Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 9.9.26

Sep 9

The Vikings opened up 1.5-point favorites over the Packers. Kickoff is Sunday at 3:25 p.m. How much of a leash will Kyler Murray get from Vikings fans? Over the weekend, Harrison Smith eschewed retirement to return to the purple for a 15th season.

Gophers host Mississippi State on Saturday - the Bulldogs are the first SEC team to visit Minneapolis since 1959. Mississippi State is currently a somewhat surprising 1.5-point favorite. Ryan Estrada, a promising freshman RB out of Texas, will miss the entire season due to an injury suffered against Eastern Illinois.

The Lynx still don’t play until Sept. 18 with more than half their roster at the World Cup. But they bolstered their roster yesterday by signing former No. 3 overall pick Aari McDonald. She’s no star, hasn’t played this year and is coming off an injury last season, but she’ll provide some depth at the guard position.

Quinn Hughes was at the U.S. Open with his brothers as his current teammates ready for the season at Braemar Arena. We’re all getting restless.

Ryan Back, but Twins Fall Further Out of Race

The Twins lost two of three games over the holiday weekend, further falling out of the wild card race. They stand 4.5 games back with just 18 games to play. Minnesota’s playoff chances stand at 4.0 percent.

The good news is that Joe Ryan returned in yesterday’s 5-4 loss to Detroit, striking out seven in four innings. You have to wonder a bit how many starts they give Ryan over the final three weeks; perhaps they’ll just shut him down.

After two more games in Detroit, they return home to face Cleveland and the Yankees - both teams are currently in playoff position. The Twins are on pace to set a Target Field record for lowest attendance in a season.

Loons’ Defense Struggles Again

The Loons have scored seven goals over their last two games but haven’t managed to pull out a win. Portland outlasted Minnesota 5-4 late Saturday in Oregon. All told, the Loons have scored 12 goals over their last three games.

Vincent Janssen notched the first hat trick in Timbers’ history in the win.

It was a frustrating night for the Loons, who trailed 3-0 after just 26 minutes after Janssen’s second goal. They managed to tie things up in the 50th minute - they scored three times in 18 minutes - but Janssen answered just five minutes later to put Portland on top for good.

The Loons have dropped out of the top nine and play host to No. 4 Dallas on Wednesday.

Tell a friend to sign up for The Takeout today: https://cutt.ly/5jc87CG

Sponsor The Takeout

Sponsorship packages are available! The Takeout is a great spot to advertise your small business. Get thousands of eyeballs on your product every month. E-mail ryanstanzel@gmail.com