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5 things I care aboutThe Eagles: A case of "Trust WR talent"

I owe so many prayers of forgiveness at Wide Receiver Church for not trusting talent when it came to ranking A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in fantasy. Those guys are stars; Reception Perception has verified it over and over through the years.

I had Brown right around WR12-13 all summer, despite knowing hes a top-five talent at the position. Few receivers get open against man and press coverage at a higher rate than Brown. Hes a dominant force at the catch point and a human highlight reel in the open field. He checks all the boxes of an alpha receiver. Its clear hes changed the entire trajectory of the Eagles' offense from the moment he arrived.

I absolutely buried Smith in rankings. I need some extra prayers to forgive myself for that one.

Ive been a huge Smith backer from the beginning. Size be damned, he gets pristine separation at all levels. He gives a quarterback layup targets with his ability to quickly win off the line and chunk gains with his downfield route-running. Hes a star in his own right. Brown is an alpha but Smith is at worst a 1B receiver.

The best part about this pairing was how well these two complement each other from a strengths standpoint. It was an ideal tandem and even though I knew it, my rankings didnt reflect it.

There were questions about this offense. Concerns about the potential rushing volume and how high of a ceiling Hurts could reach. I wish I had just ignored them and trusted the talent.

Week 6 was a reminder of what this duo can do even when Hurts isnt firing at his best from start to finish. They only combined for 111 yards on 10 catches but their impacts were huge. Brown averaged 11.2 yards after the catch per reception and his touchdown was a make a play for his quarterback type of deal. Smith presented himself as a layup target by slipping past the defense on his second-half touchdown.

The Eagles are winning games because of this tandem. If we don't already, we will soon regard them as a clear top-five wide receiver duo.

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I wish I had used my imagination a bit more prior to the season when it came to the other factors around them.

The Buffalo Bills got a much-desired win over the Chiefs on the road and it came in a fashion familiar for their offense at this point. They have a formula and it works.

When everyone is healthy, the Bills passing game features Stefon Diggs heavily, sprinkles in Gabe Davis down the field and highlights Devin Singletary exclusively in the running game. When they need it, a bit player can step up, too.

It was Dawson Knox this week on the game-winning touchdown.

Diggs has been fantastic this season. He has a 29%-plus target share in all but two games this season. He's been a volume hog no matter the circumstances or who else is playing around him and he's producing. The veteran receiver has four games over 100 yards. He's been one of the best players overall in football this year.

Diggs wasn't a big factor in the playoff barn-burner between these two teams last season. He was the engine of the passing game in this week's win.

Davis might never be a big target-getter he was targeted on just 14% of his routes against Kansas City but that's fine. He's not a volume receiver. You don't funnel an offense through a player like Davis, you do that with a guy like Diggs. But when they do call his number, it's usually down the field and it's almost always a game-changing play.

Davis might be one of the premier downfield receivers in the NFL right now and pairing that with Josh Allen at quarterback is football bliss. Accept and love Davis for what he is, because he's a huge factor in the Bills' offense reaching its ceiling.

Gabe Davis had another big fantasy day in Week 6. (Photo by Jason Hanna/Getty Images)

My podcast partner Scott Pianowski has a theory that the weeks to use Singletary in fantasy is not in the easy wins, it's the weeks the Bills are going to play a close, competitive game. Weeks like this one give it credence. The Bills made Zach Moss a healthy scratch and played Singletary on 87.5% of the snaps. He responded, handling 21 touches for 107 total yards. He gained five-plus yards on 59% of his runs.

The Bills offense is dynamic yet rather predictable. Other players will have their weeks but those aforementioned three are Allen's core guys. You can argue the game turned in Buffalo's favor when they cut other guys out and began to hammer Diggs, Davis and Singletary leading up to Knox's game-winner. It should be that big three carrying the load going forward.

Potency and predictability. That's about as good a setup as you'll find.

Matt Ryan had been driven into the dirt repeatedly to start the season, but he wasnt sacked a single time against the Jaguars in Week 6. A ton of their receivers went off as Ryan threw for almost 400 yards. Thats not a coincidence.

The Colts made some changes, like starting Matt Pryor at guard, but a play-calling shift might have been the biggest reason they flipped the script:

Ryan got rid of the ball in fewer than 2.4 seconds and picked the Jaguars apart underneath. Number-one receiver Michael Pittman caught 13 of 16 targets and went for over 130 yards. There may have been some pretty unwarranted Pittman concerns out there. No need for those anymore. Rookie receiver Alec Pierce made another spectacular contested catch for the game-winning touchdown. Even Parris Campbell made his way into the end zone. This team has legitimate receiving talent.

Nyheim Hines had a quote earlier this season about how difficult it was to annually transition to a new quarterback because, essentially, every September turns into a discovery mission. Have the Colts finally found the style of offense they need to play with Ryan? Perhaps. Theyll need to integrate Jonathan Taylor into that style of attack but that shouldnt be an issue. This game may go down as an inflection point in the Colts season.

Seahawks rookie Ken Walker was the seventh highest-scoring fantasy running back this week heading into Sunday Night Football. He looked the part:

Walker handled 70% of the Seahawks team rush attempts but that doesnt really show how much of a workhorse he was. Walker handled 21 carries, Geno Smith had six, RB2 DeeJay Dallas had two and the punter had one. Walker also caught a pair of passes.

Walkers Week 6 usage looked like a feature back and so did his game tape.

Hes such a gifted, smooth runner. He averaged 4.23 yards after contact per rush and gained five-plus yards on 19% of his carries. The big plays were there, as was the sustaining element of the ground game.

