The Sports Report: Shohei Ohtani, Max Scherzer honored by their peers

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

Mike DiGiovanna on baseball: Shohei Ohtani added to his postseason trophy haul Thursday when the Angels two-way star won Players Choice Awards — as voted by his peers — for Major League Baseball Player of the Year and American League Outstanding Player for 2021.

Dodgers right-hander Max Scherzer, who was acquired in a July 30 trade from the Washington Nationals, was named National League Outstanding pitcher.

Ohtani was honored before Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday with the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award for his unprecedented two-way performance this season, when he hit 46 home runs and drove in 100 runs as a batter and went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 23 starts as a pitcher.

Shohei Ohtani wins the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award from Rob Manfred before Game 1 in baseball’s World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

The left-handed-hitting slugger hit .257 with a .965 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 26 doubles, eight triples, 103 runs and 26 stolen bases. The right-hander combined a triple-digit fastball with a nasty split-fingered pitch to strike out 156 and walk 44 in 130 1/3 innings.

Ohtani edged out Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit .311 with a 1.002 OPS, a major league-tying 48 homers and 111 RBIs, and Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper, who hit .309 with a 1.044 OPS, 35 homers, 42 doubles and 84 RBIs, for the outstanding player award.

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Andrew Friedman clears the air on Dodgers’ pitching decisions and lackluster finish

Angels hire Tim McIlvaine as their new scouting director

Angels GM Perry Minasian’s fingerprints all over current success of Atlanta Braves

Padres hire Oakland’s Bob Melvin as new manager

KINGS

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice, Kyle Connor had three assists and the Winnipeg Jets used a third-period charge to defeat the Kings 3-2.

Andrew Copp had a power-play goal for the Jets, who have won four straight. Eric Comrie allowed two goals on 32 shots in his season debut.

Rasmus Kupari and Adrian Kempe scored, and Jonathan Quick made 28 saves for the Kings. Los Angeles has not won since beating the Vegas Golden Knights in their opener. The Kings are 0-5-1 in their last six.

The Jets kept pushing with their speed to take advantage of the Kings, who lost defenseman Drew Doughty for at least eight weeks because of a bruised knee and Sean Walker for the season because of a torn ACL and MCL during their recent four-game trip.

DUCKS

Rasmus Asplund scored his second goal with 43.9 seconds left in overtime, and the Buffalo Sabres blew a three-goal lead before rallying for a 4-3 victory over the Ducks.

Zemgus Girgensons and Arttu Ruotsalainen also scored for the Sabres, who opened a four-game West Coast trip by earning at least a point for the sixth time in their seven games. Craig Anderson stopped 34 shots in a standout performance in goal.

Anthony Stolarz made 25 saves and Simon Benoit tied it with his first career NHL goal early in the third period for the Ducks, who lost their fifth straight. Troy Terry extended his points streak to six games with a goal for Anaheim, and Adam Henrique scored his 200th career goal.

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf had an assist for his 987th point, moving him one behind Teemu Selanne for the Ducks’ franchise scoring record.

CHARGERS

Jeff Miller on the Chargers: Coming off his poorest game of the season, Justin Herbert next faces the defense that led to his poorest game of last season.

New England visits SoFi Stadium on Sunday to catch Herbert and the Chargers attempting to bounce back from a 34-6 loss at Baltimore on Oct. 17.

“When you have a day like that, you don’t think anyone really did anything great,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said. Later, he added, “Those days happen sometimes in the NFL.”

Indeed. One of those days happened to the 2020 Chargers, as well, when they fell to the Patriots 45-0 in December at home.

That remains the only game in which Herbert failed to complete 50% of his passes. He finished 26 of 53. He also had a career-low quarterback rating of 43.7 and threw two interceptions, something he has done only two other times.

RAMS

Gary Klein on the Rams: The NFL is a cold business, and Rams rookie linebacker Ernest Jones experienced that first-hand and with mixed emotions this week.

Veteran Kenny Young welcomed Jones and helped him adapt to NFL life after the Rams selected Jones in the third round of the draft. He mentored Jones on the field and in the film room.

