KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes escaped significant ligament damage when he dislocated his right kneecap and there is optimism the reigning NFL MVP could be back on the field in about a month.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Joe Maddon is back under the halo.

NEW YORK – A rainy day in the Bronx has left a most daunting October test for the New York Yankees vaunted bullpen: four games, four days and already a deficit to overcome against the Houston Astros in their AL Championship Series.

NEW YORK – Gerrit Cole walked into a conference room after one of his first spring training workouts with the Houston Astros in February 2018 and was met by about 10 people.

CINCINNATI – Linebacker Preston Brown grew up in Cincinnati watching the team then known as the “Bungles” lurch from one horrible season to another.

PITTSBURGH – Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin declined to discuss whom he gave the game ball to after watching his undermanned club potentially resurrect its season with a 24-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

CARSON, Calif. (AP) — James Conner scored two touchdowns, Devin Bush recovered a pair of turnovers and Devlin Hodges won his first NFL start as the Pittsburgh Steelers held off the Los Angeles Chargers 24-17 on Sunday night.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Zach Aston-Reese, Sam Lafferty and Jake Guentzel each had two goals to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sidney Crosby had a goal and assist, Adam Johnson and Sam Lafferty each scored his first career goal, and the short-handed Pittsburgh Penguins held on to beat the winless Minnesota Wild 7-4 on Saturday night.

PITTSBURGH – The bold-faced names on the Pittsburgh Steelers defense kept repeating the phrase “ball awareness” over and over during the offseason, as if they could somehow speak the goal of creating more turnovers into existence.

PITTSBURGH – It’s officially “Duck” season for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With the top teams out of the mix, it’s on to a most unlikely matchup in the NL Championship Series.

PHILADELPHIA – Gabe Kapler took the fall for the Philadelphia Phillies.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin and Nick Bjugstad will be out indefinitely with injuries.

PITTSBURGH – Earl Thomas saw Mason Rudolph step up in the pocket and took aim at what the Baltimore Ravens safety considered Pittsburgh quarterback’s “strike zone.” One ugly and illegal collision later, Rudolph lay motionless on the Heinz Field turf and one of the NFL’s most bitter rivalries…

DOVER, Del. – Kyle Larson pulled away in the final stage and won the playoff race Sunday at Dover International Speedway to snap a 75-race winless streak and earn an automatic berth in the next round.

Josh Jacobs scored his second touchdown of the game with a leap from the 2-yard line with 1:57 to play, capping a 97-yard drive that helped the Raiders rally after blowing a 17-point lead.

PITTSBURGH – Mason Rudolph splattered his name all over the Oklahoma State record book by cocking his right arm back and seeing just how far he could let it fly. It led to lots of wins and lots of yards and, somehow, a fair amount of complaints.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Pirates have fired pitching coach Ray Searage and bench coach Tom Prince.

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP – The Pittsburgh Penguins began the franchise’s longest offseason in more than a decade with general manager Jim Rutherford talking about the need for its stars to get past the complacency he feared had crept in during consecutive Stanley Cup title runs in 2016 and 2017. H…

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Baltimore coach John Harbaugh shared a message that was passed along to young Ravens about the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

Jon Gruden tried retrofitting the Raiders into their renegade, rabble-rousing best for one final season in Oakland.

Mason Rudolph threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns to pick up his first victory while filling in for Ben Roethlisberger as the Pittsburgh Steelers easily handled the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3 on Monday night.

PITTSBURGH — Clint Hurdle’s booming voice and unrelenting optimism helped shake the Pittsburgh Pirates out of two decades of misery. His charisma gave the moribund franchise an identity, one that reconnected the club with a fan base worn down by a generation of losing.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The familiar faces that fueled the hostility between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals are gone.

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Steelers no longer have an Antonio Brown problem.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The freefalling Chicago Cubs committed five errors, including two in a seven-run seventh inning, and moved to the brink of elimination with a 9-2 defeat to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night that extended their losing streak to seven.

PITTSBURGH – Mason Rudolph’s career as an NFL starting quarterback is six quarters old.

PITTSBURGH – Evgeni Malkin was talking about himself. The longtime Pittsburgh Penguins center might as well have been talking about his team.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The San Francisco 49ers gave away everything but the game.

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs won a showdown between two of the NFL’s top offenses.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a tiebreaking double in the ninth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals clinched a playoff spot by rallying past the Chicago Cubs 3-2 on Sunday for their first four-game sweep at Wrigley Field in almost a century.