Walker could rise up the running back ranks quickly and even challenge for Offensive Rookie of the Year. If the Seahawks keep winning, hell stay in the national discourse. His presence on the highlight reel and in the top-15 weekly ranks among fantasy running backs will also help his cause.

The injury bug doesnt just bite the 49ers, it absolutely eats them alive on an annual basis. San Francisco already entered Week 6 with a long injury list and then proceeded to suffer more major losses during the game:

If this defense crumbles under the weight of injuries, itll be an absolute shame. The 49ers stop unit was a treat to watch in the early part of 2022. They flew around, played aggressively and wrecked games on their own.

If there is a silver lining and its no solace to 49ers fans but a depleted team might end up giving us the best volume projections for their passing game players. Brandon Aiyuk had a massive breakout game and he split 30-plus combined targets with Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. That never came close to happening in any game this year before this one.

That trio could put up some huge games in the right offense. We will never get the real version of that offense with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback but we might get the volume-inflated, funhouse-mirror version of it if this defense falls apart.

Great backup quarterbacks can do more than keep the ship from sinking. They can highlight the talent on the roster and cause the play-caller to find new wrinkles in the playbook.

Cooper Rush did just that during his run as a starter but only that. The wins and wild stats were going to come to an end at some point. He ran into an excellent Eagles team and reality was laid bare: Rush is a good backup quarterback but pretending hes building anything more than a solid stretch as the fill-in QB was always silly.

Rush turned the ball over three times against the Eagles. They were primarily unforced errors. He finished Sunday as the 20th-ranked quarterback in EPA per dropback. Thats going to happen with backup quarterbacks against superior competition.

His run as the starter has likely come to an end, as it always was destined to end. Dak Prescott will be back and is the type of talent to elevate this team but he doesnt have to do too much. Rush keeping the seat warm reminded us what a comfortable chair the quarterback of this team gets to occupy.

Kellen Moore and the offensive coaching staff gave Rush more easy buttons to press than they usually do for Prescott. The play action rates were up, there were more screens and layup targets and when the defense was winning the day, they had no problem leaning on the running game. They looked for explosive plays from Tony Pollard more than in years past, probably because they knew a backup quarterback wasnt going to provide them as regularly. They had to get creative.

Rush revealed they had the talent to play in multiple ways and win while doing it. Hopefully Moore and co. remember those easy buttons when Dak is back. Just because the quarterback can do the hard stuff doesnt mean you have to make him do it all the time. Rush shined a light on the best version of this team.

Again, thats what backup quarterbacks are supposed to do. No further controversy is needed.

The flock of vultures trying to pick off the few good players on the Panthers roster following the Matt Rhule firing was already annoying me. As if the Panthers were going to start shipping off guys like DJ Moore when they just signed him to a mega contract simply to make your fantasy teams happy. Be realistic.

However, receiver Robbie Anderson did make some sense as a guy to move on from. But the idea that teams were just going to be lining up to get this guy on their team already looked silly, but it looks downright dumb after today:

Anderson was later sent to the locker room by interim head coach Steve Wilks following a stretch where he sat alone on the sideline without his helmet. Its over for Anderson in Carolina but I dont see another team rushing to fork over draft capital to acquire him.

Obviously, this isnt Andersons first personality-related flare-up. So, thats one strike. Then theres his play. Hes been a solid starting receiver during his best years and hes neither sustained that level of play nor shown it anytime recently. Strike two. Then there's his oversized contract. Strike three.

Anderson doesnt have a future in Carolina but I think hes more likely to get cut than traded. Not worth it.

It felt like we saw a lot of Kenyan Drake last Sunday night. It was an ominous sign considering J.K. Dobbins was running well against the Bengals and Drake had been a healthy scratch the week prior.

If you were concerned about it last week, your alarm bells are fully firing now after Drake handled 41.7% of the team rush attempts and recorded 119 total yards. Meanwhile, Dobbins ran just seven times for 15 yards.

I wondered last week if Drakes bump in usage had anything to do with a re-aggravation of Dobbins complicated knee injury. We didnt get anything about that from the team then, but we did this on Sunday:

Its now officially in the range of outcomes for Dobbins to get taken out of any game. His path to recovery was not clear or linear. Dobbins had additional damage beyond just the torn ACL and it was a long process to get him back to game-ready form. Continued troubles arent all that shocking, albeit very unfortunate.

At this point, you cant trust any sort of projections with Dobbins. The floor is lower than you imagine.

There was always more to Allen Robinsons ultra-slow start to the season than his own individual play. He missed some opportunities but he is absolutely not washed. Folks were just carrying over on their box score analysis from his final year in Chicago. He can still play.

Robinson is still a really good route runner who gets open in tight spaces. He doesnt have the deep separation chops he once did but he can win in contested situations. The Rams finally gave him some looks in tight coverage and he rewarded their faith.

Robinson also came down with a touchdown on a fade route and ran another gorgeous route when he was put in pre-snap motion for a 22-yard catch. The latter was the type of position the Rams werent highlighting him in the first month of the season. Their offense is better when hes deployed this way and compliments Cooper Kupp.

The offensive line is going to be an issue but at least the upcoming bye week arrives at the right time. Hopefully, the line is refortified and deep threat Van Jefferson returns.

Robinson can still play, get open and be a reliable target for the Rams offense. Please dont send me any silly target separation stats.

Watch the games. Im begging you. Theyre fun.

