Quick Hitters

Utley is released, will retire

LOS ANGELES — Chase Utley has been released by the Los Angeles Dodgers so he can officially retire after 16 years in the major leagues.

The veteran second baseman said in July he would retire at season’s end in order to be a fulltime dad to his two young sons. He turns 40 next month.

Utley played his first 13-plus seasons with Philadelphia, where he was a key member of the 2008 World Series championship team. He helped the Phillies win five straight NL East titles from 2007-11.

The six-time All-Star was traded to the Dodgers in 2015, where he was a valued clubhouse presence while his on-field role was reduced to part-time.

Utley hit .275 with 259 home runs and 1,885 hits in his career. He also was hit by pitches 204 times.

The Dodgers made the move Friday.

NFL television ratings see increase for most packages

After years of declines, NFL television ratings are showing modest gains.

Three of the league’s television partners have shown increases after the first nine weeks of the season while one remains flat. That is welcome news after ratings decreased 9.7 percent last season and 8 percent in 2016.

“I’m glad the league has turned the corner. The top teams are very exciting and there are plenty of highscoring games,” said Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports who now runs his own sports television consulting company.

Pilson said a major ratings driver has been the emergence of young quarterbacks like the Rams’ Jared Goff, the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Bears’ Mitchell Trubisky. That has created a buzz not only with their teams but throughout the league.

Another factor is that player protests against social and racial injustice during the national anthem have not been a major storyline this season. Pilson noted that “a few of those folks who said they were going to stop watching I don’t know how many did.”

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” package has shown the biggest improvement with an 8 percent increase from last season. It is averaging 19.7 million viewers, compared to 18.3 million last season.