Trout out for season
Mike Trout’s season is over.
The Los Angeles Angels say the eight-time allstar will have surgery on his right foot this week because of Morton’s neuroma, a thickening of tissue around a nerve leading to toes that causes pain.
“It wasn’t getting any better,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said Sunday. We’ve kind of exhausted all non-surgical possibilities. Some point later in the week he’ll be scheduled for surgery to have the neuroma removed.”
Trout finished with a career-high 45 home runs, 104 RBI and a .291 batting average, putting him in contention to win his third AL MVP. The 28-yearold outfielder had 110 walks, a .438 on-base percentage and 1.083 OPS. He last played on Sept. 7.
BASEBALL
Anthony Rizzo was helped off the field Sunday by a trainer and a teammate with a sprained right ankle, and Wrigley Field fell silent. With Chicago’s postseason pursuit already hindered by a seasonending injury to shortstop Javier Báez, the team may now be without another star player.
For one day at least, the Cubs rallied without those lineup staples, thumping the Pittsburgh Pirates 16-6 to finish an impressive three-game sweep.
Rizzo was injured fielding a bunt at first base in the third inning. X-rays showed no fractures, and an MRI has been scheduled for Monday.
“We’re gonna miss Riz, we already miss Javy, but I really believe the rest of the group is up to the task,” manager Joe Maddon said.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
A largely upset-free week in college football produced little change in the USA Today Amway Coaches Poll, at least at the upper echelons. The top ten teams remained unchanged, with Clemson and Alabama continuing to hold down the first two places while monopolizing the first-place votes.
Wisconsin also held its poll spot at No. 14. They are tied for No. 13 in the Associated Press poll with Penn State. The Badgers face No. 10/11 Michigan on Saturday.
AUTO RACING
Martin Truex Jr. won the opening race of NASCAR’s playoffs to earn an automatic berth into the second round.
Truex’s victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was his series-best fifth of the season and again cemented Joe Gibbs Racing as the team to beat in this 10-race playoff series. JGR has 14 wins this season.
Truex chased down Kevin Harvick, who was slowed by traffic, to cut into Harvick’s lead and eventually make the pass for the win on the outside with 20 laps remaining.
Las Vegas was a brutal opener for a handful of title contenders, including Kurt Busch, who crashed when his tire went flat and he finished last in the field.
The top nine finishers were all playoff contenders as Truex was followed by Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson and reigning series champion Joey Logano.
BASKETBALL
Spain has captured its second World Cup championship, defeating Argentina, 95-75, in Bejing, China.
Ricky Rubio scored 20 points and Sergio Llull added 15 for Spain (8-0), the ninth team to make it through a World Cup or world championship unbeaten. Marc Gasol scored 14 for the winners, who never trailed and added this crown to the one it claimed in 2006.
BOXING
Blood was flowing down Tyson Fury’s right cheek, and Otto Wallin was in his face. His scheduled rematch with Deontay Wilder suddenly in jeopardy, Fury needed to dig deep in a lineal heavyweight fight that wasn’t supposed to be this hard.
Fury did just that Saturday night, overcoming a bloody cut over his right eye to pound out a unanimous decision over Wallin, his Swedish opponent.
Fury remained unbeaten in 29 fights.
CYCLING
Former ski jumper Primoz Roglic comfortably won the Spanish Vuelta for his first Grand Tour title, finishing more than two minutes ahead of world champion Alejandro Valverde after the 21st stage in Madrid, Spain.
It was his first Grand Tour win after the 29-yearold was fourth in the 2018 Tour de France and third in the Giro d’Italia in June.
Fabio Jakobsen sprinted to win the flat 65-mile stage that started in Fuenlabrada.