The Jets have a too many good players problem. This is only an issue for fantasy football managers, not the 4-2 New York Jets.

One of the bigger catalysts for the Jets' 2022 improvement has been the defense catching fire. New York is a top-eight defense in EPA per play allowed since Week 4. Rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner has been electric and Quinnen Williams has made a sizable impact on a weekly basis.

Another primary factor has been the emergence of Breece Hall as one of the games most explosive running backs. The rookie has ripped off huge plays in back-to-back weeks in both the run and pass games. He looks like the type of identity-creating player a team will build its offense around.

That leaves the passing game to pick up the scraps. Unfortunately, since Zach Wilson took over the offense, it's been just that: Scraps. And there are still too many good players at that position to split up those scraps.

Both Elijah Moore and Garrett Wilson are electric talents but both ran a route on fewer than 70% of the dropbacks against the Packers. Veteran Corey Davis looks like the top receiver on the team and hes still a good player; hes not going away. Braxton Berrios and Tyler Conklin have roles as bit players. Theres just not enough passing volume here to go around.

Im not closing the book on Wilson at all, so dont take any of this that way. The Jets just arent winning because of him right now. He isnt asked to be the rising tide to lift all boats for this quietly loaded offense. The Jets dont need him to be that to win football games but that leaves all these wide receivers as impossible fantasy projections until something changes.

The Jets dont care.

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Fantasy Football Week 6 Care/Don't Care: Eagles WRs prove you have to trust talent over everything - Yahoo Sports

Nike (NKE) stock has been hammered over the past year, but one analyst thinks that the sneaker giant's inventory troubles could be receding.

"We are in the beginning of a sneaker supercycle," Omar Saad, managing director at Evercore ISI said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "People are wearing sneakers more. They're wearing through sneakers more. Their feet are absolutely used to the comfort that sneakers and other comfortable footwear bring during COVID and are hesitant to go back to uncomfortable dress shoes on a daily basis just for special occasions."

And according to Saad, Nike "is the best-positioned company to take advantage of this massive sneaker supercycle."

Over the last two decades, Nike stock has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 and has been a bellwether of sorts for the retail industry. However, shares of the apparel giant have plunged 45% year to date, badly lagging the 21% decline in the S&P.

While a demand boost could give Nike a needed lift, it remains to be seen if it can outweigh the supply pressures from the inventory-riddled retail industry.

"We think there's gonna be a really, really tough holiday [season], and part of this is really about the forward 2023 purchasing behavior in the wholesale channel," Adrienne Yih, managing director at Barclays, told Yahoo Finance. "Nike still has about 55% in the wholesale channel even though they're making great strides in moving to [direct-to-consumer]. So that's sort of the crux of kind of the near to medium term."

Stylist Jada Adkins, is seen wearing black and white Nike SB Dunks on April 21, 2021, in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

Nike's performance this holiday season may rest in the hands of its biggest household names. The latest shoe from LeBron James's signature collection, the LeBron XX, is expected to be released just before the start of the NBA season. And in December, a cyclical blitz of Jordan brand retro products is set to drop, which has led fans to brave cold weather and camp outside stores in years past.

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Beyond inventory calculus, sneaker brands have been navigating a faltering reopening in China, a key region contributing to sales growth.

Nike sales in Greater China missed estimates in the latest quarter as COVID-19 lockdowns continued to weigh on the business.

"In Q4, revenue declined 20% on a currency-neutral basis and EBIT declined 55% on a reported basis," Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said in the Q4 earnings call in June. "This follows the region's most widespread COVID disruption since 2020, impacting over 100 cities and over 60% of our business."

Workers install a Nike logo lamp outside the Wukesong Arena in Beijing, China August 28, 2019. Picture taken August 28, 2019. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

The revenue decline could be 'a short- to medium-term COVID transitory issue,' Yih said, but it also could be early evidence of a consumer preference for domestic brands in China.

Nike and other brands targeting expansion in China, such as Adidas (ADDYY), Under Armour (UA), and Lululemon (LULU), have faced greater competition from domestic brands such as Li-Ning and Anta, which have experienced revenue growth and increasing market share.

"If you look at their first-half yearly numbers, Li-Ning was up 22%," Yih said. "Anta was taking share of 14% in the market. You compare that to Adidas, down 35%, and then, for the first half of the year that we know of, from Nike, down 12%. And so we think that this is a very sort of uncertain time period."

Brad Smith is an anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @thebradsmith.

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Nike analyst: 'We are in the beginning of a sneaker supercycle' - Yahoo Finance

The 2022 MLB season is advancing into a brave new world, a 12-team postseason bracket that will decide a champion over the next month. And it's going to get real fast. The new best-of-three wild-card series begin Friday and will be decided by Sunday at the latest. The burst of high-stakes baseball pits eight teams against each other Guardians-Rays, Cardinals-Phillies, Blue Jays-Mariners, Mets-Padres for the right to advance.

The favorites they would face in the next round are familiar the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees hold the top seeds. But certainly some of these challengers have designs on toppling baseball's existing world order.

[Here's the full TV schedule for the MLB postseason]

First, they have to get through this weekend. And that's looking daunting for several top seeds.

There was a dominant, big-ticket ace in his late 30s on the mound in New York Friday. But it wasn't Max Scherzer. Padres maestro Yu Darvish stymied the favored Mets for 7 innings as the San Diego bats repeatedly left the yard. Scherzer left under a downpour of Citi Field boos after allowing a career postseason-worst four homers and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Scherzer called the loss one of the "lowest of lows" that the game of baseball can offer. Having managed an oblique injury for much of the season, he said he felt fine physically during the start. Scherzer said his fastball was running, or flat, meaning it didn't have the usual "rising" movement that he usually uses to miss bats.

