Phillies dismiss Kapler as manager after 2 years

The Phillies fired manager Gabe Kapler on Thursday, two weeks after completing their first nonlosing campaign since 2012 at 81-81.

Kapler went 161-163 in two seasons.

The Phillies were only two games behind in the NL wild-card standings after beating the Braves on Sept. 18 but lost eight of the next nine. They finished eight games behind the Brewers for the second wild card and 16 games behind the first-place Braves in the NL East.

Last year, the Phillies had a one-game lead in division Aug. 11 before going 15-31 the rest of the way. the

College basketball: The NCAA denied a request for Wisconsin junior F Micah Potter to play during the fall semester after transferring from Ohio State two days before last season’s opener. Potter, who hasn’t competed in regular-season games since 2017-18, will be eligible to play beginning Dec. 21 against Milwaukee.

Golf: Austin Cook and Talor Gooch each shot an 8-under 64 to share a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Houston Open in Humble, Texas. Sepp Straka of Austria shot a 65 and 2017 tournament champ Russell Henley was another shot back with two others . ... Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen shot an opening-round 7-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead at the Italian Open in Rome.

Gymnastics: Simone Biles won her fifth all-around title at the world championships, finishing 2.1 points ahead of China’s Tang Xijing in Stuttgart, Germany. No other woman has won more than three all-around titles. Biles, 22, now has a 22 career world championship medals across all events, the most by any woman and one shy of Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo’s men’s record.

Soccer: Top-ranked Belgium became the first team to qualify for next year’s European Championship with a 9-0 group-play victory over visiting San Marino. Belgium matched the record for the biggest margin of victory in their history to guarantee a top-two finish in Group I.