Category Uncategorized

Less than two years after hoisting the World Series trophy, the Rangers and Bruce Bochy have "mutually agreed to end his managerial tenure with the organization," the team announced Monday. The Rangers also announced that they have offered Bochy a role in the front office in an advisory capacity.

The Rangers join the Giants and Twins as teams who parted ways with their managers on Monday after the conclusion of the 2025 regular season.

Bochy came out of retirement after the 2022 season to become the manager of the Rangers. In his first season with Texas in 2023, he led them to a 90-72 record and their franchise's first World Series victory. After the Rangers failed to make the playoffs in either of the last two seasons, they have decided to search for a new manager.

Bochy has been an MLB manager for 28 seasons with the Rangers, Padres and Giants. He's led every team he's managed to a World Series appearance, won four World Series, and has compiled a 2,252-2,266 (.498) career record.

Though offered a role in the Rangers' front office, the 70-year-old manager could be a contender for other vacancies, including the Giants, his old team. Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who played under Bochy in San Francisco simply said Monday, "I don’t know what his status is yet. I haven’t heard, so I can’t speak to that.”

Florian Wirtz has been compared to Luka Modric, with Liverpool's struggling £116m signing being backed to silence his doubters just as the former Real Madrid midfielder did. Wirtz was considered one of the brightest midfield talents in the world at Bayer Leverkusen, but the Germany international has experienced a major dip in form since moving to the Premier League.

• Wirtz's underwhelming start to Anfield journey

  Liverpool spent a whopping £116 million ($154m) to sign Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen during the summer transfer window. The talented German midfielder had also attracted interest from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and Manchester City, but he opted to join the Premier League champions.

  Anfield fans were very excited at the time of Wirtz's arrival as they expected fireworks on the pitch from a world-class talent, but the 22-year-old has failed to live up to his potential and has been a disappointment at the start of the 2025-26 campaign. The Germany international has faced fierce criticism in England, but it has not affected the midfielder or his family, as his father Hanz recently told : "My thought from the very beginning was to wait and see how the first ten league games went," he said. "We and Florian are perfectly happy with that. The incredible speed, the back and forth, that was very impressive for the first few games. The distances covered and the speed were significantly greater. The style of play is sometimes enormously different because it doesn't seem as organised, but rather more focused on pace."

Advertisement

• Getty Images
  

  Wirtz compared to Modric

  Amid all the negative chatter around Wirtz's performances, former Premier League star David Bentley has come to the midfielder's defence while drawing a comparison to Real Madrid and Croatia legend Luka Modric. When Modric initially arrived at Tottenham Hotspur, he was initially panned by critics, however, the Croatian eventually went on to establish himself as one of the greatest footballers of all time, winning the Ballon d'Or in 2018.

  Speaking to , ex-Spurs winger Bentley said: "He is an unbelievable player, so talented, fans and pundits have to stick by him. Yes he’s exactly the same [as Modric]. When Modric came through the door, he was exactly the same in the way he receives the ball, scans, he knows what he is doing. He was an unbelievably technically gifted player, and both can set the tone and tempo of a football match, so you have to stick with him."

• Nagelsmann defends Reds star

  Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann has also backed Wirtz during this difficult period of his career. He even aimed a dig at the Liverpool attackers for failing to convert the chances Wirtz has been creating. Speaking to reporters, the Germany boss said: "Liverpool could also help him out by scoring some of the chances he creates. They somehow don't like to shoot the ball in. To be honest, the overall situation doesn't make it easy for Flo either. The whole club isn't as stable this year as it was last year. It's much harder to slip into the team now. If you look at the game against [Manchester] City, they were actually the worse team over the 90 minutes. So it's also difficult for Flo to make a big impact. Ultimately, the overall situation is such that he just needs a little more time, which is normal; you see that with other players who move to the Premier League too. 

  "We all know what he's capable of, and it's perfectly normal for a player of his age to go through a bit of a dip in form. We can't expect him to perform at the same level for three years straight. Instead, we all need to support him a little bit so that he can clear his head here, and then maybe Liverpool could also help him out by scoring some of the chances he creates. That would be one idea, because he does not create few chances, it's just that… they somehow don't like to shoot the ball in, that's also part of the truth."