After 101 regular season wins, the Mets are on the brink of elimination at the hands of the Padres. Jacob deGrom is now likely to take the mound with the Mets' season a magical one until about two weeks ago riding on his performance.

New York will have to hope it diverges from Scherzer's uncharacteristically disastrous outing. Josh Bell, Trent Grisham, Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado took the three-time Cy Young winner deep, with the three loudest blasts coming off Scherzer's fastball.

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Only Eduardo Escobar got to Darvish, carrying his torrid September into October. Darvish struck out four and scattered six hits, allowing one run on Escobar's solo homer. The 36-year-old righty with an unparalleled barrage of pitches has now thrown 21 innings against the Mets in 2022, allowing a total of two runs and one walk while striking out 19.

While deGrom will be under the microscope, the Padres will enter Game 2 with the hotter starting pitcher. Lefty Blake Snell has a 2.19 ERA in 14 starts since the All-Star break, and a sparkling 0.72 ERA over his last four starts. After a blistering return to action this summer, deGrom has wobbled to a 6.00 ERA in his last four starts.

The Mariners will welcome themselves back to the postseason, thank you very much. The club that ended a 21-year October drought came out swinging against their higher-seeded hosts, the Blue Jays. Led by Cal Raleigh's two-run homer, they put up three runs in the top of the first inning, then handed the ball to Luis Castillo.

That turned out to be plenty.

The dynamic ace, acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in a trade deadline blockbuster, blitzed the Blue Jays' stellar lineup. He struck out five, allowed only six hits and felt thoroughly in control. Hard-throwing reliever Andrs Muoz cruised through the final five outs to give Seattle its first postseason win since Game 3 of the 2001 ALCS.

Having defeated Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah, the Mariners will go into Game 2 with a chance to advance to the ALDS against the Astros. Saturday's matchup will pit Mariners starter Robbie Ray against his former club and Kevin Gausman, the starter signed to an almost identical contract this winter to take his place.

Entering the ninth inning in St. Louis, it looked like a Cardinals rookie's first big postseason moment would be the decisive blow in a Game 1 pitcher's duel. By the end, 10 Phillies had batted, the Cardinals bullpen had melted down, and 11th year player Jean Segura was the hero in his first postseason game.

After Phillies starter Zack Wheeler (6 1/3 innings) and Cardinals starter Jose Quintana (5 1/3 innings) both posted scoreless outings, this turned into a battle of the bullpens. The Phillies' gave in first, allowing a two-run, pinch-hit homer to rookie Juan Yepez. But the Cardinals' gave out more completely. Attempting a five-out save, St. Louis closer Ryan Helsley lost his command in the ninth. He got only three of the outs, walked two and plunked Alec Bohm with a wild 101 mph fastball to force in a run. When the Cardinals pulled him, seemingly concerned about an injury to his throwing hand he left his last outing with a jammed finger they brought in Andre Pallante. The rookie right-hander made some sense, he gets a lot of grounders and the Cardinals desperately needed a double play. But it didn't work out.

Segura poked a single through the right side that scored two and put the Phillies ahead. Then the floodgates opened. Two more grounders produced two more runs and Kyle Schwarber's sacrifice fly made it 6-2. According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, the Phillies became the first team in postseason history to score 6+ runs in the ninth inning or later after entering scoreless.

Recent bullpen convert Zach Eflin allowed one run back but closed it out, 6-3.

All told, the difference in the game and perhaps eventually the series may lie in the extra inning of trust Wheeler earned from manager Rob Thomson. Stretched thin, the Cardinals' top relievers couldn't quite make it, and now they will have serious questions in the bullpen heading into a do-or-die Game 2.

What decade is it? Behind a vintage ace performance from Shane Bieber and a two-run homer from Jos Ramrez, the Guardians turned away the Rays in a lightning-fast Game 1. Bieber went 7 2/3 innings, allowing only one run on a Jose Siri long ball, and striking out eight.

Rays starter Shane McClanahan was almost as good as Bieber, but he allowed the Ramrez blast that put Cleveland back on top almost immediately after Siri's homer. From there, Bieber shut it down. Cleveland skipper Terry Francona turned to untouchable closer Emmanuel Clase for the final four outs. All told, the game was done in less than 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Cleveland will enter Saturday's Game 2 with an elimination opportunity in the new wild-card format. They are sending young curveball artist Triston McKenzie to the mound against the Rays' Tyler Glasnow, an ace who only recently returned from Tommy John surgery.

Need to catch up on the major storylines as the postseason begins? We've got you covered.

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MLB playoffs: Padres pummel Max Scherzer, push Mets to the brink behind Yu Darvish in wild-card Game 1 - Yahoo Sports

A lot can happen in 11 years. Two teammates can become the most prolific battery in baseball history. Another can leave for a disappointing decade in Los Angeles, then return home with a valedictory flourish. A minor leaguer can turn into a reliable shortstop, then into a reliable second baseman who has played more regular season games than any active major leaguer without tasting the postseason. Then again, nothing has to happen in 11 years. And for the Philadelphia Phillies, nothing did, not in the playoffs at least.

Between Oct. 7, 2011 and Friday 11 years exactly the Phillies played no playoff games. When they stepped back onto MLBs biggest stage in St. Louis, they found themselves looking up at a familiar, sickening sight: Zeros, a whole lot of them.

