Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 9.18.23.

Sports That Aren't HockeyTwinsVikingsGophersWildLynxTimberwolvesPWHLLoons

Sep 18

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We’re about a week away from Kirk Cousins to the Jets, first bantered about by ESPN’s Kevin Siefert, from not sounding so silly. Lose Sunday against the Chargers and it’s time to Quit for Caleb.

PWHL’s inaugural draft is today at noon. As you heard here first, there’s zero chance Minnesota GM Natalie Darwitz doesn’t take Taylor Heise of the Gophers wih the first overall pick. Snake draft, so the team which still doesn’t have a name won’t pick again until No. 12. Darwitz hired former Bethel (men’s and women’s) coach Charlie Burggraf as the head coach. Burggras was an assistant with the Gophers when Darwitz played.

Twins’ Magic Number Six after Gray Dominates White Sox

Would you believe there are two American League pitchers with an ERA under 3.00 - and one of them is Sonny Gray? We’ll see if he can catch the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole (2.81 to Gray’s 2.96), but Gray’s seven shutout innings in a 4-0 win over the White Sox on Sunday lowered the Twins’ magic number to six games.

Twelve games left, it’s just a formality. How’s that sound, Twins fans?

Assuming the division title is wrapped up sometime before next week It’ll be interesting to see how Rocco arranges his post-season pitching rotation. You’ve got Gray, Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan, all of whom you’d feel comfortable in a Game 1. Will it be Toronto, Texas or Seattle? Time will tell, but the Twins would host all three games of a best-of-three Wild Card series.

Yes, the AL Central is woeful, but this isn’t like past years where you just get fat and happy against your division foes. The schedule is much tougher this year.

Sunday, Eddie Julien and Jorge Polanco each hit homers in support of Gray. Julien certainly looks to be the leadoff hitter the first Tuesday of October.

Lynx Force Winner Take All Game 3 at Home

The WNBA’s best-of-three first round series is an awkward set up. The higher seed gets the first two games at home, and as a lower seed if you can steal a game then you have a chance to move into the semifinals with a win at home.

That’s what the Lynx will attempt to do on Wednesday, having recovered from a 30-point thumping in Game 1 with a 82-75 win in Connecticut yesterday. Kayla McBride and Napheesa Collier combined for 54 points.

7 p.m. tipoff Wednesday at Target Center, with a nationally televised game on ESPN.

Gophers Fall 31-13 at UNC

The Gophers fell behind early but were still within a score early in the third quarter, before No. 20 North Carolina pulled away for a 31-13 win in Chapel Hill. It marked just the second non conference loss for the Gophers under P.J. Fleck.

Minnesota ran the ball fine - 138 yards from Darius Taylor. But they can’t put the game on Athan Kaliakmanis’ shoulders, at least right now. He completed just 11-of-29 passes for 133 yards and an interception.

UNC outgained Minnesota 519 yards to 313.

The Gophers host Louisiana this Saturday. I used to live in Lafayette.

Loons’ Seven-Game Unbeaten Streak Snapped

The Loons lost 1-0 at home to Sporting KC on Saturday, snapping a seven-game unbeaten streak but continuing a trend of having problems scoring at Allianz Field. The loss allowed ninth-place KC to get within two of the Loons.

It’s a quick turnaround too for Minnesota, which is in L.A. to face the Galaxy, the second worst team in the West, on Wednesday. At some point, they need to start getting three points per match and not one.

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