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Wirtz eyes comeback with Germany

  Wirtz has made it into the Germany squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifying matches despite his poor club form. The former Leverkusen star will hope to make the most of the chances he gets during the international break to help Germany secure a World Cup berth and regain his form before returning to Anfield later this month. Germany are scheduled to take on Luxembourg on November 14, before facing Slovakia three days later.

Leeds United moved out of the relegation zone in the Premier League this week with an impressive 3-1 win over Chelsea at Elland Road on Wednesday night, in a game that was underpinned by Daniel Farke’s structural changes.

The German head coach, who has typically deployed a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 formation during his time at the club, opted to start with a 3-5-2 system against Enzo Maresca’s team.

It worked wonders for the Whites as they went on to claim all three points, thanks to goals from Jaka Bijol, Ao Tanaka, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Why Leeds United's formation change worked so well

Changing from a 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 worked so well for the Whites because it allowed Jayden Bogle, who assisted the second goal, and Gabriel Gudmundsson to push higher up the pitch with three centre-backs providing enough cover defensively.

It also meant that the Whites could play with two strikers, instead of leaving one isolated on their own, and that led to Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha causing plenty of problems.

The two centre-forwards combined to win 13 duels against the Chelsea defenders and won four fouls, without committing any, per Sofascore, which shows that they were a nightmare to deal with throughout the game.

Nmecha, in particular, has benefitted from having Calvert-Lewin’s physicality alongside him. The German forward, who has scored four Premier League goals, has lost 69% of his ground duels this season, per Sofascore, which shows that he struggles with the physical side of leading the line on his own.

Having another, more physical, striker alongside him means that he can focus on making runs in behind and pressing opposition defenders, which is what makes it such an effective pairing, or at least what made it so effective against Chelsea.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

Whilst Nmecha and Calvert-Lewin got the job done on Wednesday, Harry Gray could be perfect for the new role that Nmecha is now playing for Leeds.

Why Harry Gray should be unleashed in Lukas Nmecha's new role

Bringing young players into the first-team is difficult in any circumstance, but even more so in the Premier League with all that is at stake in a relegation battle.

Academy talents are not used to the physicality of professional football and may need time to adapt, particularly strikers, which is why this new role that Nmecha has could be perfect for Gray.

Farke must finally unleash the 17-year-old centre-forward for his Premier League debut in the coming weeks because playing alongside an experienced striker like Calvert-Lewin could be an ideal introduction to regular football at senior level.

Gray, who was described as the club’s “newest Wonderkid” by talent scout Jacek Kulig and his contributor Joe Blackburn, has scored a whopping ten goals in 11 games in all competitions for the academy this season, per Transfermarkt.

Appearances

3

Goals

2

Conversion rate

50%

Assists

1

Dribbles completed per game

2.0

Ground duel success rate

52%

Aerial duel success rate

38%

As you can see in the table above, the teenage forward has scored two goals in three EFL Trophy games, playing against League One and League Two sides, but has struggled with the aerial duels in those games.

This suggests that he would not be well-suited to playing as a lone striker in the Premier League for Leeds, as he would need to duel with towering top-flight centre-backs and hold the ball up under intense pressure, which is also where Nmecha struggled earlier this season.

Therefore, playing alongside Calvert-Lewin, who won six of his nine aerial duels against Chelsea (Sofascore), could be the perfect way for him to be introduced into the first-team this season.

Gray’s return of 14 goals in 20 U21s games and eight goals in 11 U18s matches for Leeds, per Transfermarkt, shows that he has the technical and goalscoring qualities to potentially make an impact for the Whites, but it is the physicality that is questionable.

Leeds now prioritising £35m move to sign South American defender ahead of Juventus

He’d be one of their most expensive arrivals.

ByTom Cunningham 7 days ago

This change in formation from Farke, though, may alleviate those concerns because of how the two-striker system works, and that is why the manager should unleash the teen sensation in Nmecha’s role in the coming weeks.