Back in 2011, a vaunted Phillies team that won 102 games fell to a 90-win Cardinals team that shut them out for the final 10 innings of the NLDS. On Friday, in Game 1 of the NL wild card series, history seemed to be repeating itself. The Cardinals pulled ahead by a nose, despite the excellence of Phillies starter Zack Wheeler, and kept the Phillies scoreless for eight innings. Ryan Helsley, he of the 1.25 regular season ERA and 100 mph fastball, was coming back for the ninth.

Hope did not abound.

In the last game of that last Cardinals series, in their last postseason, the Phillies crumpled. That was the verb. It was the only way to describe the series, the only way to describe the way former MVP Ryan Howard fell after tearing his Achilles making the final out of NLDS Game 5.

After that game in which Chris Carpenter out-dueled Roy Halladay a great many of the people involved seemed to sense the magnitude of the loss, even if they couldnt have known how long it would echo. In the aftermath of the Cardinals clinch, then-Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said, Right now, Ive got some anger, Ive got some I dont know, I just feel very empty.

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Empty the Phillies would stay. They kept their core intact, almost certainly too long, and fell apart. The Cardinals watched Albert Pujols leave for Los Angeles, and kept winning anyway.

Ive thought about it a lot, because it became almost like a fork in the road one went right and one went left, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak told the New York Times this week. It was such an epic game, probably one of the greatest games any of us have gotten to watch, two incredible pitchers going head to head, our first two hitters scored the one run and then it was just shutdown city. For us it became more of a springboard, and in the Phillies case, it became a turning point for their franchise.

On Friday, the Cardinals had Pujols back, batting second. The Phillies had the fruits of an eventual rebuild that required a reboot. Even with aggressive moves and bountiful spending that lured and kept Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Kyle Schwarber and Wheeler, the franchises wait for a playoff berth would have extended to 12 years if MLB and the players union hadnt agreed to expand the postseason field to 12 teams.

There was a sense that the Phillies couldnt make it work when they should and that the Cardinals always make it work, even when they shouldnt.

Down 2-0, heading to the ninth inning on Friday, none of the first eight hitters due up for the Phillies had ever played in a postseason series victory. Six of them had never played in the postseason at all. And the deficit they were tasked with overcoming seemed to predate them all.

After Rhys Hoskins struck out, Realmuto singled and then Helsley, the Cardinals closer, began to lose his grip on the zone. Struggling with a finger injury that took him out of his last appearance, he walked Harper and Nick Castellanos to load the bases.

Then came Alec Bohm. The lanky 26-year-old third baseman has borne the brunt of expectations and frustrations in Philadelphia. Friday, he took a wild 101 mph fastball off the arm, and popped up exuberant. There would be not be another zero. The Cardinals' lead was now 2-1.

Jean Segura came to bat next. He reached the majors in July 2012 and has played steadily, productively ever since. Like the Phillies, he had never seen action in October in that stretch.

Facing Andre Pallante, a rookie whose presence in the game seemed designed to elicit a double play, Segura poked a ground ball to second base. It could well have been a double play, a sudden and deflating end to a game Wheeler started so brilliantly.

This one, though, snuck through a Cardinals infield that rated as far and away the best defensive unit in baseball. The Phillies led 3-2. Then came another grounder, a fielders choice that Paul Goldschmidt threw home too late, and another after that, a single that got by Nolan Arenado.

By the end, the Phillies had erupted for six runs, eventually winning 6-3 by flying straight into the Cardinals biggest strength. On Saturday, they will have the chance to punch a ticket to the NLDS, and theyll have Aaron Nola on the mound to spearhead that effort. The series is far from won, but the team with Nola heading to the mound now has a significant upper hand.

For a group of players and a franchise stuck for so long on what they havent accomplished, thats something.

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How the Phillies defied 11 years of pain to notch a cathartic, crucial win No. 1 against the Cardinals - Yahoo Sports

Information is the bread and butter of all things in life. You think companies collect all that data on us just for ss and giggles? Military leaders send out scouts to get a lay of the land in order to formulate battle plans. Sports teams scout the opposition in order to ascertain strengths and weaknesses. I could do this all day but it is not something I wish to do all day. That is because we have more important things to tackle, namely figuring out the inefficiencies in the particular fantasy websites you are playing on.

Where players are listed in draft rooms is a huge influence on where managers draft said players, and you can gain an advantage by knowing where the land mines and hidden treasures are located. In this piece, I will identify the overvalued and undervalued players on Yahoo and Fantrax. (Note: ADP data is as of 10/2/2022)

Yahoo

Overvalued Guards

Klay Thompson, GSW ADP 61.8Jordan Poole, GSW ADP 67.5Russell Westbrook, LAL ADP 90Lonzo Ball, CHI ADP 107.7Alex Caruso, CHI ADP 120.6Caris LeVert, CLE ADP 134.4Reggie Jackson, LAC ADP 138.7

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Fantasy basketball ADP report: The most overvalued and undervalued players on Yahoo and Fantrax - The Athletic

This article first appeared in the Morning Brief. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe

Friday, October 7, 2022

Today's newsletter is by Brian Sozzi, an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

If you thought the rip-roaring start to the fourth quarter for markets was high drama, you better buckle up for Election Day on Nov. 8. Democrats could lose their majority in Congress, which of course would have implications for your battered portfolio.

