Sports · Friday, 25 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

The WNBA's playoffs start on Sunday. The Mystics took fifth place from the Fever on the games between them.

Eight teams are left in the WNBA, the top women's basketball league in the US, and two of them finished level on 28-16. The Washington Mystics went fifth because they won two of their three games against the Indiana Fever.

teams left in the WNBA, and the playoffs start on Sunday

every first-round series is best of three games [3]

28-16

the record of both the Mystics and the Fever

the Mystics won two of the three games between them, so they are fifth [3][1]

16 of 19

of their last games won by the Washington Mystics

they had missed the playoffs in each of the two seasons before [2][3]

2nd

season for the Golden State Valkyries, now the No. 2 seed

no club had made the playoffs in each of its first two seasons before [4]

The lead story — what happened

The regular season of the WNBA, the top women's basketball league in the US, ended on Thursday night. [1][2]
Eight teams are in the playoffs, and all four first-round series start on Sunday. [3]
Each first-round series is best of three games. The higher seed is at home for game one and for any game three. [3]
The Minnesota Lynx are the No. 1 seed and play the No. 8 New York Liberty, a repeat of the 2024 final. [9]
The Lynx lost six regular players last winter, and their star Napheesa Collier had surgery on both ankles. [8]
They still led the league from 12 July, and they are the top seed for a second year running, the first time since 2016 and 2017. [8]
The Golden State Valkyries, a club in only its second season, are No. 2 and play the Dallas Wings. [1][4]
The Valkyries kept second place on Thursday by coming back from 16 points down to beat the Los Angeles Sparks. [4][5] They had lost all three games to the Aces, so a defeat could have dropped them to third. [3]
The Las Vegas Aces, last year's champions, are No. 3 and meet the No. 6 Indiana Fever. A'ja Wilson scored 34 in their last game. [6]
The Atlanta Dream beat the Liberty 83-65 on Wednesday to take No. 4, so they host the first game against the Washington Mystics. [3][7][2]
The Mystics and the Fever both finished 28-16. [3][1] The Mystics went fifth because they won two of the three games between the teams. [3][10]
The Mystics had missed the playoffs for two seasons, and they won 16 of their last 19 games. [2][3]
The Lynx held the tiebreak over the Valkyries too, having won three of their four games against them. [12]
Six months ago a labour dispute between the players and the league made it unclear whether this season would start at all. [11]

Who is involved

Minnesota Lynx

the WNBA's No. 1 seed, coached by Cheryl Reeve; they lost six regular players last winter and still led from July
Golden State Valkyries

a club from the San Francisco area in its second season; the first ever to make the playoffs in each of its first two years
Washington Mystics

a club that missed the last two playoffs; fifth seed after winning the season series against the Fever
Indiana Fever

Caitlin Clark's club; level on wins with the Mystics, it drops to sixth and starts away at Las Vegas
Las Vegas Aces

last year's champions, led by A'ja Wilson, the league's most valuable player last season

How it unfolded

Sun 20 Sep the Mystics beat the Fever 93-77 in Indianapolis and take the season series [10]
Tue 22 Sep the Valkyries lose in overtime to the Portland Fire, and the Lynx clinch No. 1 [8]
Wed 23 Sep the Dream beat the Liberty 83-65 and lock in No. 4 [3][7]
Thu 24 Sep last night of the season; the Mystics beat the Chicago Sky and pass the Fever [1][2]
Sun 27 Sep all four first-round series begin [3]

Where this points

Watch game one in Atlanta on Sunday: the Dream earned home court by one place, and the Mystics arrive having won 16 of their last 19. [2][7]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Ties settled by earlier games High↑

The Mystics finished level with the Fever and took fifth place on the games between them. [3] In baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs both hold the tiebreak over the San Diego Padres for a playoff place. [25] The Toronto Tempo beat the Connecticut Sun in their season series, which settles any odd share of next year's draft lottery. [9]

Punishments taken to appeal Building↑

An appeals board cleared Lachie Neale, Brisbane's captain, to play Saturday's Australian rules Grand Final. [15] The American football player Ja'Marr Chase says he will appeal his fine for a touchdown celebration. [23] A New York judge gave the basketball player Roddy Gayle a fifth college season, and the NCAA, which runs US college sport, is expected to appeal. [21]

Stars missing at playoff time Building↑

The New York Yankees' manager expects Aaron Judge to miss baseball's first playoff round with a calf strain. [26] Olivia Miles, the Lynx's top rookie, missed the team's last two games with a calf injury. [3][8] The New York Giants confirmed their quarterback Jaxson Dart is out for the season. [26]

