All Activity

Image credit: Netflix There’s a new Geralt in The Witcher universe, and it’s one that showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich believes will quickly become the new fan favorite. Henry Cavill — who is best known for playing Superman in the DC Extended Universe — portrayed Geralt of Rivia in the first three seasons of The Witcher. Despite being a fan of the source material, Cavill departed the series in October 2022, with Liam Hemsworth later cast as his replacement. Hemsworth will portray Geralt in the upcoming fourth season, as well as the fifth season, which is already in production. Why will fans forget about Henry Cavill’s Geralt after watching The Witcher Season 4? The Witcher fandom was not too pleased with the Geralt recasting when it was first announced. However, while speaking with Tudum, Hissrich boldly claimed that fans will end up preferring Hemsworth’s take on Geralt over Cavill’s, remarking, “People think of Geralt, and now they have specific images in their mind. Within about 45 seconds, I don’t think you really think about it much more. Liam owns this character.” Of course, Hissrich has been a fan of Hemsworth taking over the role of Geralt since their first meeting. “The very first time that I met with Liam Hemsworth, in my gut, I knew that he would make a perfect Geralt for us in Season 4, because he was able to be very honest with me about the things that really resonated with him in earlier seasons, and also some things he’d like to shift,” recalled the showrunner. “After the Continent-altering events of Season Three, Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri find themselves separated by a raging war and countless enemies,” reads the official synopsis for The Witcher Season 4. “As their paths diverge, and their goals sharpen, they stumble on unexpected allies eager to join their journeys. And if they can accept these found families, they just might have a chance at reuniting for good…” Starring alongside Hemsworth in the fourth season of The Witcher are returning cast members Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla of Cintra, Joey Batey as Jaskier, Eamon Farren as Cahir, Anna Shaffer as Triss Merrigold, Mimî M Khayisa as Fringilla, Cassie Clare as Philippa, and Mahesh Jadu as Vilgefortz, as well as new addition Laurence Fishburne as Regis. All eight episodes of The Witcher Season 4 arrive on Netflix on October 30, 2025. Originally reported by Lee Freitag at SuperHeroHype. The post The Witcher Boss on Why Fans Will Immediately Forget about Henry Cavill in Season 4 appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Heat 2 is moving forward. Heat was released in 1995. Directed by Michael Mann, the epic crime film stars Al Pacino as Vincent Hanna, Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley, Val Kilmer as Chris Shiherlis, Jon Voight as Nate, and Tom Sizemore as Michael Cheritto. In 2022, Mann co-wrote a Heat 2 — which serves as both a prequel and a sequel to the original movie — crime novel with author Meg Gardiner. Mann intended to turn the book into a feature film at Warner Bros. Pictures; however, development on the project has been stalled due to budget disagreements. What is the Heat 2 update? According to The Hollywood Reporter, after Warner Bros. decided to let the movie be shopped around in August 2025, Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists division is now in talks to acquire the rights to the movie. Jerry Bruckheimer, Scott Stuber, and Nick Nesbitt have also now joined the project as producers. The Hollywood Reporter claims that Warner Bros. was willing to make Heat 2 for around $140 million, or, alternatively, for $150 million if Mann would commit to making a Heat 3. The initial budget for Heat 2, however, came in at $230 million before Mann whittled it down to $170 million. How big a budget Heat 2 will get at United Artists is unclear at this time. Paramount and Sony were also interested in acquiring the project before it was acquired by Amazon. No official casting for Heat 2 has been announced at this time, though there have been plenty of rumors going around. One of the more popular names to emerge is Leonardo DiCaprio, while Austin Butler, Adam Driver, and Bradley Cooper have also been mentioned in past articles. No offers have been made to any talent as of yet. A release date for Heat 2, which will be executive produced by Eric Roth and Shane Salerno, has not yet been set. The post Heat 2: Michael Mann Movie Gets Big Update Following WB Budget Battle appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

