The Toronto Blue Jays‘ ace is taking the mound once again as the World Series shifts back to Toronto.
Righty Kevin Gausman has been tabbed as the Blue Jays’ starter for Game 6 of the World Series on Friday with a chance to claim the World Series title. (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).
“It’s exciting. Rogers Centre is going to be fun. It’s going to be electric. It’s going to be everything that it has been for the last month and probably more,” Gausman said ahead of Wednesday’s Game 5 win. “We’re excited to get back there. Obviously, we’re really good at home, so we feel confident playing in front of our own team.
“The fans there have been awesome, especially lately. They bring the energy, they pick us up when we need it.” So yeah, obviously, coming here was the goal to get back to Toronto.”
It’ll be the sixth October appearance for Gausman this year and his second of the Fall Classic after getting the nod in the Blue Jays’ 5-1 Game 2 loss.
The 34-year-old pitched well despite that loss, spinning 6.2 innings of three-run ball while striking out six. He did, however, give up home runs to Will Smith and Max Muncy in the seventh inning, which built up a Dodgers lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
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The World Series is coming back to Toronto with the Blue Jays one win away from capturing their first title since 1993. Watch Game 6 on Friday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
Over his five post-season appearances, Gausman has a 2-2 record with a 2.55 ERA and 18 strikeouts. He has given up 10 walks and 14 hits, four of which were home runs.
He made an appearance out of the bullpen for the Jays in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners, pitching a shutout seventh inning to help Toronto secure the tight 4-3 win and cement their spot in the Fall Classic.
The Dodgers have yet to confirm who their Game 6 starter will be, however, Yoshinobu Yamamoto lines up to get the ball. The Dodgers righty was dominant in Game 2 when they first squared off, pitching his second complete game in a row.
Embattled NBA guard Terry Rozier will not receive his salary from the Miami Heat while on leave because of his arrest on federal charges related to a gambling scheme, two people with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Rozier’s salary — about $26.6 million this season, paid in installments — will be held in some sort of account pending resolution of the legal case, said the people, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the details were not released publicly.
If Rozier is cleared and allowed to return to the NBA, which placed him on leave hours after his Oct. 23 arrest, he would receive the held payments in full, one of the sources said.
It was not immediately known if Portland coach Chauncey Billups, who has also been placed on leave by the league after his arrest on gambling-related charges last week, would have his salary held in a similar fashion.
Meanwhile, Rozier’s attorney said Wednesday that a federal lien filed with regard to the player’s tax bill in 2021 was satisfied.
The Internal Revenue Service filed that lien against Rozier in November 2023, showing an “unpaid balance of assessment” of $8,218,211.70 for the 2021 tax year. But Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, said in an email to The Associated Press that the actual amount owed to the IRS at that time was a sliver of that total.
“There was never a debt of $8 million,” Trusty wrote. “Out of his total taxes owed in 2021 ($8m), he actually owed $9000. That was paid, but the now-defunct lien still needs to be pulled from the local courthouse.”
ESPN first reported the lien’s existence. The lien is a public record, and there is no publicly available document showing it has been removed.
Officials in Broward County, Florida — where the lien was filed — did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A call seeking information from an IRS revenue officer was unanswered. Revenue officers work for the IRS to collect delinquent taxes.
Rozier owns a home in Broward County, and records show his property taxes have been paid in full each year. That property is about 30 miles from where the Heat play their home games.
Rozier was playing for the Charlotte Hornets during that 2021 tax year and is now on the Heat roster. He, Billups and nearly three dozen other individuals were arrested last week on gambling-related charges detailed in two separate indictments.
Federal officials alleged that Rozier conspired with associates to help them win bets based on his statistical performance in a game when he was with the Hornets on March 23, 2023 — more than seven months before the lien was prepared and nearly eight months before it was formally filed. Rozier played sparingly in that game, and gamblers who wagered that he would finish “under” certain statistical totals won those bets.
The charges against Rozier are similar to what former Toronto player Jontay Porter faced before he was banned from the league by Silver in 2024.
Rozier did not play in the final eight games of that 2022-23 season, with him and the Hornets citing a foot injury. The Hornets had several players injured at that time and were already eliminated from playoff contention.
Sportsbooks detected unusual patterns of wagers on the Charlotte game in question — prop bets involving Rozier were flagged and immediately brought to the NBA’s attention — and the league probed the matter but did not find enough evidence to conclude that Rozier broke any rules. The NBA, unlike federal law enforcement, does not have subpoena power.
