#playoffs

#playoffs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As Matthew Stafford walked out onto the field late in the fourth quarter with the chance to give the Los Angeles Rams the lead in their playoff game over the Carolina Panthers, he turned to Davante Adams. "Let's go snatch these guys' hearts," Stafford told the wide receiver, with the Rams trailing 31-27 in Charlotte. Stafford led the Rams to a 34-21 victory with a seven-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson.

As part of the Micah Parsons trade, Green Bay's first pick in April belongs to Dallas. But while the 18 non-playoff teams already know the order for their picks, the next 14 depend partially on playoff results. The losers of the six games this weekend will get picks 19-24, with the order being determined by regular-season records and any relevant tiebreakers.

It's pretty emotional, honestly. It's been a great year. So I'm thankful for these guys and excited to be going to the playoffs for the first time in a long while.

DISCLAIMER: The 'top stories' are simply ranked based on how much traffic they garnered for our site over the past calendar year. This is not an opinionated Top 10. The topic that made up the majority of our content between the end of the 2024-25 playoffs and the start of free agency was the Mitch Marner saga and everything that went into it. Whether Marner should stay, whether he wanted to, whether the Leafs wanted to bring him back, and where it all went wrong.

For longtime followers of the league, it's not surprising to see many of Liga MX's heavy hitters involved in the postseason. Current titleholders Toluca are in the mix at the top of the table, while fan favorite powerhouses such as Club América and Chivas de Guadalajara have secured invitations. Meanwhile, perennial playoff contenders such as Tigres, Monterrey and Cruz Azul have also put themselves in the running.

In between, Cherundolo proved to be one of the best coaches in league history, winning an MLS Cup, a U.S. Open Cup and more than 100 games in all competition in his short four-year stay. He took LAFC to a CONCACAF Champions League final and to the first round of the FIFA Club World Cup, compiling a resume no coach in MLS history can match.

Scotland beat 10-man Denmark 4-2 in Group C, with Scott McTominay scoring a superb bicycle kick goal three minutes into the match. Scotland scored a pair of stellar goals in second-half added time -- after Denmark had a player sent off -- to seal the win at Hampden Park. A 1-1 home draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina was enough for Austria in Group H, while Belgium routed Liechtenstein 7-0. Switzerland qualified after a 1-1 draw at Kosovo.

Ever since coming into existence in 1996, Major League Soccer has made a reputation of being unique. Unlike the other leading soccer leagues in the world, there's no promotion/relegation structure. And unlike other leagues, the champion is decided not in the regular season, but the playoffs. From its single-entity structure to profit sharing to the SuperDraft to discovery rights, there are a billion things that make MLS stick out like a sore thumb.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS WATER POLO PLAYOFFS WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS CITY SECTION FINALS At Valley College DIVISION I #3 Palisades 8, #1 Granada Hills 7 OPEN DIVISION #1 Cleveland 9, #2 Eagle Rock 4

There were almost too many heroes to count during the Los Angeles Dodgers playoff run in 2025, and among them was Clayton Kershaw playing in his final season. The 2025 World Series in particular saw each player on the 26-man roster make an important contribution in some form or another during the seven games against the Toronto Blue Jays. Each one was important to the final outcome and the series could have ended without them.

"Damn, I got a lot to say," Byron said. "Things have a way of working out. God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We've been tested. Just unbelievable. We just worked so hard, and you put everything into Sundays. Sometimes you don't get anything in return. That's been the last couple of weeks and honestly throughout the year. But sometimes life is that way. You just got to keep being resilient. We were. Just feels damn good."

"Who wouldn't want to be the focus and do what our organization is doing for the city and fans? To be quite frank, we draw more than anyone as far as any sports venue in the world. When you're drawing 4 million fans a year, the way you reciprocate is by investing in players, and that's what we've done."