As more book bans and attacks on the First Amendment rights of American citizens continue, so, too, do the lawsuits aimed at stopping these actions. Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina filed a lawsuit against State Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver over unjust book bans due to Regulation 43-170 and a 2025 classroom censorship memo. It was filed on behalf of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians and three public school students under the age of 18. The filing can be read in full here. Regulation 43-170 became law in June 2024. It bans all materials in public kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms if that material contains any “sexual conduct.” The regulation has led to the banning of 22 books across the state, putting South Carolina at the top of the list for most state-sanctioned book bans. The lawsuit challenges the Regulation’s constitutionality. The Regulation does not utilize the Miller Test–the Supreme Court’s three-prong assessment of whether or not something is obscene–in making its determination of whether or not material contains “sexual conduct.” The vagueness in the regulation is its feature, as this allows for broad interpretation and wide, sloppy application. A second piece of the lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a memo penned and distributed by Weaver on March 14, 2025. The memo bans 14 concepts from being discussed in SC Department of Education materials, including “implicit bias,” “restorative justice,” “cisgender,” and “social-emotional learning.” “The confusion and fear stemming from Regulation 43-170 and Ellen Weaver’s memorandum have been overwhelming,” said Dylan Rhyne, a high school senior in the Charleston County School District and plaintiff in the lawsuit. “I hope that by taking action now, we can restore the safe and welcoming school environment I once knew and make things even better for those to come.” It’s not only the removal of books that have caused difficulty in South Carolina public schools. So, too, has the fear of what targets may come next. Among the actions that have happened in the state as a result of the Regulation include: The end of classroom libraries in some schools, as a result of worry that materials included there may be outside of what the state deems appropriate; Quiet and silent censorship among school librarians who are electing not to purchase new fiction titles for their collection and/or are preemptively removing titles; The addition of 9 restricted titles in Beaufort County Public Schools so students need permission slips to access books like The Kite Runner and The Bluest Eye, titles routinely part of Advanced Placement curriculum; The removal of access to county library digital collections by public schools for fear of potential access to titles with “sexual conduct,” as in Fort Mills. “The “need” for this regulation was manufactured by SC Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver (who has direct, public ties to Moms for Liberty) under the guise of an absence of a ‘uniform process for local school boards to review and hold public hearings on complaints raised within its district,'” explained Jamie Gregory, immediate past president of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians in an interview at Book Riot earlier this year. “In other words, supporters of the regulation didn’t like that local school districts have control over which instructional materials are available in school libraries, so they dubbed this local control as “confusing” since districts may have different local policies and procedures. It’s important to note that the impetus for this regulation originated with Ellen Weaver and her outside legal counsel with ties to the Federalist Society (who was paid over $40,000 of taxpayer money), not the SC State Board of Education.” This is not the first lawsuit in the state of South Carolina over book bans. The ACLU of South Carolina also sued Greenville County over the banning and restriction of LGBTQ+ books for minors in the county’s public library earlier this year. As of writing, 22 books have been permanently banned from all South Carolina public schools. They are: Damsel by Elana K. Arnold Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas Normal People by Sally Rooney The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson Flamer by Mike Curato Push by Sapphire Collateral by Ellen Hopkins Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Hopeless by Colleen Hoover Identical by Ellen Hopkins Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott Lucky by Alice Sebold Tricks by Ellen Hopkins Crank by Ellen Hopkins was not banned, but it requires parental permission before any students may access it in their school library. “Censorship in schools limits students’ ability to think critically and engage with diverse perspectives. K-12 students deserve intellectual freedom that empowers them to explore ideas, question assumptions, and develop critical thinking skills,” said Tenley Middleton, President