The NBA said earlier this week that it is reviewing how sensitive information like injury reports — which are public and updated hourly — should be handled going forward. Members of the House and Senate have both asked the NBA for more information as well.
Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Commerce Committee, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on that panel, wrote NBA Commissioner Adam Silver this week seeking details “about how the NBA investigated and handled these allegations” and why the NBA allowed Rozier to continue playing.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have acquired safety Kyle Dugger from New England in hopes of giving the back end of the secondary another experienced option with starter DeShon Elliott out indefinitely with a knee injury.
Pittsburgh sent a sixth-round pick in the 2026 draft to New England in exchange for Dugger and a seventh-round selection.
Dugger, a second-round choice by the Patriots in 2020, had 17 tackles in seven games with New England this season. The six-year veteran has nine career interceptions, including a pair of Pick-6s in 2022.
Elliott injured his right knee in the second half of Pittsburgh’s 35-25 loss to Green Bay on Sunday night. Dugger joins a safety group that includes Chuck Clark and Jabrill Peppers.
Pittsburgh’s secondary is struggling. The Steelers are dead last in the NFL against the pass and have surrendered over 700 yards in their last two games to Cincinnati’s Joe Flacco and Green Bay’s Jordan Love.
Things won’t get any easier for Pittsburgh this weekend when AFC South-leading Indianapolis (7-1) and the NFL’s top offense visit Acrisure Stadium.
MADRID — Vinícius Júnior has apologized for his outburst toward Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso after being replaced in the clasico against Barcelona, blaming his “passion” and “competitive nature”.
“I want to apologize to all Madrid fans for my reaction after being substituted,” he said on X on Wednesday. “Just as I already apologized in person during today’s training session, I also want to apologize again to my teammates, the club and the president.”
Vinícius was visibly upset when he found out Alonso was replacing him with Rodrygo in the 72nd minute of Madrid’s 2-1 league win over Barcelona on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
The Brazil forward opened his arms and kept talking to himself as he left the field. Vinícius went straight to the changing room before rejoining his teammates about five minutes later.
He did not mention Alonso in his apology on X.
“Sometimes my passion gets the better of me,” Vinicius said. “I always want to win and help my team. My competitive nature stems from the love I feel for this club and everything it represents. I promise to keep fighting every second for the good of Real Madrid, as I have done since day one.”
Vinícius has been substituted more often than he used to be under previous Madrid coaches. He also did not start in a couple of matches.
He also exchanged words with Barcelona star Lamine Yamal during the clasico, and was involved in a scuffle between players after the match.
There was a time, not so long ago, that the Maple Leafs would size up an opponent like the 2025-26 Calgary Flames and start dreaming of touchdowns on scoreboards and Hall & Oates on repeat.
The monsters would be out to munch cookies.
Stat-Padding Night at ol’ Scotiabank Arena.
And if, by chance, the mighty Leafs didn’t take care of business?
Well, it would be because (a) they decided not to bother or (b) the other guys’ goalie did cartwheels and, oh, well, tip the cap.
Those days are not these days.
The 2025-26 edition of the Maple Leafs — through 10 games at least — has been incapable of steamrolling an NHL lesser light like the one that trudged in from Alberta on Tuesday.
And so, although an overpowering power-play and waves of top-six offence are no longer turning regular-season mismatches into child’s play, and although the Leafs aren’t locking one-goal leads under lock and key like they did last year, a 4-3 comeback win over the league’s 32nd-place team is still a victory.
A two-goal mini breakout for the inconsistent Max Domi is still worth highlighting.
“We won today. So, nothing else matters, man,” Domi said post-game between sips of a smoothie.
“Honestly, you’re not going to get much in terms of the individual stuff. That stuff is so irrelevant. It’s a long season, and we need everyone.”
Today’s Maple Leafs needed everyone to string two W’s in a row, while the woebegone Flames watched their NHL-worst goal differential drop to minus-15.
Points must be stacked while the Leafs, who still very much envision themselves a contender, heal up and figure things out.
Take ’em and build. Even if the process looks a little shaky or the pre-Blue Jays crowd gets a little sleepy.
Aurora, Ont., native Morgan Frost opened the scoring in Period 1 off a nice passing sequence by Calgary, putting Toronto into an early hole.
Domi countered with a peppery shot in transition that beat Dustin Wolf clean glove side in the second frame.
Joel Farabee restored the visitors’ lead when he was granted clear access to goaltender Anthony Stolarz’s crease and jammed the puck right through the netminder. Ugh.
A response strike by Matthew Knies in tight with just 35 remaining before intermission knotted the contest and punctuated one of the better second periods for the home side.
