the NBA banned Sarver for a year and fined him $10 million following an investigation for workplace misconduct. CBS Sports reports that “among the findings of the investigation were that Sarver used the N-word on multiple occasions, made inappropriate comments to and/or regarding women, engaged in inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees and engaged in demeaning and harsh treatment of employees.”

NBA fans will remember a similar incident in the spring of 2014, when then-Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5 million following an investigation into his alleged racist comments.

But don’t cry for Sarver – Sterling subsequently sold his team for $2 billion to Steve Ballmer, which surely helped heal his wounds. A forced sale might seem like a harsh punishment. Actually, it’s just another exit strategy.

10. Federer exits gracefully

Tennis great Roger Federer played his last match in partnership with his longtime rival and friend Rafael Nadal. The pair teamed up to play a doubles match in the UK at the Laver Cup (tennis’s equivalent to golf’s Ryder Cup). A gentleman to the end, Federer will be sorely missed.

Weekly Top sports news headlines and major events to know: September 25, 2022

That’s our take on the big sports news headlines and major events, and a preview of the week ahead, including what to know about football, baseball and more.

Have a great week, dear reader. See you next Sunday.