Quick Hits

• The Brewers are halfway to a championship. Milwaukee beat the Rays with yet another comeback in Game 2 on Saturday and now lead the World Series 2-0 — two wins from the franchise's first-ever title.
• Scary NBA moment: Mavericks star Cooper Flagg, the reigning Rookie of the Year, hurt his shoulder on a flagrant foul from Indiana's Aaron Nesmith on Friday night, and tempers flared between the teams afterward.
• College football chaos: UCF knocked off No. 2 BYU in double overtime — the first top-five win in the school's history.
• Minnesota connection: J.J. McCarthy, the quarterback the Vikings drafted in the first round in 2024, is the new starting QB for the New York Giants.
• The WNBA Finals are all square at 2-2 after the Golden State Valkyries stole Game 4 in Atlanta and held star Angel Reese to just eight points.

Minnesota Teams

A quiet week on the local beat — no Vikings, Twins, Wolves, Wild, Lynx or Gophers headlines in today's batch — but one story hits close to home. J.J. McCarthy, the one-time Vikings first-round pick, is getting his shot with the Giants: coach John Harbaugh is benching Jameis Winston in favor of McCarthy just four weeks after he joined the team, citing the third-year quarterback's "heck of a skill set." Also worth a peek for Vikings fans: division rivals Green Bay and Detroit square off Sunday in the NFL's biggest game of the week.

NFL

• Week 7's headliner is Packers-Lions on Sunday, the showdown CBS's expert panel is most split on, with Cowboys-Eagles, Bengals-Ravens and Chiefs-Seahawks (Seattle will be without running back Zach Charbonnet) also on tap.
• A quirk of the schedule: the Steelers and Saints play in Paris, kicking off at Stade de France as part of the league's international series.
• The NFL fined 49ers linebacker Fred Warner twice for his hit on Commanders tight end Chig Okonkwo — notable because officials had thrown a flag on the play but picked it up during the game. Translation: you can dodge a penalty in the moment, but not the league office's review afterward.
• Worth a read: ESPN's feature on Raiders rookie QB Fernando Mendoza, who says he's inspired by the Hispanic players and coaches who came before him in the organization.

NBA

• The Flagg injury is the story everyone's talking about. The reigning Rookie of the Year hurt his shoulder after Nesmith's flagrant foul, and the Mavericks immediately confronted him — no clear timeline for Flagg's return was given, which leaves Dallas holding its breath.
• Opening week continued with the stars in new places: ESPN's Ben Golliver graded 12 season debuts, including LeBron James, LaMelo Ball and Kawhi Leonard — some shined, others might want a mulligan. The Knicks visited the Celtics on Friday night to headline the slate.
• WNBA Finals update: the Valkyries won Game 4 in Atlanta to even things at 2-2, with Reese bottled up, and the series now shifts back to their raucous home arena — nicknamed "Ballhalla." There's a fun logistical wrinkle, too: if the series reaches Game 6 in Atlanta, the Hawks already have the arena booked that night, so the Dream are scrambling for a backup venue.
• Off the court: CBS reports Lakers and Chelsea FC owner Mark Walter is looking to sell the WNBA's Sparks amid an FBI and SEC investigation into his wealth management firm.

MLB

• Milwaukee leads the World Series 2-0 over Tampa Bay after winning Game 1 Friday and engineering another comeback in Game 2 on Saturday. ESPN's takeaway: these "comeback kids" are starting to look inevitable. CBS notes the Brewers have won eight of their last nine games.
• The formula is old-school: a lockdown bullpen, led by lefty reliever Aaron Ashby, whose scoreless streak has him on the verge of MLB history. The feel-good roster note is Brandon Woodruff — the team's longest-tenured player, around since 2017 — making the World Series roster after missing time since July 4 with a shoulder injury.
• The casual-fan guide: keep an eye on the young-star duel between Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio and Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero, and soak in the nostalgia — ESPN's Tim Kurkjian says this series, complete with a Robin Yount first pitch, feels like a throwback to the Brewers' 1982 glory days.

NHL

Hockey's been easy to miss: a packed 12-game Saturday slate (ESPN flagged a Ducks-Flyers "revenge matinee") rolls into a five-game Sunday with plenty of reunion storylines. No Wild-specific news in today's feed.

College Sports

• The upset of the season: UCF took down No. 2 BYU in double overtime, with backup quarterback Keyone Jenkins accounting for four touchdowns and the defense sealing it with a goal-line stand in the second OT.
• Saturday's other games that matter: No. 16 USC visits Wisconsin with both teams chasing Big Ten hopes; Arch Manning and Texas — on a two-game skid — host Ole Miss in what feels like a must-win for their playoff chances; and Houston plays at Utah in a Big 12 clash with conference-title and playoff stakes.

Other Sports

• UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi delivered: Alexander Volkanovski "reminded everyone of his greatness" and Petr Yan put on a masterclass, per CBS — which argued both made their case as all-time greats in their divisions.
• UFC booking news: Dana White explained matching Carlos Prates against Michael Morales at UFC 336 — "You can't hold up divisions like this" — noting champ Islam Makhachev was originally penciled in for January.
• In boxing, Emanuel Navarrete and O'Shaquie Foster headlined a card in San Antonio on Saturday; no result crossed the wire in time for this digest.