Verlander reunites with former Tiger Scherzer in New York – Tuesdayo Morning Sports Update

MLB – AP source: Verlander agrees to 2-year contract with Mets
A person familiar with the negotiations says Justin Verlander has agreed to an $86.7 million, two-year contract with the New York Mets. The deal reunites the AL Cy Young Award winner with Max Scherzer and gives the Mets a high-profile replacement for Jacob deGrom. The deal includes a vesting third-year option, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because there was no announcement. Verlander leaves World Series champion Houston to step in for deGrom, who agreed to a $185 million, five-year contract with Texas last week. It also puts Verlander on the same team as Scherzer after they played together with the Tigers from 2010-14. Verlander turns 40 in February.

MLB – Judge looms; Verlander, Turner deals heat up winter meetings
Justin Verlander is going to the New York Mets. Trea Turner has agreed to a blockbuster deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. Baseball’s first winter meetings since 2019 kicked into high gear when Verlander agreed to an $86.7 million, two-year deal with New York, and Turner joined Philadelphia for a $300 million, 11-year contract. Clayton Kershaw also returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a $20 million, one-year deal. The biggest outstanding question at the end of an impactful day at a downtown San Diego hotel centered on the status of MVP Aaron Judge, who remains a free agent after setting the AL home run record and powering the Yankees to a division title.

NFL – National Football League – Week 13
Yesterday
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17, New Orleans Saints 16

Buccaneers 17, Saints 16 – Brady throws for 2 late TDs, Buccaneers beat Saints 17-16
Tom Brady threw a pair of touchdown passes in the final three minutes Monday night, helping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rally from a 13-point deficit to beat the New Orleans Saints 17-16 and tighten their grip on first place in the weak NFC South. The seven-time Super Bowl champion tossed a one-yard TD pass to rookie Cade Otton, finishing a 91-yard drive to pull within 16-10 with exactly three minutes remaining. He got the ball back with 2:29 to go, then won it with a 6-yard throw to another rookie, Rachaad White, with three seconds left.

NFL – Packers GM, coach want Rodgers back next season
A day after Aaron Rodgers said returning for a 19th season with the Green Bay Packers will require a “mutual desire on both sides”, his general manager agreed with the franchise quarterback. “Surely, yeah,” GM Brian Gutekunst said on Monday, a day after a 28-19 victory at the Chicago Bears moved the Packers to 5-8. Even with 2020 first-round pick Jordan Love waiting in the wings, the Packers want Rodgers back. Coach Matt LaFleur also said on Monday “absolutely” he’d want Rodgers back for 2023.

NHL – National Hockey League
Tonight
Detroit Red Wings at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:00 p.m.
Chicago Blackhawks at New Jersey Devils, 7:00 p.m.

NBA – National Basketball Association
Last Night
Indiana Pacers 112, Golden State Warriors 104

Pacers 112, Warriors 104 – Rookie Nembhard has 31, leads Pacers past Warriors, 112-104
Rookie Andrew Nembhard scored a season-high 31 points and added 13 assists and eight rebounds to lead the undermanned Indiana Pacers to a 112-104 victory over the Golden State Warriors. A second-round draft pick, Nembhard made a key 3-pointer with 4:26 to go and another jumper less than two minutes later. Indiana played without starting point guard Tyrese Haliburton for a second straight game as he nurses soreness in his left groin. Klay Thompson scored 28 points and made eight 3-pointers on the six-year anniversary of his 60-point masterpiece against the Pacers. Stephen Curry was held to 12 points on 3-for-17 shooting.

Tonight
Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat, 7:30 p.m.

NCAAFB – Bennett, Duggan, Stroud, Williams are Heisman finalists
Quarterbacks Stetson Bennett of Georgia, Max Duggan of TCU, C.J. Stroud of Ohio State and Caleb Williams of Southern California are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy. The award given to the outstanding player in college football is determined by a vote of more than 900 sports journalists and past winners. It will be presented Saturday night at the Lincoln Center in New York. Williams and Stroud also are finalists for the Maxwell Award as the top performer in the college game. Williams, Stroud and Duggan also are up for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.

NCAAMBKB – Men’s College Basketball
Last Night
Western Michigan 94, Concordia (MI) 50

WMU 94, Concordia 50 – Western Michigan defeats Concordia (MI) 94-50
Markeese Hastings and Tray Maddox Junior each scored 22 points for Western Michigan in a 94-50 win over Concordia in Kalamazoo on Monday.  Western had a 50-16 advantage in rebounding to improve to 3-6 on the season.