Democrats have an expected edge in the Senate races while Republicans are predicted to win the House. So you guessed it: That means a divided government yet again. While you might not like the sound of a stalled government, an unproductive Congress could be good for markets since investors wouldnt have to worry about Democrats new tax and spending initiatives.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) depart the unveiling of the Harry Truman statue at the U.S. Capitol rotunda in Washington, September 29, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

If you look at the combination of a Democratic president and either a Republican-led or split leadership Congress, that has been one of the best environments for stocks over time. We also know that investors intuitively like gridlock, RBC Capital Markets strategist Lori Calvasina told Yahoo Finance Live. What I hear from investors is that they worry that some of the Democratic initiatives that have been on the table in the past that haven't gone through would end up adding to the inflation problem.

In other words, the Democrats loss would be the markets gain. In the meantime, expect more turbulence amid the uncertainty of the election outcome and ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates on Nov. 2. The decision and stock market reaction could swing election turnout and influence how stocks end the year.

The upside is that its almost the holiday season.

Whats up for grabs: Miderm elections 2022

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What stocks tend to do around midterm elections

Since 1942, the median equity market returns in the first three quarters of midterm election years were -1%, 2% and 5%, respectively. 4Q returns jumped to 8%. (Source: U.S. Bank)

The average annual return of the S&P 500 in the 12 months before a midterm election is 0.3%, below the historical average of 8.1%. (Source: U.S. Bank)

The S&P 500 has historically outperformed in the 12-month period after a midterm election, with an average return of 16.3%. (Source: U.S. Bank)

The last time the S&P 500 Index produced negative returns during the 12 months after a midterm election was 1939 (see Great Depression World War 2). (Source: U.S. Bank)

What Wall Street Is Saying on the Mid-Terms and Stocks

Our analysis shows that the health of the economy is a much more important factor than midterm election results. U.S. Bank

The higher cost of living and an aggressive rate tightening cycle complicates the voting picture. A lot will depend on voter turnout on the day. Jefferies

But irrespective of the result, theres a consistent market signal in all 19 midterm elections since WWII: The S&P 500 has ALWAYS been higher exactly a year after the vote. Deutsche Bank

There are myriad unknowns heading into this period, not the least of which is how the midterms will impact the legislating calculus, but we expect movement on the annual defense bill, a federal funding package that could become a Christmas tree carrying numerous ornaments, and possibly a targeted tax bill. BTIG

8:30 a.m. ET: Two-Month Payroll Net Revision, September (-107,000 prior)

8:30 a.m. ET: Change in Nonfarm Payrolls, September (260,000 expected, 315,000 during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Change in Private Payrolls, September (275,000 expected, 308,000 during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Change in Manufacturing Payrolls, September (20,000 expected, 22,000 during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Unemployment Rate, September (3.7% expected, 3.7% during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Average Hourly Earnings, month-over-month, September (0.3% expected, 0.3% during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Average Hourly Earnings, year-over-year, September (5.0% expected, 5.2% prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Average Weekly Hours All Employees, September (34.5 expected, 34.5 during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Labor Force Participation Rate, September (62.4% expected, 62.4% during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Underemployment Rate, September (7.0% prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Wholesale Inventories, month-over-month, August final (1.3% expected, 1.3% during prior month)

8:30 a.m. ET: Wholesale Trade Sales, month-over-month, August (0.5% expected, -1.4% during prior month)

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'A major problem': The US is now a record $31 trillion in debt, made worse by rising interest rates and this is who holds the IOUs

The gross national debt in America has hit new heights, surpassing $31 trillion, according to a U.S. treasury report released this week.

If you find that hard to wrap your head around, it basically boils down to more than $93,000 of debt for every person in the country, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

And with the dramatic rise in interest rates over the past few months the Fed funds rate is currently between 3% and 3.35% the national debt will be growing at a rate that makes it even harder to ignore.

Interest rates are a major problem, says Phillip Braun, clinical professor of finance at North Western Universitys Kellogg School of Management.

The Treasury finances the debt with a lot of short-term borrowing It'll push other budgetary items out.

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A deficit is what happens when the government spends more money in a fiscal year than it brings in through taxes and the last couple of years have been expensive.

Several large bills with hefty price tags have been approved since the start of the pandemic, including the American Rescue Plan Act, which cost $1.9 trillion, and $750 billion for student debt relief, all adding to the deficit, which then adds to the debt.

And though the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in August, is expected to reduce the deficit by $240 billion, policies and programs brought in by the Biden Administration are expected to add trillions more over the next decade.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-profit that addresses federal budget and fiscal issues, estimates that $4.8 trillion will be added to the deficit by 2031.

Excessive borrowing will lead to continued inflationary pressures, drive the national debt to a new record as soon as 2030, and triple federal interest payments over the next decade or even sooner if interest rates go up faster or by more than expected, says the CRFB.

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Much of the borrowing in the past couple of years happened while interest rates were historically low, but now that theyre not, with inflation rising at the fastest pace in decades, the cost of this debt will be amplified.

Having the government debt being 1.2 times larger than the economy is not a very good thing, says Braun. And it really jumped up because of the pandemic. But even before that, it's been rising since the great recession.

Read more: Do you fall in America's lower, middle, or upper class? How your income stacks up

Currently, more than $965 million is spent every day just in interest on the national debt. The Peterson Foundation estimates that will triple over the next decade, making it the fastest-growing item in the federal budget.

And when the government owes a lot, it makes it harder for corporations to borrow money.

The federal debt squeezes out other debts in the economy, says Braun. There's only so much money in the economy. And so with the government borrowing such large amounts, there's only so much that people are willing to lend overall in the economy, so it pushes out other types of borrowing.

