Seattle aiming for another MLS title
Having played in three of the previous four MLS Cup finals, the Seattle Sounders know what to expect on this stage.
The difference this time around? T he opponent won’t be wearing red.
“Well, we’re not playing Toronto for one,” Seattle midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “That is a bit strange.”
The Sounders will attempt to win their third title in the past five seasons tonight when they face the Columbus Crew in Ohio. An unpredictable season that began in late February will end with two of the most consistent teams through all the chaos playing for the title.
Along the way, Seattle and Columbus navigated a three-month league stoppage, a tournament in Florida, the restart of games in home markets and finally the playoffs. It’s been a season defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and all the changes and hardships caused by the virus. Even the final match of the year will be impacted by COVID-19 as Columbus will play without starting midfielders Darlington Nagbe and Pedro Santos after both tested positive this week.
Columbus coach Caleb Porter said he learned during the middle of practice Thursday that the Crew would be down both players. “I just feel for them,” Porter said.
Baseball
DOMBROWSKI’S PLAN FOR PHILLIES >> Dave Dombrowski wants to win again sooner rather than later. The longtime executive moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in September as a consultant for Music City Baseball but found out this week that expansion won’t be entertained for more than a year at least.
So he finalized a deal Friday to become the Philadelphia Phillies’ president of baseball operations, convinced the team is not far from its first World Series title since 2008. “I consider a retool, not a rebuild for sure,” Dombrowski said. “There’s too many good players on the club.”
He views the Phillies as “sort of a sleeping giant because they’ve got a big market. And they’ve got a good, solid owner that wants to spend money to win.” BLEVINS TOMETS >> The Mets have told Jerry Blevins they intend to agree to a minor league contract that would bring the left-hander back to New York. If added to the 40-man roster, the 37-yearold would get a $1.25 million, one-year contract, the same potential deal he had in 2020 with the Giants. Blevins spent 2019 with Atlanta for his 13th big league season, then agreed to a minor league contract with the Giants in January. He did not get put on the big league roster during the shortened season.
NHL
RED WI NG S - I S L A N DE R S DEAL >> Detroit traded the rights to forward Dmytro Timashov to the New York Islanders for future considerations. Timashov, the Ukrainian-born Swede who turned 24 in October, appeared in five games with the Red Wings in 2019-20 after the team claimed him off waivers from Toronto on Feb. 24. In 44 career NHL games with Detroit and Toronto, he has four goals and five assists.
Golf
QBE SHOOTOUT >> Kevin Na and Sean O’Hair teamed to shoot a 16-under 56 in the scramble format Friday to take the first-round lead in the QBE Shootout in Naples, Fla.
Na and O’Hair had two eagles and 12 birdies on the Tiburon Golf Club’s Gold Course. O’Hair won the unofficial PGA Tour event in 2012 with Kenny Perry and 2017 with Steve Stricker.
“It felt pretty easy today just watching him putt and make everything he looked at,” O’Hair said. “Just kind of kept the momentum going. There was a couple putts that were crucial I think to do that.”
They eagled the par- 5 sixth and 17th.
“My job was to just put it in play, and Sean hit a lot of bombs out there, was 30, 40 yards ahead of me,” Na said. REED LEADS IN DUBAI >> Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed shot an 8-under 64 to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the European Tour’s season- ending World Tour Championship on Friday.
Reed, looking to become the first American to win what was formally known as the Order of Merit title, made nine birdies to take the lead at 10 under.
Matt Fitzpatrick is two strokes behind after backto-back rounds of 68. The Englishman, the projected No. 2 in the Race to Dubai rankings, mixed seven birdies with three bogeys. Laurie Canter (66) and Tyrell Hatton (68) shared third place at 7 under.