The final weekend of the 2025 MLB season is upon us, and there is still a lot to play for. Eight teams have secured playoff spots, while eight remain alive fighting for the final two spots.

In addition to the teams desperately trying to punch their tickets to the postseason, two American League division races remain undecided. With all that in mind we’ve ranked the top five series of the season’s final weekend.

1. Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox will host the Tigers in the final weekend’s most important series. The two teams currently hold the AL’s final wild card spots, and Detroit is still in contention for the AL Central. The Tigers’ collapse has been stunning. They led the division by 14 games on July 8, and were ahead of the Guardians by 15 1/2. They also led Cleveland by 10 1/2 games on September 1 and 9 1/2 on September 10. Now they’re tied atop the division. Detroit also leads the Astros by just one game for the AL’s final wild card spot, so there’s a chance they miss the postseason completely.

While the Yankees and Blue Jays are tied atop the AL East, Boston is sitting in a solid position, with a magic number of one. The Red Sox appear locked into the second wild-card spot, which means they’ll be traveling to face New York, Toronto, Cleveland or Detroit in the opening round. It will be Boston’s first postseason berth since 2021.

2. New York Mets at Miami Marlins

The Mets have been a mess for two months, but still have the final playoff spot in the NL cornered. While Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso have done their best to lift the Mets to the playoffs, the team’s pitching staff has utterly disintegrated. They’ll need to perform this weekend to clinch a spot.

New York will travel to Miami to face a plucky Marlins team that wasn’t eliminated until Thursday afternoon. The Fish look like a squad that could be a dangerous next season, led by Kyle Stowers and rookie Jakob Marsee. They’ll do their best to play spoilers this weekend.

3. Los Angeles Dodgers at Seatte Mariners

Led by Cal Raleigh's incredible season, the Mariners have clinched their first AL West title since 2001. Now they’ve turned their attention to earning the American League’s top seed. Seattle sits one game behind the Blue Jays and Yankees for the No. 1 spot in the AL heading into the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers have clinched the NL West and are locked into the No. 3 seed. They don’t have much to play for besides lining everything up for the opening round, where they will host a wild-card series. Still, given how awful their bullpen has been over the past few months, getting some guys work and trying to get them in rhythm for the postseason could be vitally important.

4. Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres

The Diamondbacks are still battling for a playoff spot heading into the final series of the year, which is something once thought to be highly improbable when they sold heavily at the trade deadline. Arizona is only one game behind the Mets for the final wild card spot and continues to battle elbows out with New York and Cincinnati to get into the big dance.

Meanwhile, the Padres still have an outside shot at hosting a wild-card series in the opening round. San Diego trails the Cubs by two games and holds the tiebreaker over Chicago. If the Friars win out and the Cubs falter, Petco Park would get first-round home games. It would be a huge advantage for San Diego, which is 49–29 at home this season. If the Padres can't do it, they’ll head to Wrigley to open the postseason. Either way, the Padres and Cubs will face each other in the postseason for the first time since 1984.

5. St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

As mentioned above, the Cubs are in the postseason, but are fighting the Padres to see who will host their rematch of the 1984 NLCS. Chicago has stumbled down the stretch and now sits two games above the Friars for the top wild-card spot. This weekend, the Cubs will face their archrival, who would love to spoil the party.

St. Louis is stumbling to the finish line of a disappointing season. The Cardinals were 51–46 at the All-Star break and in the thick of the wild card race. They'll enter the weekend 78–81 with a -48 run differential. While the Red Birds don't have postseason aspirations at this point, they can make things very uncomfortable for their friends in Chicago.

When the Blue Jays signed All-Star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a 14-year, $500 million contract extension in April, the news was met with some mixed responses from the general baseball public.

Here was a homegrown star, a born Canadian who, with just one year left until free agency and after a lengthy and at times testy negotiation process, was pledging to spend the rest of his career in Toronto. For an MVP-caliber player entering his age-26 season, it was the kind of day that organizations dream about.