of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. “Leadership from the South Carolina Association of School Librarians has persistently sought to engage with the Department of Education and the State Board regarding Regulation 43-170 — to no avail. We stand with the ACLU of South Carolina in denouncing censorship and championing intellectual freedom.” Read a full interview with Tenley Middleton and Jamie Gregory, both members of the leadership team of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. They discuss the on-the-ground advocacy happening across their state and offer critical insight into the ways that the state’s Regulation has harmed access to materials in public schools for students and done tremendous damage to the library profession. This lawsuit is another example of testing the court’s interpretation of the First Amendment Rights of library users. Last week, a judge ruled that library users and authors do not have First Amendment Rights when it comes to public school and public libraries. That ruling pulled heavily from a decision in the Fifth Circuit from earlier this year, which established no First Amendment Rights for users in public libraries in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. These two cases contradict the prevailing Island Trees School District vs. Pico Supreme Court ruling from 1982, which which held that public school libraries are places for voluntary inquiry and dissemination of information and ideas. View the full article

Photo Credit: Walt Disney Pictures Disney has found its next big fantasy franchise. Walt Disney Studios already has a number of major sci-fi fantasy franchises under its umbrella, including the MCU, Star Wars, and the Avatar movies. Now, the company has acquired another property in a seven-figure deal. What is Disney’s new fantasy movie franchise? Per Deadline, Disney has won an auction for the rights to Impossible Creatures, a fantasy series by author Katherine Rundell. Rundell is now working on adapting the first two books in the series into screenplays. There are five Impossible Creatures novels planned in total, with the first one having been published in 2023. The second installment, titled The Poisoned King, was just recently released last month. “Rundell just became the first U.K. children’s author since J.K. Rowling to simultaneously reach the No. 1 position on the children’s book charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. Her books so far have sold more than four million copies worldwide, and in 2024 she was awarded both Author of The Year and Children’s Book of The Year at The British Book Awards,” Deadline’s article notes. “Rundell signed two 7-figure publishing deals with Bloomsbury and Knopf. What she originally planned as a trilogy has become a five-novel saga and Rundell plans to broaden the franchise with spinoffs and prequel books.” Warner Bros. and Netflix were the other two finalists looking to acquire the rights to Impossible Creatures. “When I read Impossible Creatures, I knew it belonged here at Disney,” Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. “I was immediately drawn into the vibrant world Katherine imagined and the possibilities of what we could do together with this story. Written by Katherine herself, these movies are in the best of hands with our Walt Disney Studios team, and I can’t wait to see this tale brought to the screen.” Walt Disney Pictures‘ Alan Bergman and David Greenbaum added, “Katherine Rundell has masterfully crafted a spectacular and immersive world with Impossible Creatures , and her vision is a perfect match for the Disney storytelling tradition. We are thrilled to collaborate with Katherine and Charles to bring this epic saga to life for audiences worldwide—it’s going to be an extraordinary adventure.” Originally reported by Brandon Schreur at SuperHeroHype. The post Disney Finds Next Big Fantasy Franchise Following Huge Bidding War appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

In March 2025, Golden State’s Steph Curry became the first active player to accept an administrative position. Curry is the assistant general manager for the Davidson men’s basketball team. Since then, players like Trae Young, Damian Lillard, and Terrance Mann have accepted similar positions at their respective schools. On Tuesday, October 7, Celtics’ Jayson Tatum […] The post The Duke Blue Devils named Jayson Tatum their Chief Basketball Officer appeared first on Basketball Insiders | NBA Rumors And Basketball News. View the full article

Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios Predator: Badlands has received a surprising MPA rating that has left some fans feeling disappointed. Predator: Badlands opens in United States theaters next month. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the 20th Century Studios sequel movie stars Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning. What is Predator: Badland’s MPA rating? Predator: Badlands will receive a PG-13 rating. This makes it the first movie in the main Predator franchise to not be rated R; although, the 2004 Alien vs. Predator crossover movie was also rated PG-13. Some fans were disappointed to learn this news, while others are approaching it with optimism and putting their faith in Trachtenberg. Producer Ben Rosenblatt told IGN that, despite the PG-13 rating, Badlands will still have plenty of alien violence for fans to enjoy. He said that they intended to make a PG-13 film that “feels like an R” in an effort to “broaden out the audience for a movie like this. “We don’t have any humans in the movie, and so we don’t have any human red blood,” he said. “So we’re hoping that’s gonna play to our advantage. We’re going to go as hard as we possibly can within those constraints, and we think we’ll be able to do some pretty awesomely gruesome stuff. But in colors other than red.” It’s worth noting that Predator: Badlands has not yet received an official MPA on FilmRatings.com or 20th Century Studios. While it’s still expected to get a PG-13, the official reasoning behind the rating has not yet been disclosed. The synopsis for Predator: Badlands reads, “Set in the future on a deadly remote planet, Badlands follows a young Predator outcast (played by newcomer Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Elle Fanning) as he embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.” Predator: Badlands will be released on November 7, 2025. Originally reported by Brandon Schreur at SuperHeroHype. The post Predator: Badlands MPA Rating Has Fans Disappointed in Sci-Fi Movie appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

The Houston Rockets have an open roster spot and will likely file for a $14.1 million disabled player exception (DPE) after star point guard Fred VanVleet suffered a torn ACL at an unofficial team minicamp in the Bahamas. If the NBA determines VanVleet is out until mid-June, the league would grant the exception, which would […] The post Rockets Expected To File For $14.1M DPE After Fred VanVleet’s Injury appeared first on Basketball Insiders | NBA Rumors And Basketball News. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Quinn-Priester-Bryan-Woo-Logan-Webb.pngCharles LeClaire, Neville E. Guard, Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images This season, four different starters suffered a loss in which they went exactly six innings, struck out exactly six batters, and allowed exactly seven hits, three earned runs, and no unearned runs. Three of them faced the exact same number of batters. But those four pitchers all finished with different pitching lines because they all walked a different number of batters. Our regular season database goes back to 1871, and it contains 241,730 games, each of them unique. In 1927, Bob Smith set a record by facing a whopping 89 batters in a 4-3, 22-inning loss to the Cubs. In 2021, Pablo López became the first starter ever to be charged with a loss after plunking the one and only batter he faced. There may be 50 ways to leave your lover and 5,000 ways to die, but the various ways to lose a baseball game are unconstrained by any such limits. I could keep on going. In 1959, Harvey Haddix was perfect through 12 innings, then lost the game and the perfecto in the 13th. Five years later, Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s pitched the only complete-game no-hitter in history to end as a loss. I bring up these performances because, watching these playoffs, I can’t help but think about pitchers who earn losses despite pitching brilliantly. Just last night in the NLDS matchup between the Dodgers and Phillies, Jesús Luzardo threw six scoreless innings and retired 17 batters in a row, but he took the loss when two inherited runners scored. Last week, Nick Pivetta took the loss after allowing two runs over five innings to the Cubs, and on the same day, Gavin Williams took a loss for the Guardians because he allowed two unearned runs over six innings. Today, we’re specifically looking for the pitchers who put up great numbers across all of their losses during the 2025 season. This doesn’t necessarily mean the pitchers who had the worst run support or defense behind them overall. It just means that specifically during the games they went on to lose, they pitched particularly well. Hard luck losses will always happen. As Jacob deGrom can tell you from long experience, any pitcher good enough to hold the other team to a single run will eventually suffer a 1-0 loss. (In fact, all five of the top spots on that particular Stathead search belong to Hall of Famers, with Walter Johnson and Nolan Ryan tied at 63. Amazingly, Johnson, the