Sports Express | October 17, 2026 — Canada Stun England 24-21 to End Red Roses' Four-Year Unbeaten Run

Source: The Guardian / Sportsnet / ESPN / CBS Sports / NBC Sports / NHL.com / CBC

1. Canada end England's four-year run with 24-21 win in Toronto

Canada beat England 24-21 at BMO Field on Friday night, handing the Red Roses their first defeat since the 2022 Women's Rugby World Cup final and ending a four-year, 41-match unbeaten streak. A crowd of 18,621 set a North American record for a women's rugby match.

Canada scored four tries through Bauder, Corrigan, Menin and Seumanutafa, with De Goede adding two conversions. Seumanutafa, who came off the bench in the 65th minute, touched down the winning try with two minutes left and was lifted into the air by teammates as the bench emptied. Menin was named player of the match. England led 14-5 at halftime.

England head coach John Mitchell said his side would learn more from the loss than from its wins. Canada had already drawn 26-26 with England in Exeter last month, and the teams meet again next week.

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2. Rain washes out ALCS Game 4 in Cleveland

Persistent rain at Progressive Field forced the postponement of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Friday, with the call announced shortly after 9 p.m. ET. The Guardians lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Game 4 now moves to Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, with Game 5 on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, shift back to Tampa on Monday and Tuesday. The starters remain Nick Martinez for the Rays and Shawn Armstrong for the Guardians.

"Let's go, it's regular season, we play four in a row all the time," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. Rays manager Kevin Cash said the rain never cleared as hoped and that MLB and both clubs did everything they could to get the game in. The compressed schedule will complicate pitching plans for both sides.

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3. College football moves closer to 24-team playoff

The College Football Playoff and ESPN have reached what a person familiar with the negotiations called a "handshake agreement" on a 24-team postseason starting next season, The Associated Press reported Friday. The framework is in place, but many details and an official contract remain unfinished.

ESPN, citing its own unnamed sources, said its average additional payment to the CFP over the six years of the expanded event would be $345 million a year, with 12 more games than the current 12-team format. The current six-year deal begins this year and is worth $7.8 billion.

Under the discussed format, the Power Four conference champions and the highest-ranked team from the Group of Six would earn automatic bids, with the other 19 teams chosen by a selection committee. The first two rounds would be played on campuses, with the top eight seeds getting a first-round bye. The major bowls would host the quarterfinals and semifinals, and the title game would stay in late January.

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4. NBA tells sportsbooks to ban manipulable bets

The NBA sent a memo to its sportsbook partners on Friday barring several bet types that are easiest to manipulate, ESPN reported. Bettors will no longer be able to include the under on the same player's statistics in parlays, and authorized operators including DraftKings and FanDuel were directed to stop offering markets such as the winner of the opening tip or a player missing a specific shot.

Under bets on players expected to play fewer than 12 minutes were also prohibited, along with "first of" markets. The NBA estimates its partner sportsbooks account for upward of 99% of the U.S. betting market.

Player prop unders are especially vulnerable because the player controls the outcome. Jontay Porter, who received a lifetime ban in 2024 for disclosing inside information and wagering on games, admitted in court that he took himself out of games early to make sure his under bets hit. Similar allegations have been made involving Terry Rozier and Malik Beasley.

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5. Eagles to decide Saturday on short-term IR for Hurts

The Philadelphia Eagles will decide Saturday whether to place quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has a blood clot, on short-term injured reserve, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported. Fowler said some people he spoke with are hopeful Hurts can avoid injured reserve but described the situation as "very much touch and go."

Fowler added that backup Tanner McKee will "probably" start multiple games. The Eagles have their bye in Week 10, so if Hurts lands on injured reserve, Week 11 against the Steelers would be his earliest possible return.

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6. NFL has spoken with Packers RB Josh Jacobs in investigation

The NFL has spoken with Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs as part of its investigation into a domestic incident, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported. The league ruled him off the commissioner exempt list starting Monday, allowing him back at the team facility and into the lineup for Week 7.