Except there was a way to view the decision as a desperation move, one made by a gambler who’s barely hanging onto their seat at the table deciding to push a dwindling chip stack all in. The Jays were coming off of a last-place finish that followed three playoff runs in four years, each ending with a wild-card round sweep. To some (including a certain writer), the organization’s contention window was closing, if not already shut. In gambling parlance, this was throwing good money after bad.

Four-plus months into the 2025 season, and it appears that Toronto’s big bet is paying off.

Entering play on Wednesday, the Blue Jays have the best record in the American League. Playoff odds that began at 40% on Opening Day, per FanGraphs, have soared to 98.7%. Barring a horrible collapse, Toronto will be alive and well in October, and has a good chance of earning a spot directly into the division series.

Beyond simply pledging half a billion dollars to Guerrero, the path to where the Blue Jays currently find themselves is paved with even more gambles on in-house talent returning to form and fueling Toronto’s surge.

For years, the Blue Jays have far too often (for their fans’ liking, at least) played the role of bridesmaid rather than bride. Highly publicized free agent chases of Shohei Ohtani (a private plane ride from California to Toronto carrying Canadian businessman Robert Herjavec of fame caused international confusion) and Juan Soto (agent Scott Boras said Toronto impressed the now-Met with a “great offer”) came up empty, as did bids at landing Corbin Burnes and Teoscar Hernández.

Toronto was looking high and low for reinforcements, but the big fish the organization chased weren’t biting.

And the ones that did end up joining the Blue Jays haven’t panned out as hoped. Anthony Santander, who inked a five-year, $92.5 million deal in January, managed a .179 average in 50 games before landing on the injured list. Closer Jeff Hoffman signed for $33 million, and has so far posted a 4.41 ERA with five blown saves. All-Star second baseman Andrés Giménez, acquired in a December trade from the Guardians, has battled injuries amid his worst offensive season (74 OPS+ in 62 games).

Instead of the cavalry coming to save the day, it’s been improvements from players already on the roster that have spurred the Blue Jays’ climb.

That list starts with shortstop Bo Bichette, a two-time All-Star who seemed to pair perfectly with Guerrero as the young faces of the franchise. From 2021 to ‘23, Bichette twice led the AL in hits and posted a 124 OPS+. An injury-marred ‘24 campaign saw his production fall off a cliff as he managed to play in just 81 games, and there was serious doubt as to whether he could rediscover his form.

Bichette has bounced back by cutting down his swing-and-miss, posting the lowest strikeout rate (14.9%) of his career without sacrificing hard contact. His barrel rate (8.6%) has nearly doubled from last year, and is back to near his career average. A free agent after this season, Bichette has greatly improved his financial prospects to the point that it’s possible Toronto could be priced out, but that’s a problem for another time. For now, the 27-year-old is playing a critical role in jumpstarting the Blue Jays’ title hopes.

Another standout has been George Springer, who once upon a time was the big-ticket free agent Toronto was actually able to sign. Springer joined the Blue Jays in 2021 on a six-year, $150 million contract that at the time was the largest in team history. After two productive years, Springer began to show his warts in ‘23, and the decline steepened to the tune of a .220/.303/.371 slash line in ‘24.

Against all odds, the 35-year-old has turned back the clock this season, putting up his best OPS+ (144) since 2019. He’s revitalized his production from the batter’s box by using his experience to his advantage, posting the lowest chase rate (20.6%) of his career. By laying off pitches outside the zone, he’s making pitchers come to him, and doing damage when he decides to let it rip. Springer ranks eighth among 300 qualified hitters in run value against pitches swung at in the heart of the strike zone, per StatCast.

The cast of resurgent Jays goes on. Alejandro Kirk is hitting .297 with a 110 OPS+ after posting .251 and 93 marks, respectively, over the previous two years. Daulton Varsho, who’s missed most of the year with shoulder and hamstring injuries, has played just 32 games but is healthy now and mashing, with 12 home runs and a 141 OPS+. Addison Barger, who batted .197 in his 69-game rookie season last year, has emerged to provide middle-of-the-order thump, slugging 18 home runs in 96 games with a 122 OPS+.