second-winningest pitcher of all time, also lost 13 games in which he didn’t allow a single earned run, the highest mark ever.) But it takes a confluence of factors to end the season with great numbers across all of your losses. Just ask Quinn Priester. After years of prospect hype, Preister broke out to the tune of a 3.32 ERA and 13-3 record with the Brewers this season. Although he only lost three games, he ran an ERA of 3.00 in those losses, the best loss-only ERA of any starter with more than one loss. Priester allowed five earned runs over 15 innings in his three losses. He ran a 2.30 FIP, but the Brewers scored a total of two runs in those three games, and errors cost Priester two unearned runs. The Brewers boasted the game’s ninth-best offense and sixth-best defense this season, and they’re on the verge of sweeping the Cubs in the NLDS. That’s just plain bad luck. Logan Webb turned in arguably the best season of his excellent career, finishing fifth among all pitchers with 5.5 WAR, but he knows a little something about bad luck too. He ran a 3.22 ERA and 2.60 FIP overall, making 2025 his fifth straight season with an ERA below 3.50 and an FIP below 3.20. However, it’s easy to imagine things going even better for Webb. He finished 15-11, and those 26 total decisions put him in a tie for the third-most in baseball. As you’d expect, he got so many decisions because he led all of baseball with 207 innings pitched. Webb ran inverse ERAs, putting up a 2.40 mark in wins and a 4.20 mark in losses, but don’t let that fool you. Across his 11 losses, he put up a 2.97 FIP because he struck out 67 batters and walked just 10. The Giants averaged fewer than two runs per game in his losses and exceeded three runs just three times. Seven times this season, Webb earned either a loss or a no-decision despite surrendering two or fewer runs, and he went at least six innings in six of those seven starts. Had a few more bounces gone Webb’s way, he might have ended up with 20 wins and we might have ended up with a good old fashioned shouting match about whether or not Paul Skenes really deserved the NL Cy Young with a 10-10 record and a 1.97 ERA. Speaking of Skenes, the presumptive Cy Young certainly wasn’t terrible over the course of his 10 losses; he ran a 4.29 ERA and 4.23 FIP. However, across those 10 losses, the Pirates scored just 11 total runs – 11 runs in 10 games! Somehow, when Skenes left those games, he’d kept the Pirates within two runs of the lead six times. Unfortunately for him, they would only go on to score two total runs after his departures. Bryan Woo deserves a special mention here. Although he earned his seven losses, running a 4.98 ERA and 5.07 FIP during them, he was the only pitcher in baseball to average more than six innings per start in his losses. Mariners manager Dan Wilson really let Woo work deep, and even more impressive, he didn’t seem to be guilty of just leaving his ace in until he exploded. Woo only coughed up a lead in his final inning in two of those seven losses, and Wilson only pulled him mid-inning once. We’ll finish with another playoff performer in Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow got into 18 games during the regular season, but across his three losses, he held opposing batters to a miniscule .510 OPS. That was lowest mark of the 199 different pitchers with at least three losses this season, and nearly 100 points below Glasnow’s .607 OPS in wins and no-decisions. He allowed just one home run and ran a WHIP of 0.88 in those three losses, but the Dodgers scored a grand total of just two runs in them. All the performances I’ve highlighted here are impressive in their own way, but I’ve also checked the historical record, and we didn’t see anything truly spectacular in terms of bad luck this year. If you run a Stathead search for the pitchers with the best loss-only ERAs of all-time, you’ll find 15 different pitchers who lost at least five games in a season while allowing a grand total of zero earned runs, including Cy Young in 1906. Only two pitchers from this century even crack the top 100. The biggest reason for this is that unearned runs have been dropping precipitously since the beginning of baseball history, as you can see from this graph of UERA (that’s unearned run average, for the uninitiated): http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ALNL-Unearned-Run-Average1.png In 1900, 31% of all runs were unearned. This year, that number was just below 8%. This is easy to explain. Fielding has improved dramatically over the years, and as Sam Miller has documented, grade inflation has made its way to the official scorer’s desk, making it harder to earn an error than ever before. Knowing this, you might assume that it would be impossible for one of today’s pitchers to put up a historical season in the bad luck department, but