Raiders’ Week 16 game vs. Miami will be in Saturday prime time
In a game the Raiders hope will have postseason ramifications, they will host the Miami Dolphins in an evening game in one of three NFL games to be played Saturday in Week 16.
The game at Allegiant Stadium will have a 5:15 p.m. (PST) kickoff on Dec. 26 and be broadcast on the NFL Network.
The Raiders are 6-5 following a 43- 6 road loss to the Atlanta Falcons, while the Dolphins under secondyear coach Brian Flores are one of the surprise teams of the NFL at 7- 4 and a game behind the Buffalo Bills in the NFC East. In Jon Gruden’s third season since returning to the sideline, the Raiders are hoping to challenge for one of three wild card berths with the Kansas City Chiefs in control of the AFC West at 10-1.
Among teams that are not division leaders, the Cleveland is 8- 3 and the Dolphins and Indianapolis are 7- 4 with the Baltimore Ravens at 6- 4.
TEXANS’ FULLER SAYS HE’S BEEN SUSPENDED 6 GAMES FOR PEDS » Houston Texans receiver Will Fuller says he’s been suspended for six games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
Fuller announced the suspension on Instagram, saying that the suspension was from a medication he was prescribed that he believed to be permitted, but that was banned under the league’s policy.
Baseball
MLB LAUNCHES WOOD-BAT LEAGUE FOR DRAFT-ELIGI
BLE PROSPECTS » Major League Baseball is creating a minor league for top eligible prospects leading to the summer draft.
The wood- bat MLB Draft League is launching with five teams and could add a sixth, MLB said Monday. Teams will play a 68- game regular season that includes an All- Star break that would coincide with the draft in early July.
Teams are going to communities that lost franchises when MLB began shrinking the affiliated minor leagues from 160 to 120 teams. The reduction this offseason followed the expiration of the Professional Baseball Agreement, which governed the relationship between the majors and minors. MLB has planned to eliminate the separate governing body of minor league baseball.
College basketball
GONZAGA, BAYLOR STAY ATOP AP MEN’S POLL » The first Associated Press men’s college basketball poll of the regular season remained steady at the top.
The rest, predictably, was filled with change as teams exceeded or failed to live up to preseason expectations.
Gonzaga and Baylor remained Nos. 1-2 in the poll released Monday. The Zags received 57 of 63 first-place votes from a media panel and the Bears had six firstplace votes. They were the only two teams to hold their places from the preseason poll.
SOUTH CAROLINA REMAINS NO. 1 IN WOMEN’S POLL » Top-ranked South Carolina jumped into the new season by playing three games in the first five days. The Gamecocks were challenged over the weekend in a tournament in South Dakota but emerged victorious.