The government could have refinanced its debt while interest rates were low, he says, but it didnt.

Which means the borrowing costs today and into the future are unnecessarily higher because of that, says Braun.

There are different kinds of national debt. Think about it like having a credit card, a mortgage and a car payment all debt, but different.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury manages the national debt, which is split into two different types: debt that one government agency owes to another, and debts that are held by the public.

Intragovernmental debt accounts for about $6.5 trillion of the debt.

The much bigger piece of the debt is held by the public. Right now, thats about $24 trillion.

Foreign governments as well as banks and private investors, state and local governments and the Federal Reserve own most of this debt, and its held in Treasury securities, bills and bonds.

Foreign governments and private investors are one of the biggest holders of the public debt, owning around $7.7 trillion.

Domestically, the Federal Reserve holds the largest share of the public debt, at about 40%. But there is good news when it comes to the debt the Federal Reserve owns.

The Federal Reserve owns a lot of government debt, says Braun. The Treasury does pay interest payments to the Federal Reserve, but then the Federal Reserve turns around and gives it back to the Treasury that alleviates some of the issues.

Ultimately, rising interest rates will only exacerbate the national debt, making it harder for the government to respond to a slowing economy.

For too long, policymakers have assumed perpetually low interest rates, and we are now seeing in real time how dangerous that assumption is, said Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in a statement.

As our debt crosses $31 trillion, its past time for action.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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'A major problem': The US is now a record $31 trillion in debt, made worse by rising interest rates and this is who holds the IOUs - Yahoo Finance

Biden says he'll release 10 million more barrels from the dwindling 'oil piggy bank' after OPEC's production cuts but this is the big risk with more withdrawals

In an effort to counter rising prices at the pump, President Biden plans to plunder the countrys oil piggy bank.

In November, the Department of Energy will deliver 10 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to the market. The SPR the world's largest supply of emergency crude oil was established back in 1975 in case of a severe oil supply crisis or economic disruption.

Bidens decision comes after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) said it would slash oil production by 2 million barrels a day putting extra pressure on the global energy supply.

However, with the countrys emergency reserve already at its lowest levels since 1984, some experts have concerns about the long-term implications.

Gas prices hit a record high of $5.02 a gallon in June after Russias invasion of Ukraine, but this summer saw a 99-day streak of lower prices due to recession fears and declining oil prices.

However, even before OPEC+ declared it would be cutting back on oil production, gas prices began inching back up again in late September. This may have been due to a combination of increasing demand, refinery issues and the upcoming European ban on Russian oil.

Now with OPEC+s recent decision, prices are expected to escalate even further. The group says the production cuts are being made due to the uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks.

As of Oct. 7, the average national gas price was $3.89 per gallon, which is about 10 cents higher than the week before, according to AAA.

Hours after the OPEC+ announcement, the White House said the president was disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production quotas as the global economy is still contending with the effects of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

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The press release noted that 10 million barrels of oil would be drained from the SPR and the Secretary of Energy would be exploring other options to increase domestic production.

Read more: Do you fall in America's lower, middle, or upper class? How your income stacks up

Biden also urged gas companies to keep bringing gas prices down.

Since March, the Energy Department has released 160 million barrels of crude oil, or over a quarter of the stockpile draining the SPR to its lowest levels in four decades.

As of Sept. 30, the reserve has dropped to 416 million barrels, according to department data.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) stated back in Nov. 2021 that it strongly opposed tapping into oil stockpiles to counter gas prices. The groups concern was that depleting the emergency reserve could put the U.S. at risk if the global or domestic oil supply reaches dangerously low levels before the supply can be brought back up.

The IPAA recommends ramping up domestic natural gas and oil production instead, although oil producers are already dealing with supply-chain issues, limited capital and investor pressure to boost returns.

Francisco Blanch, managing director and head of global commodities at Bank of America Global Research also voiced criticism in a segment on Bloomberg Television.

I dont think its a great idea given the incredibly tense geopolitical world we live in today, Blanch said. By using up the reserve, the U.S. could be putting itself more in the hands of OPEC+ eventually youre just ceding more and more market control.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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Biden says he'll release 10 million more barrels from the dwindling 'oil piggy bank' after OPEC's production cuts but this is the big risk with more...

When I first laid eyes on the Rivian R1T electric pickup at the New York Auto Show back in 2019, I thought it was a very cool proof of concept. But no way, in my mind, was Rivian (RIVN) going to build what the company was showing and promising at that time.

Over the next three years weve seen the company raise a lot of money and go public by offering an extremely compelling package at an attractive price though that price was painfully and somewhat embarrassingly increased in order to make the truck more cost effective to build.

Rivian is now building these R1Ts, and despite the hiccups they have done the impossible by creating an extremely impressive vehicle from the ground up. But it needs to build them faster, cheaper, and more profitably to sustain itself.

Heres why car and truck fans should root for Rivian to do just that.

Rivian R1T pickup truck (credit: Pras Subramanian)

With a clean-sheet design and skateboard-like platform, Rivian envisioned a truck from the ground up that's totally different from anything on the road. What could designers and engineers dream up when they didnt have to design around space constraints like an engine, drivetrain, and exhaust, and instead could do whatever they wanted within the envelope of what we consider a pickup truck?

Rivian designers took us to the future with an aesthetic thats clean, angular, and truck-like, but with a dose of TRON-like futurism. It could have gone traditional with an F-150 look, but the company wanted a fresh design that showed us its vision of the future of trucks.