that’s not quite true. If we look at the lowest loss-only ERAs after World War II, we see a whole lot of entries from 1968, The Year of the Pitcher, but a third of the entries are from the past 25 years, and two of them are from within the past decade. Michael Pineda’s 2014 season is at the very top of the list. Pineda went 5-5 with a 1.89 ERA that season. During those five losses, his ERA was still an astonishing 2.08. Unfortunately for Pineda, the Yankees scored just two runs in those five games! Best Loss-Only ERA Since 1946 Player Year ERA L UER OPS Michael Pineda 2014 2.08 5 2 .568 Bob Gibson 1968 2.14 9 8 .580 José Rijo 1991 2.25 6 3 .555 Tom Murphy 1968 2.27 6 3 .480 Sam McDowell 1968 2.34 14 19 .607 Bruce Howard 1966 2.43 5 2 .555 Pedro Martínez 2000 2.44 6 0 .496 Steve Barber 1968 2.5 5 10 .640 Steve Rogers 1973 2.57 5 2 .666 Brett Oberholtzer 2013 2.7 5 3 .661 Pablo Torrealba 1977 2.7 6 3 .653 Jacob deGrom 2018 2.71 9 3 .590 John Denny 1984 2.75 7 4 .630 Clarke Schmidt 2024 2.77 5 3 .626 Dean Chance 1964 2.79 9 3 .664 Bobby Shantz 1957 2.86 5 5 .688 Source: Stathead Minimum of five losses. Unsurprisingly, we also see deGrom’s Cy Young 2018 season on the list. He joins Bob Gibson and Pedro Martínez in making the list while winning the award. deGrom went 10-9, and the Mets scored 11 total runs in those nine games. The line I really want you to notice, though, is Clarke Schmidt’s. Schmidt ran a 2.77 ERA over five losses just last year! Schmidt went 5-5 and the Yankees scored 11 runs in his five losses. However, eight of those 11 runs came after Schimdt had left the game! Even less fortunate for Schimdt, the Yankees went on to win in all six of his no-decisions! The Yankees had no problem scoring runs during Schmidt’s starts. They just weren’t inclined to do so while he was actually on the mound and in a position to benefit from them. All of this is to say that although nobody cracked the list this year, today’s pitchers still have a chance. With the right season-long combination of great pitching, paltry run support, bad defense, and runs from inherited runners, anyone could end up at the top of this dubious Stathead search. They probably wouldn’t consider this good news, though. Source View the full article

(Image Credit: Lionsgate/Universal Pictures) Michael, the long-awaited movie about Michael Jackson, reportedly experienced major changes during reshoots. What changes occurred for the Michael Jackson biopic? Michael’s journey from production to the big screen has been tumultuous. Originally scheduled for a 2025 release, Michael was delayed until 2026 due to reshoots. The movie’s third act reportedly touched on Jackson’s sexual abuse allegations in the early ’90s. However, an agreement between the Jackson estate and the pop star’s accuser was already in place, stating that Jackson’s accuser should not be included in the film. According to Puck’s Matthew Belloni, Michael’s reshoots are complete, and the movie now features a different ending. “Additional photography has now wrapped, and the film ends after Jackson’s triumphant rise to fame in the ’80s,” Belloni wrote. “So all the footage of MJ’s later King of Pop (and scandal-plagued) years, including two weeks of shooting at Neverland Ranch, now owned by Ron Burkle, is unusable.” Due to the first cut being nearly four hours, Lionsgate has considered splitting Michael into two movies. Because of the reshoots and financial gamble, a second movie is not guaranteed. “Producer Graham King’s plan is to make a second Michael movie that would include all that stuff, plus a significant amount of additional, yet-to-be-shot footage with stars Jaafar Jackson, Colman Domingo, and Miles Teller, but that will now depend on — yes, you guessed it — how the film is received by audiences next April,” Belloni added. “If it’s a hit, or if all signs are pointing that direction, they greenlight part two, and if not, producers eat all that unused footage.” Jafaar Jackson stars as Michael Jackson. Jafaar is Michael’s nephew and the son of Michael’s brother, Jermaine. The rest of the ensemble includes Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Laura Harrier, Kat Graham, Larenz Tate, and Derek Luke. Antoine Fuqua directs Michael from a screenplay by John Logan. Lionsgate will release Michael in the United States, while Universal will handle international distribution. Belloni’s report mentioned that the Michael trailer will be attached to showings of Wicked: For Good in November. Michael opens in theaters on April 24, 2026. The post Michael Jackson Movie Reshoots Significantly Changed Ending, Sequel Not Guaranteed appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Photo Credit: @espncfb / YouTube After Paul Finebaum controversially claimed in last week’s interview with Outlook that he had an interest in running for