The rest of the day

13 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Neale cleared to play the Grand Final

Lachie Neale, Brisbane's star player, will play Saturday's AFL Grand Final after the league's appeals board cleared him on Thursday night. [15] The AFL is the top league in Australian rules football. Neale had been banned for one match for striking Jack Ginnivan. [15] The rule that freed him lets a player with an exemplary record argue it is an exceptional circumstance, and Neale had never been banned in 320 games. [15] Brisbane play Fremantle at the MCG in Melbourne at 2:30pm on Saturday. [16]

Why it matters — Brisbane, chasing a third title in a row, get their captain back for the biggest game of the year. [16][15] A Sporting News columnist wrote that plenty of fans still think Neale should miss it. [15]
03
The US lead the Presidents Cup after day one

The United States lead the International team 3-2 after Thursday's first five matches of the Presidents Cup, a team golf event, at Medinah near Chicago. [17][18] The Americans are trying to win it for an 11th time in a row. [17] Scottie Scheffler, the world number one, won a match with Sam Burns for the first time, after they had struggled together before. [17] Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and first-timer Ryo Hisatsune won a point, and so did South Korea's Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim. [17][18] The first team to 15.5 of the 30 points wins. [17]

Why it matters — The International team has won once, in 1998, and the two sides tied in 2003. [17] Five more matches are played on Friday, and all 24 players play singles on Sunday. [18]
04
The Laver Cup starts in London

The Laver Cup, a three-day team tennis event, starts on Friday at London's O2 Arena. [20] Team Europe includes Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, and Team World includes Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur. [19] A match win is worth one point on Friday, two on Saturday and three on Sunday, and the first team to 13 wins. [19] With four matches a day, that is 4, 8 and 12 points, so Sunday carries half the total. [19] Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton pulled out of Team World, and Francisco Cerundolo and Brandon Nakashima replace them. [29]

Friday4
Saturday8
Sunday12
Points on offer each day of the Laver Cup. Sunday's matches carry as many points as Friday's and Saturday's together.

Why it matters — Each player on the winning team gets an extra $250,000, and the losing team gets nothing more. [19] Team World won 15-9 in San Francisco last year, and Europe leads the series five wins to three. [20]
05
A judge gives Michigan's Gayle a fifth season

A New York state judge ruled on Thursday that Roddy Gayle can play a fifth college season for Michigan, last season's national basketball champions. [21] The NCAA, which runs US college sport, changed its rules in June to allow five seasons, but not for players who graduated in 2026. [21] Hundreds of athletes hired lawyers to fight that cut-off. [21] Gayle graduated after four seasons and played two NBA Summer League games without ever signing a contract. [21] The NCAA is expected to appeal. [21]

Why it matters — Michigan get back an experienced guard after losing their coach to the NBA and a top freshman to a knee injury. [21] Each ruling like this adds pressure on a rule that hundreds of other players are also fighting in court. [21]
06
The NFL fines players for celebrations

The NFL, American football's top league, fined at least four players this week over their celebrations. [23] San Francisco's Kyle Juszczyk was fined $14,926 for miming drinking a beer, which he says is a nod to his nickname, Juice. [22][23] Indianapolis's Matt Goncalves was fined $8,847 for a similar gesture. [23] Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase says he will appeal his own fine, for a move he says copied a wrestler. [23] Juszczyk has already appealed. [22]

Kyle Juszczyk$14,926
Matt Goncalves$8,847
Two of this week's celebration fines. Chase's amount has not been reported.

Why it matters — The money goes to two league charities, and the NFL has collected about $4m a year in fines since 2011. [24] Chase said star players should push the players' union to fight the fines. [23]
07
A win that may cost the Sun the top pick

The Connecticut Sun beat the Toronto Tempo 95-81 on Thursday, in a game between two of the WNBA's worst teams. [4][9] That left both clubs level for the best odds in next year's draft lottery, which decides who picks first. [9] The league judges most teams on two seasons of results, to stop them losing on purpose. [9] The Tempo, a new club, are judged on this season alone. [9] If the chances cannot be split evenly, the Tempo win the tiebreak because they won the season series. [9]

Why it matters — The Sun move to Houston in 2027 after two losing seasons, and the draft is expected to include JuJu Watkins, whom CBS Sports says could change a club. [9] Their own win on the last night may have cost them sole hold of the best chance. [9]
08
Nneka Ogwumike plays her last game