Toronto’s trade deadline moves reflected a team that’s moved on from the old boom-or-bust approach, with savvy acquisitions to bolster both the starting rotation and bullpen. The biggest of them was the trade for 2020 Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, who’s nearly ready to return after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Seranthony Dominguez and Louis Varland are two flame-throwers brought on to help fortify the back end of the bullpen and provide manager John Schneider with more options come October, when fire-extinguishing relief pitchers become even more valuable.

In chasing the big names in recent years, Toronto has often left itself frustrated and empty handed. But by banking on a core that many had lost hope for, the Blue Jays might have just hit the jackpot after many had already counted them out.

أصدر نادي برشلونة بيانًا بشأن أزمة دخول الجماهير لملعب كامب نو قبل لقاء ديبورتيفو ألافيس، المقرر إقامتها عقب دقائق ضمن منافسات الدوري الإسباني.

ويستضيف فريق برشلونة نظيره ديبورتيفو ألافيس، مساء اليوم السبت، وذلك في إطار منافسات بطولة الدوري الإسباني لكرة القدم.

مباراة برشلونة وألافيس تأتي ضمن منافسات الجولة الرابعة عشر من بطولة الدوري الإسباني موسم 2025/2026 على ملعب “كامب نو”.

ويحتل برشلونة في الوقت الحالي، المركز الثاني في جدول الدوري الإسباني برصيد 31 نقطة، على بعُد نقطة واحدة من ريال مدريد المتصدر في حين أن ألافيس يمتلك 15 نقطة ويحتل المركز الرابع عشر.

وواجه جمهور برشلونة أزمة في دخول ملعب اللقاء بسبب وجود مشكلة في استلام التذاكر من التطبيق الخاص بها.

اقرأ أيضًا | بديل ليفاندوفسكي.. عامل إضافي قد يقرب برشلونة من ضم نجم الدوري الألماني

وأصدر برشلونة بيانًا جاء على النحو التالي: “كانت هناك مشكلة في تنزيل بعض التذاكر من تطبيق الأعضاء، تم حل المشكلة الآن بإرسال ملف PDF جديد مع تذاكر جميع الأعضاء الذين لديهم تذاكر لمباراة اليوم ضد ألافيس”.

وأتم البيان: “هذا يضمن إمكانية وصول الجميع إلى مدرجات كامب نو على Spotify دون أي مشاكل”.

وفقًا لصحيفة “موندو ديبورتيفو” تم فتح ست نوافذ لتزويد الجمهور بتذاكر ورقية بصيغة PDF بعد تحديد رقم عضويتهم وجهاز تحديد أماكن التذاكر، طوابير الانتظار طويلة جدًا بسبب استمرار المشكلة، الأعضاء الذين وصلوا إلى ملعب كامب نو قبل المباراة بساعة ولم يتمكنوا من الوصول إلى مقاعدهم، ينتظرون منذ حوالي 40 دقيقة.

S’ha produït una incidència en la descàrrega d’algunes entrades a l’aplicació de socis. El problema ja ha quedat resolt amb l’enviament, a tots els socis i sòcies amb localitat per al partit d’avui davant l’Alabès, d’un nou PDF amb les seves entrades. Així, garantim que tothom… — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) November 29, 2025

After England’s dramatic two-day capitulation to start the 2025-26 Ashes, Alan Gardner hears from Vish Ehantharajah and Alex Malcolm about what went down in Perth

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2025After all the talk, time for a speed walk. The 2025-26 Ashes got underway in rip-roaring style, as Australia overturned a first-innings deficit to win by eight wickets in Perth, thanks to Travis Head’s century for the ages. Can England fight back from 1-0 down? On Switch, Alan Gardner was joined by Vithushan Ehantharajah and Alex Malcolm to consider that question and more. Will Head continue to open? How did England squander their advantage? And should we start worrying about Joe Root? Also under consideration was Mitchell Starc’s greatness and what’s in store for Brisbane.