NCAAMBKB – Preseason No. 1 North Carolina drops out of AP Top 25
Houston and Texas remain firmly entrenched atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll. The Cougars earned 37 first-place votes to stay at No. 1 for the second straight week. This is the program’s first stint at the top since the “Phi Slama Jama” days of the 1980s. Connecticut has climbed to No. 5 while Tennessee and Alabama cracked the top 10 for the first time. Preseason No. 1 North Carolina has dropped out entirely after losing four straight games.

NCAAMBKB – NCAA Game clashes with World Cup fever in London
Kentucky and Michigan finally played their London game, but organizers aren’t exactly running a fast break to get back to the British capital. The Basketball Hall of Fame London Showcase was delayed because of the coronavirus, and then Sunday’s game tipped off an hour before England played Senegal in the World Cup. Basketball Hall of Fame president and CEO John Doleva says “we’ve certainly had our hurdles.” The Wildcats beat Michigan 73-69 in the marquee game at O2 Arena before 8,242 fans as part of a doubleheader that featured Marist against Maine earlier. That’s less than half the sold-out crowds of the regular-season NBA games held at the O2 between 2011 and 2019.

NCAAWBKB – Women’s College Basketball
Last Night
Purdue 76, Michigan State 71 – OT

NCAAWBKB – Stanford’s VanDerveer tops women’s Top 25 appearances
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer stands atop The Associated Press women’s basketball poll with the most appearances all-time, breaking a tie with the late Pat Summitt. VanDerveer’s Cardinal remains No. 2 behind South Carolina. She has spent 592 weeks ranked with Stanford ater 27 weeks in the poll while leading Ohio State. Ohio State, Indiana and Notre Dame round out the top five. Louisville has fallen out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2016.

NCAAWBKB – Three teams withdraw from Vegas tournament
The Dayton, Purdue and Texas A&M women’s basketball teams have withdrawn from a Las Vegas tournament. Their departures are part of the continuing fallout from a similar event at a Strip resort over Thanksgiving weekend where safety concerns were raised. Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic operations manager Bret Seymour said the three schools had agreed to be additions to his tournament in coordination with officials from Destination Basketball. Destination Basketball ran the Las Vegas Invitational last month at The Mirage that experienced multiple issues, including not having medical personnel on site. Auburn freshman Kharyssa Richardson lay on the court for 50 minutes after falling hard and appearing to hit her head before EMTs arrived.

MHSAA – High School Sports
Last Night
Boys Basketball – Season Openers
Our Lady of the Lake 46, Lawrence 39
Lawton 49, Michigan Lutheran 46
Brandywine 68, Constantine 28
Watervliet 75, Dowagiac 36
Kalamazoo Phoenix 70, Gull Lake 47

Girls Basketball
Benton Harbor 55, Michigan Lutheran 25
Berrien Springs 33, Niles 31

Tonight
Boys Basketball – Season Openers
Harper Creek at St. Joseph, 7:00 p.m.
South Bend Clay (IN) at Niles, 7:15 p.m.
River Valley at Berrien Springs, 7:00 p.m.
Saugatuck at Bridgman, 7:15 p.m.
Galesburg-Augusta at Coloma, 7:00 p.m.
Bloomingdale at Buchanan, 7:30 p.m.
Bangor at Covert, 6:00 p.m.
GR NorthPointe Christian at Fennville, 7:00 p.m.
Burr Oak at Howardsville Christian, 7:30 p.m.
Decatur at New Buffalo, 7:15 p.m.
Gobles at South Haven, 7:00 p.m.
Eau Claire at Wyoming Godwin Heights, 7:00 p.m.
Lawton at Marcellus, 7:00 p.m.
Holland Black River at Allegan, 7:00 p.m.
Delton-Kellogg at Vermontville Maple Valley, 7:00 p.m.
Martin at Wyoming Lee, 7:30 p.m.
Paw Paw at Mattawan, 7:00 p.m.
Three Rivers at Cassopolis, 7:30 p.m.
Comstock at Parchment, 7:00 p.m.
Marshall at Edwardsburg, 7:00 p.m.
Middleville Thornapple Kellogg at Plainwell, 7:15 p.m.
Kalamazoo Hackett at Centreville, 7:30 p.m.
Schoolcraft at Vicksburg, 7:00 p.m.
Portage Central at Otsego, 7:15 p.m.
Portage Northern at Kalamazoo Christian, 7:00 p.m.
Mendon at Colon, 7:30 p.m.
Jackson at Battle Creek Central, 7:00 p.m.
Sturgis at Coldwater, 7:00 p.m.

