Happy Monday! To start off our week, let’s take at the Toronto Blue Jays’ impressive series-winning victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday night:

QUIPS FOR THIS WEEK

NFL

Week 5 in the National Football League was full of all sorts of things to discuss — after 4 games away, Tom Brady finally returned to the New England Patriots and led them to a 33-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns with 3 TDs and 406 passing yards, the Minnesota Vikings got another win, this time over the Houston Texans 31-13 to stay undefeated at 5-0, the Detroit Lions got a last minute win over the Philadelphia Eagles with the help of a field goal 24-23, and the Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants 23-16 in Sunday night’s game.

Oh, and rookie Dak Prescott set the NFL rookie record for most passes without an interception with 135 straight passes as part of the Dallas Cowboys’ 28-14 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Monday Night Football features the Tampa Bay Bucs versus the Carolina Panthers — tune in at 8:30pm EST on ESPN. Of note Cam Newton will be out this week, recovering from a concussion from last week’s game.

College Football

Let’s talk college football and the shake-ups from week 6. The biggest surprise of the weekend was #6 Houston’s 46-40 loss to Navy on Saturday, diminishing the team’s playoff chances. Other team’s suffering from the blues include: #9 Tennessee who lost to #8 Texas A&M 54-38 in double overtime, #10 Miami who lost to #23 Florida State 20-19 and #15 Stanford who lost to Washington State 42-16.

Okay, so you must be wondering, who did win in week 6? Well, #1 Alabama looked strong in a 49-30 victory over #16 Arkansas, #2 Ohio State was solid in a 38-17 win over Indiana and #4 Michigan … yeah they won 78-0 over Rutgers. To top off the 70 and up club, #5 Washington defeated Oregon 70-21.

All of this is to say that it’s going to be a wild ride to the playoffs and every game counts. Until next week!

MLB

Playoff baseball is one of the best times of the year and thus far this post-season has lived up to the hype.

To recap and get you up to speed – let’s review what’s happened so far:

American League:

• The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles to win the AL Wild Card. The Blue Jays then moved on to face the Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series.
• As you know from our intro — the Blue Jays then won the ALDS 3-0 after Sunday’s win over the Rangers — they’re now on to the AL Championship series.
  
• On the other side of the AL Division Series, the Cleveland Indians lead the Boston Red Sox 2-0 and will meet for game 3 at Fenway on Monday night.

National League:

• The San Francisco Giants defeated the New York Mets to win the NL Wild Card. They’re currently playing the Chicago Cubs in the NL Division Series.
• So far the Chicago Cubs lead the series 2-0 and teams will face off for game 3 in San Francisco on Monday night.
• AND finally, on the other side of the NL Division Series — the Washington Nationals tied their series with LA Dodgers at 1-1 with Sunday’s win.
  

What’s next? The AL Championship Series begins on October 14th and the NL Championship Series begins on October 15th — moving from a best of 5 to a best of 7. Stayed tuned!

Basketball

It’s the WNBA finals! To cap off the posteason – the LA Sparks meet the Minnesota Lynx (aiming for their 4th title) for a best of 7 series. In game 1, the LA Sparks got the win 78-76 with the help of Alana Beard’s game winner.

With the NBA season set to begin in less than 20 days (!!!) – Commissioner Adam Silver  said in a statement on Sunday that he thinks thata CBA deal to avoid work stoppage will be agreed upon soon between the league and the NBA Players Association.

JUST FOR FUN

Happy 20-year anniversary
ESPN CollegeGameDay analyst Lee Corso has been on live TV since 1996, and was honored this Saturday with an ESPN segment in his honor

STORIES FOR INSIGHTS, COOL FACTOR + DEBATE

Taking the lead
WADA’s power is growing
The International Olympics Committee has tasked the World Anti-Doping Agency with renewing and revamping their efforts to fight against cheating. WADA is expected to put forth a proposal requesting additional resources necessary to expand their responsibilities by the end of the year

Nobody likes to see an 11% decrease
In the 4th week of the NFL season, viewership is down
Part of the decline can be attributed to the timing of U.S. election-based content

For the first time…
A North American League franchise acquires eSports teams
The 76ers now have controlling stake in Team Dignitas and Team Apex — acknowledging that the business of sports is moving beyond traditional sports as entertainment