The Maple Leafs have generally been getting caved in with the long change, but outshot Calgary 16-8 in the middle period.
“Way better,” coach Craig Berube said. “Might’ve been our best second period of the year.”
Hey, when performance has been uneven, you cling to the positives. You trumpet your resilience.
That momentum carried into the final period, when Knies (again) took advantage of Calgary’s fourth minor penalty and a mad net-front scramble to slam in a go-ahead goal while lunging on one knee.
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The offensively challenged Flames struck back, however, when Samuel Honzek was left all alone in front — underscoring Toronto’s knack for surrendering quality looks in tight games.
But Domi played hero in the 57th minute, sniping the winner and his second of the night.
Huge fist pump.
“Max, for me, the last three games, has been a different player,” Berube said. “More engaged. And when he’s an engaged player, he’s a good player.”
Slowly gaining confidence, Domi and the Maple Leafs jetted to Ohio after the final horn and will play the similarly inconsistent Blue Jackets (4-4) in less than 24 hours.
Toronto’s upcoming two-game road trip — the club heads to Philadelphia on Saturday — marks its longest of the month, a fine chance to get out of town and on the same page.
Ten games in, the Maple Leafs are treading water in the middle of the mediocre Atlantic and still searching for their first full 60.
“Yeah, we’re champing at the bit to get on the road. We love playing at home, certainly being at home with our families and playing in front of our great fans,” Domi said.
“But that’s when you really take the next step forward, when you have a few days together. That’s what it’s all about at this level, building relationships off the ice as fast as you can and come together as quick as you can, because that translates directly into on-ice success.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Big two-goal night for the struggling Domi, who tripled his goal total.
The playmaker is still looking for his first assist. He has two hits and is a team-low minus-7 through 10 games. He’s bounced around the lineup and is centring the fourth line.
Asked pregame to assess the $3.75-million forward’s season so far, Berube suggested the injury Domi suffered in September is lingering. That may explain the lack of physicality.
“Up and down. Missed a lot of camp. That always hurts a guy a little bit,” Berube said. “Just kind of not fully healthy, in my opinion.”
• The Maple Leafs blueline misses Chris Tanev (upper body) but has managed a 2-1 record in the former Flame’s absence while changing all three pairings.
“I mean, I don’t think you replace Taney. Other guys have to take on more responsibility and adjust their roles,” Morgan Rielly says. “That’ll be a work in progress. But I think we’re doing a good job. We have open communication back there. We’re playing with different guys and different sides and stuff, so there’s an adjustment there. But it’s really nothing we can’t handle.”
• Good sign for Calgary native William Nylander, who sat out his first regular-season game in 1,300 days (April 4, 2022) Saturday with a lower-body injury.
The game-time decision returned to action, set up Knies’ second-period goal, and has now splashed the scoresheet in 11 straight games against his birth-town team.
• Stolarz will get a night off Wednesday in Columbus, but the ex-Flyer projects to start Saturday in Philadelphia.
That’ll be his ninth start in Toronto’s first 12 matches.
“My body feels good. Everything’s great,” the 31-year-old maintains. “I prepared for this in the off-season. Obviously, the (save) numbers aren’t there for what I want, but it’s a long season.”
• California products Nick Robertson and Dustin Wolf, both 24, played together as youngsters on the West Coast.
“He’s a great goalie. He’s a great kid. I’ve known him since I was really young. I think six years old back in L.A. we played together. He was one of my first teammates,” Robertson recalls.
“He was a really good goalie then, and he’s a good goalie now. He’s a great guy. He’s obviously done really well since being in the league.”
TORONTO — Telling, isn’t it, that the Toronto Maple Leaf most enthusiastic about the return of Joseph Woll is the man who plays the same position.
“It was awesome. Just seeing his infectious smile,” said Anthony Stolarz, following Woll’s first practice with the team in more than a month.
“For me, just seeing him back of the net, we were just talking how we miss our goalie hugs.”
Takes two to hug. Just as it takes two to give the Maple Leafs confidence in their crease.
As evidenced by the size of the ice bags wrapped around Stolarz’s surgically repaired knees after Friday’s loss in Buffalo — enough to fill a Coleman — the 1A can’t welcome his 1B soon enough.
“He’s a great human being. He’s somebody who’s been around this group a long time, and somebody who I’m friends with very closely,” Stolarz said.
“Just to get him back, for us, could be a huge spark. Could give us a little energy.”
Stolarz’s energy is lower than usual, his own coach said, as he readies to make his eighth start Tuesday in his club’s first 10 games.