Girls Basketball
St. Joseph at Benton Harbor, 6:30 p.m.
Our Lady of the Lake at Kalamazoo Hackett, 7:00 p.m.
Watervliet at Gobles, 7:00 p.m.
Coloma at Martin, 7:00 p.m.
South Haven at Saugatuck, 7:00 p.m.
New Buffalo at Watervliet Grace Christian, 6:00 p.m.
Mattawan at Paw Paw, 7:00 p.m.
Dowagiac at Decatur, 7:00 p.m.
Marcellus at Bangor, 7:30 p.m.
Cassopolis at Hartford, 7:30 p.m.
Centreville at Lawrence, 7:30 p.m.
White Pigeon at Bloomingdale, 6:00 p.m.
Fennville at Holland Black River, 7:00 p.m.
Mendon at Comstock, 7:30 p.m.
Otsego at Portage Central, 7:00 p.m.
Kalamazoo Christian at Portage Northern, 7:00 p.m.
Burr Oak at Howardsville Christian, 6:00 p.m.
Three Rivers at Gull Lake, 7:00 p.m.
Sturgis at Coldwater, 5:30 p.m.
Schoolcraft at Vicksburg, 5:30 p.m.
Plainwell at Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, 7:00 p.m.
Delton-Kellogg at Vermontville Maple Valley, 6:00 p.m.
Allegan at Galesburg-Augusta, 7:00 p.m.

FIFA – 2022 FIFA World Cup – Qatar
Yesterday
Knockout Round – Round of 16
Croatia 1, Japan 1 – Croatia wins on PK’s 3-1
Brazil 4, South Korea 1

Croatia 1, Japan 1 – Croatis wins on PK’s – Croatia going deep again at World Cup after shootout win
Croatia is going deep at another World Cup and the team is taking the long route once again. Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic saved three penalty kicks in his team’s 3-1 win over Japan in a shootout. The result secured a return to the quarterfinals for the runners-up in the 2018 tournament. Mario Pasalic converted the clinching penalty for Croatia after the teams were tied at 1-1 after extra time. Livakovic saved penalties from Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitomo and Maya Yoshida. Japan had been looking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time but fell short again.

Brazil 4, South Korea 1 – Neymar scores, Brazil advances to quarterfinals at World Cup
Neymar scored a goal in his return from injury and Brazil beat South Korea 4-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Neymar converted a first-half penalty for his 76th goal with Brazil and move one shy of Pelé all-time scoring record with the national team. The 82-year-old Pelé said he was going to watch the match on television while hospitalized in Brazil to treat a respiratory infection. Vinícius Júnior, Richarlison and Lucas Paquetá also scored in the first half for Brazil. The Selecao has made it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the eighth straight time.

Today
Knockout Round – Round of 16
Morocco vs. Spain, 10:00 a.m.
Portugal vs. Switzerland, 2:00 p.m.

FIFA – Serbia charged by FIFA for team, fans conduct at World Cup
FIFA has brought disciplinary charges against Serbia for alleged misconduct by players and fans including offensive chants at a World Cup game against Switzerland. Tensions flared in the stands and on the field during Switzerland’s 3-2 win on Friday. It was a rematch of their stormy game at the 2018 World Cup that revived ethnic Balkan rivalries. FIFA on Monday didn’t specify which incidents at Stadium 974 led to charges relating to “misconduct of players and officials,” discrimination and “misconduct of players and officials.” FIFA gave no timetable for the disciplinary case.

FIFA – Uruguay players charged for confronting World Cup referee
Four Uruguay players have been charged with offensive behavior by FIFA for their angry pursuit of the referee after being eliminated from the World Cup. FIFA says the Uruguayan soccer federation also faces an extra charge of discrimination. The Uruguay team thought it should have been awarded a penalty kick in stoppage time of its 2-0 victory over Ghana on Friday. One more goal would have seen Uruguay advance. FIFA says Edinson Cavani, José María Giménez, Diego Godín and Fernando Muslera face disciplinary cases for “offensive behavior and violations of the principles of fair play” and misconduct.

FIFA – Americans’ World Cup-ending loss seen by 16.5M on US TV
The United States’ tournament-ending 3-1 loss to the Netherlands at the World Cup was seen by 16.5 million on U.S. English- and Spanish-language television and digital streams. That is according to figures released by Fox and Telemundo. Fox says its coverage of the round of 16 match was viewed by an average of 12.9 million. That includes almost 600,000 on its digital streaming services. The match started at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday. Telemundo says its Spanish-language coverage was seen by 3.58 million. That includes its digital streams on Telemundo and Peacock.