The investigation is not over. The attorney for the woman in the case said she has not taken part in the investigation or been interviewed because of privacy concerns. A video exists, and the parties involved are trying to keep it from being released while local police want it made public.

The league's approach appears shaped by the Ray Rice case in 2014, when a longer suspension imposed after a video surfaced was overturned by a judge because Rice had not misled the league in his initial interview. If the video is released, the NFL could hand Jacobs a longer suspension.

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7. Barnes leads Redblacks to 40-39 win, snapping 22-game skid

Bryson Barnes threw for 339 yards in his first professional start as the Ottawa Redblacks beat the Toronto Argonauts 40-39 on Friday, snapping a modern CFL record 22-game losing streak and avoiding a shot at becoming the first team in league history to finish 0-18. Ottawa is now 1-16.

Barnes, 25, completed 27 of 37 passes for two touchdowns with no interceptions and rushed seven times for 62 yards. He engineered the winning drive in the final 27 seconds, hitting Ayden Eberhardt for a 24-yard touchdown with six seconds left, and the extra point proved decisive.

Head coach Ryan Dinwiddie explained why Barnes had not started earlier. "If we put him in there earlier in the year, you might not see this performance where he's at right now," he said. "Young quarterbacks especially in this league, you've got to develop them." The all-time top-level Canadian football record of 25 straight losses, set by Ottawa teams in the late 1920s and '30s, remains intact.

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8. Ohtani plans to pitch next season, surgery uncertain

Shohei Ohtani told The Athletic's Katie Woo it is "hard to tell" whether he will need knee or biceps surgery this offseason, but he plans to pitch next season. The 32-year-old has not pitched since early July because of a left knee injury and went on the 15-day injured list in September with right biceps inflammation.

He made 14 starts this season, posting a 1.79 ERA over 85 2/3 innings with a 27.9% strikeout rate. At the plate he hit .275/.377/.512 with 30 home runs, a 139 wRC+ and 6.6 fWAR combined as a hitter and pitcher.

In the postseason he went 5-for-26 with 10 strikeouts in 32 plate appearances, his only extra-base hit a three-run homer on Thursday. The Dodgers were swept by the Brewers in the NLCS. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has said of Ohtani: "What he's doing is unprecedented, and it takes a real toll."

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9. Bruins ride three power-play goals to 4-2 win over Ducks

David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm each had a goal and an assist as the Boston Bruins scored three power-play goals in a 4-2 comeback win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday. Boston has won four in a row and sits at 6-2-0.

Frederic Brunet scored his first NHL goal, while Pavel Zacha and James Hagens each had two assists. Michael DiPietro made 25 saves for his first career NHL victory. The Bruins, who had gone 3-for-18 on the power play, converted 3 of 4 chances; Anaheim finished 0-for-5.

Tim Washe and Beckett Sennecke scored for the Ducks, and Lukas Dostal made 18 saves. Anaheim is 4-3-0, having also blown a lead in a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.

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10. World Curling plans women's worlds in the UAE

World Curling has confirmed to CBC that it plans to hold the women's world championship, scheduled for mid-March, in the United Arab Emirates, and is also discussing a men's world championship there at a future date along with regional championships, camps and courses. A specific location has not been shared.

"We can confirm that we are in advanced discussions with the United Arab Emirates for the hosting of the World Women's Championship this season," World Curling head of communications Chris Hamilton wrote in an email, acknowledging "particular challenges in the region at this moment in time" and saying a decision should be confirmed in the next few weeks.

It would be the first curling event of this magnitude in the Middle East. Canada hosts a world championship every year, alternating between the women's and men's events; the men's worlds are set for late March in Saint John, announced more than a year ago. Swiss curler Alina Patz, a six-time world champion, said: "As an athlete it's tough to plan when you don't know what's happening."

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