BASEBALL
PITTSBURGH (AP) These Chicago Cubs are supposed to be too young to be here. Or maybe they’re just too good to care.
Jake Arrieta allowed four hits in nine dominant innings and the Cubs rolled to a 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL wild-card game on Wednesday night.
Arrieta struck out 11 without a walk. He also dusted himself off getting plunked by Pittsburgh reliever Tony Watson to send the Cubs to the NL Division Series in St. Louis starting on Friday.
Dexter Fowler homered and scored three times for the Cubs. Kyle Schwarber added a towering two-run shot off Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole as Chicago raced to an early lead and let Arrieta do the rest.
NFL
NEW YORK (AP) – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell expects owners will vote on franchise relocation to Los Angeles. When they do it is another matter.
Goodell said the owners expressed interest ”in wanting to be there, but also recognize we need to find solutions. Our relocation policy is very important.”
The St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers all have designs on moving to LA, which has not had an NFL franchise since 1995, when the Rams and Raiders left. The current timetable calls for submission of applications to relocate in January, when the owners could vote.
There has been speculation that timetable could be moved up to December, when the next owners meeting occurs in Dallas. But Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney said he doesn’t envision that.
NBA
NEW YORK (AP) – Knicks coach Derek Fisher was involved in an altercation with Memphis Grizzlies forward and former teammate Matt Barnes in California on Saturday, a person with knowledge of the details said.
The New York Post, citing an anonymous source, reported the altercation was because Fisher is dating Barnes’ estranged wife. Fisher filed for divorce from his wife, Candace, in March.
The person said Fisher traveled to Los Angeles after practice Saturday to see his children and the altercation happened that night while Fisher was attending a gathering at the home of Gloria Govan, Barnes’ estranged wife. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no comments were authorized.
Fisher missed practice Monday – the team announced at the time it was for personal reasons – and led the Knicks in their exhibition opener Wednesday night against a Brazilian club team.
FANTASY SPORTS
LAS VEGAS (AP) – As daily fantasy sports operators FanDuel and DraftKings hustle to prove they can be trusted by thousands of users each week, cheating allegations have served as a backdrop for lingering questions about an industry that has been unregulated.
Officials for the companies repeated that a DraftKings employee who won $350,000 in a FanDuel contest did nothing wrong, and did not have access to internal data before his entry into the contest was complete. But as the companies operate now, it’s up to users of the sites to take their word for it.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said the company is committed to creating an open and transparent environment.
DraftKings hasn’t responded to questions from The Associated Press about the degree of access employees have to internal information and when they can access it.
SOCCER
LONDON (AP) – Sepp Blatter could be facing a 90-day suspension.
The FIFA president’s future was being determined by the governing body’s ethics committee at meetings in Zurich, with Blatter at risk of being suspended after a criminal case was opened against him.
Blatter associate Klaus Stoehlker, who has no role at FIFA, told The Associated Press and other media outlets the ethics committee’s adjudicatory chamber recommended a 90-day suspension for the sport’s most powerful official.
Blatter’s lawyer, Richard Cullen, said the president ”has not been notified of any action taken by the FIFA ethics committee.”
ANTI-DOPING
MONTREAL (AP) – Leaders at the World Anti-Doping Agency say there’s no scientific reason to ban thyroid medication, despite reports that some high-profile long-distance runners use the medicine during training.
After reports that a number of athletes coached by former Boston and New York City Marathon winner Alberto Salazar take the medication, which can be used as a stimulant and to control weight, the British anti-doping agency and others asked WADA to consider putting it on its banned-substance list.
But when the list came out last week, that medicine wasn’t on it.
Olivier Rabin, the science director at WADA, said Wednesday that because the medicine stops the body from producing its own hormones once they reach a certain level, there’s no scientific reason to believe it enhances performance.
HOCKEY
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – San Jose Sharks forward Raffi Torres will not appeal his 41-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg in a preseason game.
The NHLPA said Torres will not contest the longest suspension in NHL history for a hit on another player.
This marks the fifth and most significant suspension for Torres in his career. His previous longest ban had been a 21-game suspension – initially 25 games – for a high hit on Chicago’s Marian Hossa in the first round of the playoffs in 2012 when he played for Arizona.
BOXING
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – Wladimir Klitschko is on schedule in his recovery from an injured left calf, and the heavyweight champion says he will be ready to defend his title belts against Tyson Fury next month.
Klitschko will begin training in less than two weeks at his usual camp in the Austrian Alps, the champ said while taking a brief break from rehabilitation in California.
The fight was delayed five weeks after Klitschko was injured in training last month. The bout was rescheduled for Nov. 28 at Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Germany, where a capacity crowd of 55,000 is still expected despite the date change.
