Cooper Trade Boosts Bills and WR Left Behind in Cleveland

In today’s newsletter…

• Leading Off: Formula 1 is back, exciting and in a U.S. time zone this week

• NFL: Eagles are the only team that hasn’t scored a TD on an opening drive

• Column: Ohtani is coming through when it matters in 1st postseason

• MLB: ALCS features two pitchers on long rest

• College Football: A No. 5 vs. No. 1 showdown in Austin

• NFL: Rookie Bowers accounting for 22.5% of Raiders’ targets

• Soccer: Man U has just 5 goals in 7 league matches

• Sportmoney x PFF: A look at NFL stats, trends and PFF grades

• Overtime: 2012 track star looks to make 2026 Olympic bobsled team for U.S.A.

Yes we’re closing in on the World Series, a new WNBA champion is about to be crowned, the NFL is in full swing, there are huge college football matchups this weekend, the NHL has begun and the NBA regular season starts on Tuesday, but we’re also excited for Formula 1 coming back after what seemed like months (it was actually four weeks). Max Verstappen hasn’t won a race since June and not only has Lando Norris has closed the points gap to the three-time defending champion, Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri have McLaren in first place in the constructors standings over Red Bull.

It’s going to be an exciting final six races of the season, and F1 is in Austin this weekend — meaning the race is on at a reasonable hour in the U.S. (3pm ET on Sunday). FanDuel has Norris as the favorite to win the race (-115), followed by Verstappen (+410), Piastri (+500) and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (+800). Because of the lead he built up early in the season, Verstappen is still at -220 to win the drivers championship, with Norris at +145. But the sportsbook has no faith in Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez to turn his season around (he currently sits in 8th), as it has McLaren as massive favorites to win their first Constructors’ Championship since 1998 (-1900).

In today’s newsletter we’re giving you triple NFL coverage: Chris and Craig look at Sunday’s matchups and we have this week’s Sportmoney x PFF collaboration. Craig is also covering the MLB playoffs, Jack is tracking Saturday college football, Sam analyzes the weekend’s Premier League matches and Abby writes about the impact of having Ohtani in the playoffs in her column.

- Abe Rakov