Nneka Ogwumike played the last game of her 15-year career on Thursday for the Los Angeles Sparks. [5] She had 17 points and 15 rebounds, her 19th double-double of the season, meaning ten or more of both in one game. [5] Her 134th career double-double is the sixth-most in league history. [5] Ogwumike, the league's best player in 2016 and an 11-time All-Star, announced her retirement on 19 August. [5][14] The Sparks led Golden State by 12 with under five minutes left and lost. [5]

Why it matters — The Sparks' season ends outside the playoffs, so this was her farewell. [5] She said recently she had learned there is power in knowing when to walk away. [14]
09
Baseball's last weekend comes down to tiebreaks

Baseball's regular season ends this weekend with several playoff places still open. [25] Going into Thursday, the San Diego Padres led the Phillies and the Cubs by one game for the top wild-card spot, a place for good teams that did not win their division. [25] Both the Phillies and the Cubs hold the tiebreak over San Diego. [25] Texas and Houston were tied for the American League West title, and Houston holds that tiebreak. [25] A storm forced Boston and the Cubs into two games on Friday. [25]

Why it matters — The Padres can finish level with either team and still lose out, because the tiebreak was settled by games played earlier. [25] San Diego end the season with three games against Arizona. [25]
10
Judge expected to miss the first round

The New York Yankees' manager, Aaron Boone, said he expects Aaron Judge to miss the wild-card series, baseball's first playoff round, with a calf strain. [26] Judge himself is pushing to play. [26] On the bracket as it stood on Thursday, the Yankees would face their biggest rivals without him. [26]

Why it matters — The wild-card round is short, so a team without its best hitter has little time to recover from one bad game.
11
Fury against Joshua is set for Cardiff

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, two British heavyweight boxers, will fight on 11 December at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. [27] ESPN reported on Thursday that the date is confirmed. [27] The two have been talking about fighting each other for more than a decade, and earlier plans kept falling through. [27]

Why it matters — Both men are British, and the fight will now be held in Britain, at a stadium in Wales. [27]
12
India add five medals on day five

India won two silver and three bronze medals on Thursday, the fifth day of the Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan. [28] Their mixed 4x400m relay team won silver. [28] Roshibina Devi won silver in wushu, a Chinese martial art, at 60kg. [28] Seema won bronze in the women's 10,000m, and a men's rowing pair took bronze. [28] In kabaddi, a team game of tag and wrestling, India's women beat Japan 50-25 to reach the semi-finals. [28]

Why it matters — Reaching the kabaddi semi-finals guarantees India's women a medal before they play again. [28]
13
The Giants lose Jaxson Dart for the season

The New York Giants confirmed that their quarterback Jaxson Dart is out for the season with a knee injury. [26] Jameis Winston replaced him on Monday night and did not play well, CBS Sports wrote. [26] The Giants may now look for a quarterback in a trade. [26] One name CBS Sports raised is Joe Flacco, who won a Super Bowl in 2012 with the Giants' coach, John Harbaugh, when both were at Baltimore. [26]

Why it matters — Washington have also just lost their quarterback, Jayden Daniels, so two clubs could be looking for the same few players. [26]
14
Towns and the Knicks stall on a new deal

Contract talks between the New York Knicks and Karl-Anthony Towns have stalled, CBS Sports reported. [26] Towns helped the Knicks win their first NBA title in 53 years. [26] A new deal now looks unlikely before training camp starts. [26] The Knicks' owner, James Dolan, wants to stay below the second apron, a spending level where the NBA adds heavy extra penalties on top of its luxury tax. [26]

Why it matters — The Knicks must choose between paying to keep their title team together and staying under the apron. [26] CBS Sports wrote that the current group may not have long left together. [26]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why the games between two rivals decide a tie

When two teams finish with the same record, most leagues look first at the games the two played against each other, so those games carry extra weight.

The twist

A win over the team next to you in the table is worth more than a win over anyone else, because if you finish level it also decides who goes higher.

The picture

No. 6Indiana Fever: 28-16, won one of the three games between them

No. 5Washington Mystics: 28-16, won two of the three

The same record and a different seed. The three games the two clubs played against each other decided it.