The 31-year-old has never had such a hectic start to the season. To ease the mental burden, the Leafs recalled Dennis Hildeby to back up Saturday, giving Stolarz a full night off to stretch, relax and just watch.
And while much credit is due to waiver pickup Cayden Primeau (two wins in two starts, both in back-to-backs), this roster depends on tandem goaltending to thrive.
Last year, Toronto’s goalies had the league’s fourth-best save percentage (.905); they have sunk to 27th (.873) this season.
That doesn’t mean Stolarz and Primeau are to blame. After all, the skaters in front of them are handing out Grade-As easier than a gym teacher.
But it does means that Woll’s return to action is critical — and must be handled with care.
“Awesome having him back,” Morgan Rielly said. “I mean, you want to support everyone. Over the course of a career a long season, we all go through things. In terms of playing a team sport, you want to be there for each other. So, this is a good opportunity for everyone to rally.”
Woll, 27, took practice reps as Toronto’s third goalie Monday but was not made available to reporters. Absent since training camp while he dealt with a personal matter, Woll won’t speak publicly until he is “comfortable” doing so, Brad Treliving said.
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According to the general manager, Woll’s conditioning is “fabulous.” He has been hitting the ice roughly every other day over the past two weeks while he was away from his teammates and has now had a couple days on the ice with Leafs staff.
An AHL conditioning stint with the Marlies will likely precede NHL action next month.
“I do have a date circled, but we’ll have to see what it is,” said Treliving, careful not to announce a deadline in case it’s missed.
“We’re not going to rush it. It’ll happen when he’s ready to go.”
Stolarz was optimistic: “He’s a true pro, so I don’t think it’ll take him much time at all.”
All the talk Monday was that Woll needs time to get his reads back. He needs NHL practice reps and work dealing with net-front traffic and cross-crease plays.
There is also a mental side to sports, too, and Woll’s mind must be in a positive place before he starts a big-league game instead of Stolarz.
“(NHL players) deal with the same things we all deal with, right? It gets magnified because of the line of work they’re in. There’s more coverage of it,” Treliving said.
“I’m proud of how the organization has supported Joe, and we will for every player.”
Ticked-off McCabe is the best McCabe
Berube credited the Leafs’ “pissed off” attitude for fuelling Saturday’s 4-3 slump-busting comeback win over the Sabres.
Why so angry?
“Lost three in a row. That’s probably why,” Berube replied, before breaking into a devilish grin.
“If I lost three in a row and I was playing, I guarantee ya I woulda in got into two fights.”
Ex-Sabre Jake McCabe put together his best two games of the season over the weekend, even without trusted partner Chris Tanev.
He blocked 11 shots, threw five hits, gathered an assist and — best of all — crushed Bowen Byram in open ice, then dummied challenger Alex Tuch with one punch.
“My record against Buffalo hasn’t been too great since I left them, so I was eager for two points,” said McCabe, summoning more emotion in one sequence than some of his teammates have all year.
“I think it’s been a little lacking here this first little while. I’m certainly guilty of it, too, through the first five, six games,” McCabe said. “At the beginning of the year, sometimes you kind of dip your toe in the water rather than jump full in. Made it a mission here the last couple of nights to bring that side of my game out a little bit more, ’cause I’ve certainly played better — and I know my teammates feed off it.”
Nick Robertson agreed: “We need that energy.”
So did Dakota Joshua: “Nice to see when someone can step up and do it all.”
Joshua has skated for six seasons and three organizations of varying quality.
How does the power forward gauge the emotional level of these Leafs through nine games?
“Good, tough question. I mean, yeah, maybe there’s a little bit of waiting early on for somebody to do something that swings the momentum or the confidence in the team. It’s just hard to put your finger on what exactly that looks like and how that comes to form,” Joshua said.
“Like Jake the other night — very organic situation that found its way to him, and he was able to contribute and give our team a boost for the night. So, it’s got to be different guys every night stepping up. Whether it’s a blocked shot or a big hit or a fight that turns the tide.”
Does the emotional tipping point need to be organic? Or can you force it?
“It doesn’t have to be,” Joshua said. “It just seems like when it happens that way, that’s when you get the best outcome. And then other times, it’s tough when you’re searching for it and it doesn’t happen. Then you’re sitting there like, ‘Well, s—.’ Or pissed that it didn’t go that way. Doesn’t have to be organic, but that’s usually when you get the best turn.”
Scratch ’n score
Death, taxes and Nicholas Robertson finding the back of the net after a night in the press box.
Turns out, the path for the snakebitten Robertson to score his first of the season was to bench him.
