This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed.
AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 30m ago
⚾️ Y! Sports AM: Small ball, baby
🚨 HEADLINES
🏀 Angel's historic night: Angel Reese grabbed 26 rebounds in Atlanta's win over the Sparks, breaking Chamique Holdsclaw's record of 24 for the most in a single WNBA game. With the performance, Reese also broke A'ja Wilson’s record for most rebounds in a season (458 and counting).
🏈 Watson named QB1: Deshaun Watson has won the starting job in Cleveland over Shedeur Sanders, the team announced Monday. After multiple Achilles injuries, he's now in line to start his first game since 2024.
⚾️ 3 HR for Big Dumper: Cal Raleigh had by far the best game of his disappointing season on Monday, posting the first three-homer game of his career in the Mariners' win over the Phillies. He now has 17 HR and a .618 OPS on the year after posting 60 HR and a .948 OPS last year.
🚲 Vuelta halted for hail: Stage 3 of the Vuelta a España was abandoned due to a dangerous hailstorm with just a few kilometers left on Monday. The season's final grand tour resumes today with Tadej Pogačar (who else?) leading the way.
⛳️ Bryson's cryptic message: Is Bryson DeChambeau's run with LIV Golf over? That seems like a distinct possibility after the breakaway tour's biggest name shared a series of photos from LIV Golf events on Instagram with the caption, "It was a good run."
See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports .
⚾️ THE BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL DOESN'T HIT HOME RUNS
(John Fisher/Getty Images)
Last season, the Brewers won a franchise-record 97 games. This season, they're on pace to eclipse 100 wins as they hurtle toward their fourth straight division crown. How does a small-market club keep doing this? What's their recipe for success?
Small ball, baby: Milwaukee (81-50) has the best record in baseball despite ranking dead last in home runs (120). Instead of slugging long balls, they manufacture runs in a way that would make Billy Beane proud: they get on base .
The Brewers have the second-best OBP in the majors (.337), powered by the second-best walk rate (10.7%) and third-best batting average (.254).
And once they get on base the fun really begins, as they also rank third in stolen bases (129) and sacrifice bunts (30).
The combination of smart baseball and just enough slugging (they're top five in doubles) has yielded a team with MLB's best run differential (+161).
Pitching helps, too: NL Cy Young frontrunner Jacob Misiorowski (13-5, 1.68 ERA) gets the headlines, and deservedly so, but the rotation would fall apart behind him if not for the excellence of Logan Henderson (8-2, 2.60 ERA) and Kyle Harrison (10-3, 2.84 ERA). And in the latter half of games, the Brewers hand the reins over to MLB's third-best bullpen (3.33 ERA).
What they're saying: "I don't think we've played great," manager Pat Murphy said last week despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. "We haven't really jelled. We haven't really come together." And yet here they are with MLB's best record even as some of their clubhouse leaders have had down years. "Maybe that's the secret," he added. "Maybe this team still plays well enough to be close when they're not at their best."
Will it translate in October? Small ball-reliant teams can thrive over the course of 162 games, but they tend to struggle in the playoffs, just as the Brewers have in the past three years (two wild card exits, one NLCS sweep). Could this be the year Milwaukee bucks that trend? Or will power hitters rule the postseason* once again?
*Teams that out-homer their opponents have gone 53-13 (.803) across the last two postseasons, and each of the last six World Series champions ranked in the top four in home runs during the regular season.
🎾 MIXED DOUBLES TAKES CENTER STAGE
Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka. (Ben Whitley/PA Images via Getty Images)
A reimagined mixed doubles event has transformed the week before the US Open main draw from an overlooked sideshow into a must-see event.
Shlomo Sprung, Yahoo Sports:
Across the tennis world, mixed doubles had been considered an afterthought. For years, the US Open had placed it in the third week of the tournament, overshadowed by men's and women's singles while the sport's best players are either still participating in singles or moving on to the next tournament.
In 2025, the United States Tennis Association made a scheduling change that singlehandedly revived the competition.
In an effort for the US Open to legitimize what it calls Fan Week, the qualifying week before the main singles and doubles draws begin with free admission for spectators, the USTA moved mixed doubles to the last full week in August, when top players were more available, and gave the winning team $1 million.
The plan was a spectacular success. The tournament drove 78,000 fans to the Open grounds and sold out the nearly 24,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium on both nights, which meant millions in added revenue from concession and merchandise sales.
More than 2 million fans visited the Open's mobile app and website, and its YouTube channel set a single-day record with 12.8 million views, the USTA said.
"We wanted to give [mixed doubles] the spotlight it deserved," Brendan McIntyre, the US Open's head of communications and content, told Yahoo Sports. "The players also embraced it, and the star power in the field was evidence of that. There was never a doubt that we would be bringing it back for this year."
Star-studded bracket: This year's tournament, which began with Monday's qualifiers, features seven of the top 10 ranked women in the world and six of the top 10 men. Notable pairings include:
Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz: The GOAT continues her comeback tour alongside the young Spaniard, who's back from an injury.
Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic: The two-time defending singles champ teams up with the lege...
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