When the Rams surprisingly traded Young to the Denver Broncos, Jones was thrust into a potential starting role for Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans.

“We had built a great relationship,” Jones said Thursday after practice, “so I just definitely wanted more to be there for him than thinking about that it’s my turn to start playing.”

WORLD SERIES SCHEDULE

All times Pacific

Game 1: Atlanta 6, at Houston 2
Game 2: at Houston 7, Atlanta 2
Game 3: Tonight, Houston at Atlanta, 5 p.m., Fox, ESPN Radio
Game 4: Saturday, Houston at Atlanta, 5 p.m., Fox, ESPN Radio
Game 5: Sunday, Houston at Atlanta, 5 p.m., Fox, ESPN Radio
Game 6*: Tuesday, Atlanta at Houston, 5 p.m., Fox, ESPN Radio
Game 7*: Wednesday, Atlanta at Houston, 5 p.m., Fox, ESPN Radio

*-if necessary

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1950 — Detroit’s Wally Triplett gains 294 yards in kickoff returns and ends up with 331 total yards as the Lions pound the Rams 65-24 on 41 third-quarter points.

1961 — Oscar Robertson dishes out a franchise-record 22 assists during Cincinnati’s 139-132 win over visiting Syracuse. The “Big O” goes on to average a triple-double (30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg and 11.4 apg) for the Royals during the 1961-62 season, becoming the first NBA player to average double figures in assists.

1977 — Boston’s John Havlicek becomes the second player in NBA history to connect on 10,000 career field goals, reaching the milestone in a 103-98 loss at Cleveland.

1977 — Russell Erxleben of Texas kicks a 60-yard field goal in a 26-0 rout of Texas Tech for his third field goal of the season over 60 yards, an NCAA record.

1983 — Gil Fenerty rushes for 337 yards in 18 carries and scores six touchdowns to lead Holy Cross to a 77-28 rout of Columbia.

1984 — Orlando Pizzolato wins the New York Marathon in 2:14:53 and Grete Waitz captures the women’s title in 2:29:30.

1994 — Arnold Mickens rushes for more than 200 yards for the eighth consecutive game, breaking the NCAA Division I-AA single-season rushing record as Butler beats Evansville 49-14. Mickens’ 244 yards gives him a total of 2,111, surpassing the record of 2,016 set by Towson State’s Tony Vinson.

2005 — Top-ranked USC wins its 30th straight game, routing Washington State 55-13. The Trojans tie Texas for the 11th-longest winning streak in major college football history.

2006 — With a a 34-31 victory over Denver, Indianapolis is the first team to start 7-0 in consecutive seasons since the 1929-31 Green Bay Packers did it three straight times.

2011 — Joe Paterno breaks Eddie Robinson’s record for victories by a Division I coach with No. 409 in Penn State’s sloppy 10-7 win over Illinois.

2014 — Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants succeed where no team had in 3 1/2 decades, winning Game 7 on the road for their third World Series title in five years. Bumgarner comes out of the bullpen to pitch five scoreless innings on two days’ rest as the Giants held off the Kansas City Royals 3-2.

2017 — Russell Wilson hits Jimmy Graham for an 18-yard touchdown with 21 seconds left, his second TD catch of the fourth quarter, to lead Seattle over Houston 41-38. Wilson finishes 26 of 41 for a career-high 452 yards and four TDs. Deshaun Watson is nearly the equal of Wilson, throwing for 402 yards and four touchdowns and three interceptions.

2017 — Caroline Wozniacki wins the biggest title of her career when she beat Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the WTA Finals.

2017 — Justin Rose mounts the third-largest final-round comeback in PGA TOUR history to win the WGC-HSBC Champions. Rose starts the final round eight shots behind Dustin Johnson, who ties a record for losing the largest lead in the final round. The historic 5-under 67 round by Rose is keyed by a back-nine 31. Rose finishes at 14-under 274 and Johnson who finishes with a 77, ties for second with Henrik Stenson and Brooks Koepka, two strokes back.

Supplied by the Associated Press

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