The Rivian R1T gear tunnel (credit: Rivian)

Without the motor and mechanicals up front, the R1T gives its users a vast frunk with lockable storage, an area to store the mobile charger, and even the ability to use the frunk as a drainable cooler. Behind the cabin and right in front of the rear axle is the cavernous gear tunnel another lockable, long, and wide storage space that can hold several suitcases, a surfboard, or even a camp kitchen if you so desire.

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And then on top of that, R1T has its traditional pickup bed, plus niceties like an air compressor for airing tires up after off-roading and an optional mechanical retractable tonneau cover.

The Rivian R1T cabin (credit: Rivian)

Inside, Rivian has taken the the materials, fit, and finish to an upscale level, with optional hardwood trim, vegan leather, and even a microsuede-like headliner made from recycled towels. Nice metal accents and limited use of plastics add to the premium feel, and the optional Meridian audio system sounded good with accurate and dynamic performance in the quiet cabin.

Rivian R1T pickup truck (credit: Pras Subramanian)

On the road is where the true test stood. And it is where the R1T really stands out from the pack versus electric and even traditional vehicles.

The test vehicle here was the R1T in adventure trim with a quad-motor set up and off-road tire package. With these tires and its 135 kWh (kilowatt-hour) battery, range was estimated to be around 270 miles on a full charge; with the standard on-road tires, range would be around 315 miles, a significant bump up.

Driving around on the streets of New York, the R1T did not feel truck-like it felt like most other EVs I have driven, with smooth, effortless power. It also didnt push too hard into corners and have a clunky, body-on-frame type of ride like a typical truck. The independent front and rear suspension setup gave the R1T a car-like, planted feel, with the air suspension soaking up bumps and potholes.

At speed, this setup, along with 835 hp at disposal, gave the R1T otherworldly performance. The truck hovered over the road, maintaining a level track even through some aggressive curves in upstate New York. The true all-wheel drive, with motors powering each wheel, gave an immediate sense of traction and grip at all times that coupled with the leveling air suspension meant the R1T felt like it drove on rails, something I'd never experienced in a big and heavy truck.

Not to mention with a 0-60 time in the 3 second range, the R1T could dust supercars off the line all the while hauling your lumber in the back from Home Depot.

Rivian R1T pickup truck (credit: Pras Subramanian)

Off-road, the R1T shows off its adventure vehicle chops by being unflappable in almost all conditions. Over the rocky and loose gravel terrain I experienced upstate, the R1T in its off-load setting lifted the truck around 15 inches off the ground, giving it plenty of clearance from the rough terrain. Again, the motors driving each wheel not only gave the car effortless power but also the ability to detect slippage immediately and exert the needed amount of torque at each wheel to negotiate the terrain. That coupled with the air suspension, kept the truck at the right angle and height for the job.

It is hard to emphasize enough how capable and unique the R1T is. Our test truck, with its MSRP of $92,250, was worth the price in terms of what it is giving you - a jack-of-all-trades EV that doubles as an adventure truck, work truck, and speed demon when you want it to be. No vehicle can do what it offers gas or electric.

Rivian and its visionary CEO RJ Scaringe have done something only few have done before build a brand new vehicle from scratch and actually sell it to the public. Though it has a long way to go to build vehicles affordably and at scale, what it has accomplished with the R1T is extraordinary.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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Rivian R1T EV pickup review: Why it's the ultimate vehicle, regardless of powertrain - Yahoo Finance

Cherelle Griners most recent call with her wife, Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner, left her distraught.

Brittney is still in prison in Russia awaiting an appeal hearing after she was first arrested in February. After Cherelle spoke with her recently, she told CBS News Gayle King that she cried for two, three days straight.

It was the most disturbing phone call Id ever experienced, Cherelle told CBS on Thursday. Its just the most still, I think, moment Ive just ever shared with my wife. I didnt have words.

Brittney Griner was arrested on Feb. 17 at a Moscow airport after officials said they found vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage. She has been detained ever since.

Griner, who plays in Russia during the WNBA offseason, has since pleaded guilty to drug possession and drug smuggling and was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. She has appealed that sentence, and is due in court next on Oct. 25.

The United States government is working to secure her release, along with the release of fellow American prisoner Paul Whelan, however its unclear if any significant progress has been made on that front in recent weeks.

While Griner was reportedly in good spirits, all things considered, early on in her detainment, Cherelle said that mood is long gone.

Brittney, Cherelle said on Thursday, is at her absolute weakest moment in life right now.

Shes saying things to me like, My life just dont even matter no more, Cherelle told CBS. You know, I feel like my life just doesnt matter. Like, Im being tossed around for peoples enjoyment and gain.

Cherelle is also worried that, after her appeal hearing has ended, Brittney could end up being moved to a labor camp something she said she cant even fathom.

I dont know if she has anything left in her tank to continue to wake up every day and be in a place where she has no one, Cherelle told CBS.

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Still, Cherelle isnt giving up.

She wants to make sure Brittney knows that, too.

Those are all valid emotions to feel and I dont have answers for, except the fact that your life matters to me, and I wanna get you back home, Cherelle told CBS. Im gonna continue to pray every day that, you know, the people that are the decision-makers in this situation will have mercy and will sit down and they will too see that your life matters and do whatever they can to agree on terms.

Brittney Griner is due back in a Russian court later this month, where she will appeal her nine year prison sentence. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/AFP)

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Cherelle Griner: Brittney Griner at her absolute weakest moment ahead of appeal - Yahoo Sports