The Pulse newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. To get The Pulse directly to your inbox, sign up here.
Good morning! Let’s wake up like the Pac-12 today.
While You Were Sleeping: Is the Pac-12 back?
The Conference of Champions may still exist.
The two-team Pac-12 is targeting Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State for expansion, Chris Vannini confirmed last night. The current Mountain West schools are expected to apply soon to join Oregon State and Washington State to bring the league within the NCAA’s eight-team minimum by 2026. An official announcement could come today, Vannini said.
Read his full report to find out the surprising financial concessions that came with this, and stay tuned for more details.
We need to talk about A’ja Wilson’s understated dominance.
The list of athletes who have won three MVP awards in major American sports this century isn’t particularly long — about two per sport — and Aces star A’ja Wilson is almost certain to join that ranks (she’s a -10000 favorite to win, according to BetMGM), but somehow it feels like we don’t talk about her enough.
Last night, she won the Aces’ 35th game against the Fever, setting a new WNBA single-season scoring record, breaking Jewel Loyd’s record from last season. “But the WNBA season only recently expanded to 40 games!” some might argue. Even without the expansion, Wilson would have held the record.
From 2003 to 2019, there were 34 regular season games during which Diana Taurasi set the scoring record (860 points) that stood until last season. In 34 games this season, Wilson has scored 929 points. Wilson is averaging 27.3 points per game and is on track to pass Taurasi’s record in that category as well. At 28 years old, Wilson is averaging more points than Taurasi did at the same age. Wilson also leads the league in defensive rebounds, blocks, turnovers avoided and win shares.
But this is all happening while Vegas (23-13) is underperforming relative to lofty expectations. Another thought is that this could also be the flip side of the Caitlin Clark effect. Is Clark having a great rookie season that overshadowed Wilson’s incredible MVP run? It’s a debate worth having.
News you need to know
Hill calls for the officers to be fired.
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill said in a statement that Miami Police Officer Danny Torres, who detained Hill outside Hard Rock Stadium before Sunday’s game, should be fired, calling Torres’ actions “excessive, escalating and reckless.” Torres has been placed on administrative duties while the police department conducts an investigation. This comes after Hill’s arrest (and the subsequent body camera footage) sparked a national debate. Read the full statement here.
In other news
Deshaun Watson is scheduled to play this weekend against the Jaguars less than a week after being accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit.
Shohei Ohtani hit his 47th home run of the season last night, tying his career high, and recorded three home runs and two stolen bases in 50-50 games.
WNBA players and the WNBPA executive director criticized Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s comments earlier this week regarding Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. Read the full statement here.
Manchester United announced a loss of 113 million pounds ($124 million) last year, despite record revenue.
You missed it earlier this week, but Kyle Larson will be attempting the Indy 500/NASCAR “double” again next year.
Numbers: What happened to Joe Burrow?
Earlier this week, we announced a smart new feature: the NFL Playoff Prediction Simulator, which takes a deeper look than usual at teams’ playoff chances. Metrics include projected performance, postseason chances, Super Bowl odds, and more.
Two teams to look out for from the full list:
Are the Bengals in trouble yet? Their chances of making the playoffs have dropped from 73 percent before Week 1 to 51 percent after their disastrous loss to the Patriots. Yes, Cincinnati did the same thing last year, and yes, they’re without Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase is also in bad form. But Joe Burrow’s weak performance surprised me. The good news is that after playing the Chiefs this week (#1 on our prediction list, of course), the Bengals play Washington and Carolina before returning to tough AFC play. Mike Jones says Cincinnati fans need to relax in terms of stress. The Cowboys vs. Saints this weekend will have a big impact early on. Both teams were impressive last week, and Dallas currently sits at #4 on our prediction chart, with most indicators pointing to this being an elite team. New Orleans has risen from #16 to #13 after a big win over the Panthers. Both teams’ defenses have the potential to shine, and a Saints win could mean big changes to the NFC playoff outlook. What are the stakes already? Wow.
I encourage you to check out the full feature – it makes it easy to see high-level metrics for your team in a well-designed format, and I’ll be playing around with it a lot in the future.
Spooky season: White Sox approach history
As Halloween begins to take hold, the biggest surprise in the sports world right now might be checking the American League Central standings.
Top 4 teams? Wow, a classic, competitive division led by one of the most entertaining teams in sports. Sounds fun! 5th team:
Yes, we have a 200% chance of winning and are 51.5 games behind in the division. What a shame. 🧟👻🎃
Just to be clear, Chicago, who was soundly defeated by the division-leading Guardians yesterday, is six losses away from tying their season record with 15 games remaining. They haven’t won at home in a month! Normally I’d recommend keeping an eye on the next game, but with six straight games against the Athletics and Angels, that might be just too cruel. (Or maybe there’s still a little hope Chicago can avoid that record.)
That’s right, Zach Meisel wrote an article today basically asking, ‘Are White Sox fans OK?’ The answer: Umm… well, they’re OK!
Look and Listen
📺 MLB: Red Sox vs Yankees
7:15pm ET – Fox
New York remains in first place in the AL East and Boston remains in the running for a Wild Card spot. Last night’s walk-off win puts the Red Sox within four games of a Wild Card spot with 16 games remaining, heading into a four-game stretch.
📺 NFL: Bills vs Dolphins
8:15pm ET on Prime Video
An early test in the AFC East. Both teams should have lost in Week 1 but found a way to win. Josh Allen is already an MVP candidate (yes, an overreaction, but he was that good last week).
Stream games like this here and get tickets here .
🎧 “The Athletic Football Show” aired a segment called “Is This Real Life?” with hosts Robert Mays and Mike Sand, where they assessed the Bengals panic, the Saints and Buccaneers offenses and more.
Pulse Pick
CJ Stroud is in his second year as the leader of the Texans. As Zach Keefer detailed today, it all started with Stroud criticizing the entire team after a loss in Week 2 last year. This marked the start of a resurgence for the Texans, who are in full championship contender mode this year. Great article this morning.
Things are starting to feel good again in Tuscaloosa, as Karen DeBoer revealed in an exclusive interview with The Athletic. He’s aware that it may seem like an old band reunion, but insists that it wasn’t planned that way.
James Mertle asked a simple question: “How do we improve the NHL’s boring regular season?”
Brody Miller tells the hilarious story of a Mason City, Iowa man who revolutionized the golf industry simply because he wanted a better bag for his young child. Now his side hustle in his garage has become a business. Read the full story here.
The most clicked story in yesterday’s newsletter: The story of Jason Whittle who can’t shake the silly internet rumors that obscure his good deeds.
The most read article on the website yesterday: Mike Jones’s thoughts on what to worry about with 0-1 NFL teams.
Sign up for our other newsletters:
Bounce🏀 |Wind up⚾ |Full-time⚽ | Athletic FC⚽|Prime Tires🏁 | Until Saturday 🏈 | Scoop City 🏈
(Top photo: Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)