Seemingly forever the Leafs’ 12(½)th forward, Robertson was nicknamed “Scratch ’N Score” on Leafs Talk by J.D. Bunkis and lived up to the moniker by potting his fifth goal over his past six return-to-action games.
“You guys know it’s not a situation that I’m foreign to,” Robertson said, after pounding a puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in Saturday’s win.
“Good for my confidence.”
Robertson’s jump on the sleepy half of the home-and-home versus Buffalo was noticeable — and no doubt inspired by his temporary promotion to Auston Matthews’ top line.
Robertson, who learned where he’d be skating just 10 minutes before puck drop, logged a season-high 14:54 and deserves to stick in the lineup even if Nylander (lower body; day to day) is good to suit up Tuesday against the Calgary Flames. Berube liked his first look at Robertson–Matthews–McMann.
“Speed,” Berube said. “A lot of speed on the wings, getting on top of people. It was a good goal by Nicky coming in off the bench and finding that hole there; they made a nice play to him. But Nicky’s got speed, Bobby’s got speed, Matthews (has) got speed. So, it’s a fast line.
“They got to just play direct and do their job off in the offensive zone and make sure they’re responsible defensively.”
One-timers: Tanev (upper body) and Scott Laughton (foot) are both on the road to recovery. They hit the ice on a separate sheet with return-to-play staff. Tanev is unlikely to play this week. Laughton is planning to be on the plane to Philadelphia this weekend and may practice with the team as early as Friday.… Calle Järnkrok was absent from practice and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. He took a hard shot off the foot Saturday…. John Tavares has 499 career goals. It would be sweeter to hit 500 at home than in Columbus or Philadelphia later this week.
Maple Leafs projected lineup Tuesday vs. Calgary Flames:
Robertson* – Matthews – McMann
Knies – Tavares – Maccelli
Joshua – Roy – Cowan
Lorentz – Domi – Blais*
Benoit – McCabe
Rielly – Myers
Ekman-Larsson – Carlo
Stolarz starts
Primeau
(*If Nylander plays, Robertson or Blais will get scratched.)
SANTA ANA, Calif. — The ex-wife of a Los Angeles Angels employee at the center of the overdose death of one of its star pitchers testified in a civil trial Monday that she saw players and clubhouse attendants passing pills and alcohol while partying on the team plane.
Camela Kay told jurors in a Southern California courtroom she had traveled on the Angels team plane with her then-husband Eric Kay, who was convicted of providing drugs that led to the 2019 death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, and seen players partying, playing card games, gambling and drinking.
“They’re treated like kings,” Camela Kay said of her observations on the plane. “I had seen them passing out pills or drinking alcohol excessively.”
The testimony came in a trial for a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ family contending the Angels should be held responsible for letting a drug-addicted and dealing team communications director stay on the job and access its players. The Angels have said team officials did not know Skaggs was taking drugs and that any drug activity involving him and Kay happened on their own time and in the privacy of the player’s hotel room.
Camela Kay said she was concerned that her then-husband had a drug problem after observing his erratic behavior, and family members mounted an intervention with him in 2017. The next day, she said, two team officials came over to speak with him and one of them pulled a series of plastic baggies containing white pills from the bedroom, which fueled her concerns that Eric Kay was not only struggling with substance abuse but selling drugs to make money.
“Him being in the clubhouse with the players, my guess would be he is supplying to them,” she said.
Camela Kay also described how her then-husband was driven home by an Angels employee after he was dancing in his office, shirtless, at the stadium in 2019. After he got home, she found a bottle with blue pills inside and called police to press him to go to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed an overdose involving six different drugs, she said.
He was hospitalized for three days and then went to rehab, which was communicated in text messages between Camela Kay and team officials shown to jurors.
She said her sister-in-law told her after visiting Eric in the hospital that he told her the pills were for Skaggs. She said she found text messages on his phone about him getting his “candy” at the stadium and relayed the information about both to Angels officials.
She said she was concerned about Eric heading on the road with the Angels after completing a six-week stint in rehab, adding he was still acting erratic and she suspected he was abusing a drug meant to treat opioid addiction.
After Skaggs’ death, Camela Kay filed for divorce, according to Orange County court records.
She is expected to continue testifying on Tuesday.
The trial comes more than six years after Skaggs, then 27, was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said Skaggs choked to death on his vomit and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.
Eric Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from him at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.
Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Skaggs’ family is seeking $118 million in lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team.
After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.
The trial is expected to take weeks and has included testimony from Angels outfielder Mike Trout and team employees.