the Senate, rumors about ESPN banning him emerged. This sparked a range of reactions from fans and even prompted a minor political debate. However, it seems that this report is not true, and Paul Finebaum remains part of ESPN shows. ESPN executive clarifies that Paul Finebaum has not been banned despite rumors Rumors emerged on Monday that ESPN had banned Paul Finebaum from its shows. They followed the controversial interview where Finebaum addressed the possibility of running for a Senate seat. While the possibility surprised many, few expected ESPN to take action. Rumors soon circulated about tension between Finebaum and ESPN. Outkick’s Clay Travis reported that ESPN had frozen Finebaum out of the network. In a X (formerly known as Twitter) post, Travis wrote, “Per sources: Disney/ESPN has removed @finebaum from appearing on @ESPN since his @outkick interview expressing interest in running as a Republican for senate in Alabama. ESPN has canceled all network appearances on all shows, including some that have occurred for a decade plus.” Since Travis’s report, other outlets have refuted the claim that Paul Finebaum was canceled by ESPN. More importantly, ESPN vice president of communications Bill Hofheimer reshared the tweet and wrote, “This is not true at all. The below is TOTALLY FALSE,” confirming that Paul Finebaum remains with ESPN. Sports Business Journal also confirmed that Finebaum will appear on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday morning. The past week’s interview drew significant attention because Finebaum openly supported Trump and expressed interest in politics. Although he has not appeared on any ESPN program since, his return does not seem far off. The post No, ESPN Has Not Banned Paul Finebaum from Its Shows appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Today’s Featured Book Deals $1.99Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-AnstineGet This Deal $2.99Society of Lies by Lauren Ling BrownGet This Deal $1.99Spinning Silver by Naomi NovikGet This Deal $1.99Academy for Liars by Alexis HendersonGet This Deal $2.99Just for the Summer by Abby JimenezGet This Deal $2.99By Any Other Name by Jodi PicoultGet This Deal $1.99There’s Always This Year by Hanif AbdurraqibGet This Deal $1.99Fingersmith by Sarah WatersGet This Deal $1.99The Bog Wife by Kay ChronisterGet This Deal $1.99A Cruel Thirst by Angela MontoyaGet This Deal $1.99A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, Megan McDowell (trans.)Get This Deal $1.99The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-GarciaGet This Deal $1.99By the Fire We Carry by Rebecca NagleGet This Deal $1.99Heart Berries by Terese Marie MailhotGet This Deal $1.99It’s Elementary by Elise BryantGet This Deal $1.99Cantoras by Caro de RobertisGet This Deal In Case You Missed Yesterday’s Most Popular Book Deals $2.99Awakened by A.E. OsworthGet This Deal $1.99The Gene by Siddhartha MukherjeeGet This Deal $2.99American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond by Jeremy DauberGet This Deal $1.99Babel by R. F KuangGet This Deal View the full article

Photo Credit: Netflix Netflix has officially released The Witcher‘s Season 4 trailer, previewing the upcoming entry in the long-running series. The Witcher Season 4 is set to debut on Netflix on October 30, 2025. “After the Continent-altering events of Season Three, Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri find themselves separated by a raging war and countless enemies,” reads the official synopsis for Season 4 of The Witcher. “As their paths diverge, and their goals sharpen, they stumble on unexpected allies eager to join their journeys. And if they can accept these found families, they just might have a chance at reuniting for good…” Check out The Witcher Season 4 trailer below: What does The Witcher Season 4 trailer? The new trailer of The Witcher sees Geralt continuing his search for Ciri. As he looks to reunite with her, Ciri also forges her own path forward and both find their paths beginning to diverge following Season 3’s events. Season 4 of The Witcher will star Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia and will also star Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla of Cintra, Joey Batey as Jaskier, Laurence Fishburne as Regis, Eamon Farren as Cahir, Anna Shaffer as Triss Merrigold, Mimî M Khayisa as Fringilla, Cassie Clare as Philippa, Mahesh Jadu as Vilgefortz, and more. The Witcher Season 4 was created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who returns as showrunner and executive producer. The season was written by Hissrich, Tania Lotia, Rae Benjamin, Troy Dangerfield, Matthew D’Ambrosio, Javier Grilllo-Marxuach, Clare Higgins, and Mike Ostrowski. Originally reported by Anthony Nash on SuperHeroHype. The post The Witcher Season 4 Trailer Features the Debut of Liam Hemsworth’s Geralt appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

