THE 2020 SPORTS TIMELINE
[ 2020, from D7]
SEPT. 13: No fans are in attendance for the NFL opening of SoFi Stadium, but the Rams still christen the new $5-billion venue with a 20-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
SEPT. 15: The Clippers blow a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals. By dropping three straight to the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers became the 13th team in NBA history to lead a best-ofseven series 3-1 only to lose it.
SEPT. 18: Albert Pujols passes Willie Mays on all-time home run list. The Angels slugger ended a streak of 93 plate appearances without a homer to tie for fifth on MLB’s all-time list then passed the Hall of Famer five days later. Pujols hit two homers in the victory and sits at 662 for his career.
SEPT. 28: Clippers fire Doc Rivers. He is the Clippers’ franchise leader in games coached (564) and won (356), winning percentage (63.1), and playoff wins (27), but his teams never advanced past the second round of the playoffs. The Clippers promote former Rivers assistant Ty Lue.
SEPT. 28: The Tampa Bay Lightning win their second Stanley Cup with a 4-2 series win against the Dallas Stars, overcoming more than two months of the quarantined playoffs that were split between two hub cities, Toronto and Edmonton.
OCTOBER
OCT. 6: The second-seeded Seattle Storm sweep the top-ranked Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-five series to win the franchise’s fourth WNBA championship and second in three years.
OCT. 11: The Lakers win NBA championship. In the longest NBA season in history, they weathered the more than 100 days in a bubble and handled the emotional stress of tackling racism in the nation. In the end, the Lakers won the franchise’s 17th championship and first since 2010 by defeating the Miami Heat in six games.
OCT. 18: Dodgers erase 3-1 deficit to advance to World Series. Cody Bellinger hit the game-winning home run in the seventh inning of Game 7 against the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers fought off three elimination games on the back of NLCS MVP Corey Seager (five home runs and 11 RBIs) and stunning defense from Mookie Betts.
OCT. 27: The Dodgers win their first championship since 1988 by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in six games in the World Series. The team’s celebration drew criticism, however, as Justin Turner was seen hugging teammates and posing for photos, sometimes without a mask, despite a positive coronavirus test.
NOVEMBER
NOV. 7: After initially postponing all sports until 2021, the Pac-12 is the last among its Power Five peers to begin a fall football season. The conference’s six-game regular season was the shortest of any major conference.
NOV. 12: Five years of losing seasons cost Billy Eppler his GM job, and the Angels replaced him with Perry Minasian, a baseball executive with more than 30 years of experience. From his childhood as a batboy for the Texas Rangers, Minasian rose through the ranks with the Atlanta Braves.
NOV. 13: Kim Ng shatters GM glass ceiling. The Marlins hire the longtime baseball executive as their new general manager, making Ng the first female general manager in a major North American pro sport.
DECEMBER DEC. 2:
Rafer Johnson dies at 86. His 60 years after winning Olympic gold in the decathlon may have outshined what is normally the highlight of a lifetime; the UCLA Athletics Hall of Famer became a humanitarian working with the Special Olympics and helped bring the Games to L.A. in 1984, when he lit the Olympic flame.
DEC. 3: Anthony Davis signs a five-year, $190-million deal. The contract extends past the twoyear deal LeBron James signed, making Davis the Lakers’ likely cornerstone after his 35-year-old teammate’s era ends.
DEC. 12: Sarah Fuller becomes the first woman to score in a Power Five football game. The SEC championship-winning goalkeeper kicked two clean extra points for Vanderbilt in a 42-17 loss to Tennessee. Fuller, who joined the football team temporarily after a COVID-19 outbreak left the Commodores without specialists, was also the first woman to play in a Power Five football game when she kicked off in a Nov. 28 game.
DEC. 12: The Columbus Crew beat the Seattle Sounders 3-0 to win their second MLS Cup, despite missing two starters due to COVID-19. The tumultuous year saw nearly 20% of the league’s players infected with the coronavirus.
DEC. 19: Carlos Vela scores twice in 90 seconds for LAFC as the three-year-old club advances to its first tournament final with a 3-1 win over América, Mexico’s most decorated club. LAFC came back from a 1-0 deficit and held on despite playing the second half with just 10 men.