Good franchises to open

Extra bases For all its ingenuity in fielding contending teams, Oakland has not won a playoff series since 2006, when it swept the Twins in the Division Series then got swept by the Tigers in the ALCS. The A’s have lost nine consecutive elimination games, a record. “It’s frustrating. It’s very sudden,” manager Bob Melvin said after losing the wild-card game against the Rays. “Baseball, usually you have a series to kind of have a tomorrow and come back and win a game. And we’ve been really good this year about having a tough game and coming back and responding. There’s no responding in a game like this. It’s a little out of the norm for baseball. Both teams battled to get to this point and knew it would be one and out. They just played better than we did.” . . . Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge on the mentality of the modern hitter: “I feel like there are so many shifts and so many different things going on in … [Read more...] about Red Sox willing to take their time replacing Dave Dombrowski

The way he laughed with me when I challenged him (on camera) to name all the backup quarterbacks who’d been stuck behind him, never to start a game, and the way he remembered them all. The way he wiped away tears as Tom Coughlin said goodbye to the franchise, a display of sincere emotion that left even the stoic coach touched beyond measure. … [Read more...] about Eli Manning, Hall of Famer? You’d better believe it

“Being down early, being able to come back and winning a close game in the end…those are experiences that we’ll put in our pocket and use for another day,” said defenseman Torey Krug, who netted his first of the season to complete the four-goal outburst early in the second. … [Read more...] about 3 takeaways from the Bruins’ 4-3 win over Vegas

Gronkowski’s engaging personality — both with the red light on and behind closed doors — gives him the possibility to transform the analyst role entirely. This isn’t like Jason Witten exposing himself into a role in which he had zero preparation. Gronkowski’s role will be one of playing the sidecar at first, but slowly emerging into something more than “Gronk say something funny.” It’s going to be must-see TV to watch the transformation. Witten’s wooden TV personality sealed his fate long before his disastrous run on Monday Night Football. … [Read more...] about What experts are predicting for Thursday’s Patriots-Giants game

During Game 7 of last season’s Stanley Cup Finals, Rosa said, a man in his row in Section 317 of the balcony was forced to stand for half the game next to his aisle seat, too uncomfortable to sit for long stretches. Some fans have taken to sitting atop their seats instead of in them, in an effort to create a few more inches of space. … [Read more...] about At TD Garden, fans are feeling the squeeze