How it works

Two teams finish a season with the same record
The league still has to put one above the other
It looks first at the games the two played against each other
The team that won more of those games goes higher
So a win over a close rival also decides any tie

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

The Mystics pass the Fever

Both finished 28-16, and the Mystics went fifth because they had won two of the three games between them.
Baseball's last weekend comes down to tiebreaks

The Phillies and the Cubs each hold the tiebreak over the Padres, so finishing level with San Diego is enough for either of them.
A win that may cost the Sun the top pick

If the lottery chances cannot be split evenly, the league looks at the games between the two clubs, and the Tempo won that series.

Where you've seen this

Council votes

when a vote is tied, many councils let the chair cast a deciding vote, under a rule written long before the vote

School places

when two children meet the same entry rules, many schools use distance from home to decide

Tied elections

some places settle a tied election by drawing lots, which is chance instead of an earlier result

The catch

A tiebreak only matters when the records end level: the Valkyries lost all three games to the Aces and still finished second, one win ahead.

And the whole of it

The Fever and the Mystics played three games against each other this season without knowing they would finish level. Nobody inside a season can tell which game will end up deciding a tie, so players, coaches and fans all find out at the end.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

The WNBA's fifth place went to the Washington Mystics, not the Indiana Fever, because the Mystics won two of their three games against them. [3] Separately on Thursday, two first decisions were overturned: an AFL appeals board cleared Lachie Neale to play the Grand Final, and a New York judge gave Roddy Gayle a college season the NCAA had refused. [15][21]

Who gains

Washington Mystics — Winning two of three games against the Fever gave them fifth place and a series against Atlanta instead of the champions. [3][1]
Brisbane Lions — The appeals board cleared their captain, Lachie Neale, so he plays Saturday's Grand Final. [15]
Michigan's basketball team — The ruling gives it back Roddy Gayle, an experienced guard, after it lost its coach and a top freshman. [21]
Toronto Tempo — As a new club only this season counts for its lottery odds, and it holds the tiebreak over the Sun. [9]
Two NFL charities — Player fines go to the Professional Athletes Foundation and the NFL Foundation, about $4m a year since 2011. [24]

Who pays

Indiana Fever — Level on wins with the Mystics, they drop to sixth and start away at the champions, Las Vegas. [3][1]
Connecticut Sun — Beating the Tempo on the last night left them level for the best lottery odds instead of alone at the top. [4][9]
Kyle Juszczyk and Matt Goncalves — They were fined $14,926 and $8,847 for gestures the NFL called offensive. [23]
Fremantle — They now face Brisbane in the Grand Final with Neale in the side. [15][16]
The NCAA — Its cut-off for 2026 graduates lost in a New York court, and hundreds of other athletes are fighting it. [21]
New York Yankees — Their manager expects to start the playoffs without Aaron Judge. [26]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

Whether Roddy Gayle's fifth season survives.

The NCAA is expected to appeal and the timing is unclear. [21] A federal order in Colorado that briefly freed other 2026 graduates has since been paused. [21]
02

Why the appeals board cleared Lachie Neale.

The only account we could read is a Sporting News column, which quotes the rule on exemplary records. [15] The board's own reasons were not in any source in our pool.
03

How the Sun and the Tempo will share the lottery odds.

The league has not announced the odds for this year's seven lottery teams, up from five last year. [9]
04

How much Ja'Marr Chase and his team-mate Tee Higgins were fined.

CBS Sports said it is unclear how much they owe. [23]
05

Whether Aaron Judge plays in the first playoff round.

His manager expects him to miss it, and Judge says he wants to play. [26]
06

The score of the Lynx's loss to the Fever on Tuesday.

ESPN and Sporting News give it as 96-77, and CBS Sports gives 96-79. [3][13][8] We did not use either figure in the briefing.
07

Whether Olivia Miles is fit for the Lynx's first playoff game.

She missed the team's last two games with a calf injury. [3]
08

Whether Fury against Joshua really happens this time.

Plans for the fight kept falling through for more than a decade before this date was announced. [27]

04 Hope carry this

Napheesa Collier had surgery on both ankles after last season. She was back on court in July, and the Minnesota Lynx finished the regular season as the WNBA's top seed.

Also true today

Nneka Ogwumike played the last game of her 15-year career on Thursday with 17 points and 15 rebounds. It was her 134th double-double, the sixth-most in the league's history.
The Washington Mystics missed the playoffs for two years in a row. This season they won 16 of their last 19 games and start the playoffs on Sunday.
Ryo Hisatsune played his first Presidents Cup match on Thursday and won it, with Hideki Matsuyama as his partner.
Roddy Gayle finished four seasons of college basketball and graduated. On Thursday a judge ruled he can play one more.