The return of the Skins Game shows how much has changed in 17 years. The four players are among the top six in the world, it's moving from the California desert to South Florida and it will be broadcast on Prime Video instead of network TV.View the full article

Jon Rahm, who plays in Madrid this week after a short break, said the Ryder Cup was "mentally the toughest week of my career" but also "the most fun I've had."View the full article

Photo Credit: ITN Distribution An upcoming horror flick titled The Ritual House was actually filmed in a real-life haunted location. The Ritual House is a new film directed by Crystal J. Huang. Distributed by ITN and written by Donna Spangler, it stars social media star Lauren Francesca as a character named Courtney Cable. The cast also includes Spangler, Huang, Keiara Scranton, Neil Bentley Fierro, Bron Theron, Anna Yosin, Brandon Lill, Arthur Peng, Curt Clendenin, and David L. Klein. Watch a trailer for the movie below (watch more trailers and clips): What do we know about The Ritual House? The Ritual House was filmed almost entirely inside the real home of two of the movie’s lead actors. The film’s characters were written using the actors’ real names, and many working on the project experienced “chilling events no script could have staged” during production. “Francesca described a terrifying moment when she felt an invisible shove in the backyard, sending her tumbling into the pool. Lights flickered and flashed randomly throughout filming,” a press release for the film reads. “ In one late-night incident, the homeowner discovered the basement light blazing — though no one had entered — and reported strange noises echoing from the shadows. The supernatural activity wasn’t limited to the cast. A longtime housekeeper, asked to stay and care for pets during filming, refused to remain overnight, claiming she saw shifting shadows and felt a ‘presence’ in the halls.” One of Huang’s close friends developed “sudden welts and scratches on his legs” while visiting the set, while some props would randomly shatter or turn on and off without warning. “The Ritual House tells the story of two friends who awaken something ancient after turning their inherited home into a short-term rental,” a description of the movie’s plot reads. The Ritual House will have its world premiere on October 24, 2025, at The Chabot Theatre in Castro Valley, California. It will also launch on Tubi on the same day before arriving on other digital platforms, such as Roku and Fandango at Home, later in October. Source: ITN Distribution The post New Horror Movie The Ritual House’s Set Was Actually Haunted appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Photo Credit: Manoli Figetakis/Getty Images After Ego Nwodim departed SNL, Sherri Shepherd called out the lack of diversity in the late-night sketch comedy show’s Season 51 premiere on her own daytime talk show, urging them to hire a Black comic for the cast. She called it an “emergency.” Here’s what Sherri Shepherd said about SNL needing a Black woman after Ego Nwodim’s departure. Sherri Shepherd asks SNL to cast a Black woman following Ego Nwodim’s departure Sherri Shepherd was quick to notice the lack of diversity in the premiere episode of SNL Season 51. Ego Nwodim’s departure left the episode with no Black women. Though the show hired five new cast members — Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall, Kam Patterson, and Veronika Slowikowska — Nwodim’s exit came after the new casting. This left little diversity in the group. Addressing this, Sherri Shepherd said, “When I watched Saturday Night Live this weekend, I did notice something was missing: Ego Nwodim left the show. She was their only Black female cast member, so now there are no Black women on SNL. So what do I say to SNL? Y’all gotta hurry up and you gotta find somebody, this is a break glass in case of an emergency. It is an emergency.” She repeatedly emphasized that SNL was the kind of show that needed diversity. “We gotta have representation on that show,” she added. She went on to recall the lack of diversity in the show from earlier years. Shepherd pointed out that the show often lacked enough Black cast members to portray real-life figures. She recalled, “When I cohosted The View, there was no Black woman on the show to play me… There was no Black woman to even play Whoopi [Goldberg] — Kenan Thompson would play Whoopi at the table when they spoofed us!” Shepherd acknowledged that Nwodim’s departure was a big blow, and it might be difficult to find a replacement right away. But she emphasized that there were a lot of talented people out there, and SNL should continue its search for someone to replace Nwodim. “SNL, do not disappoint us. You are charged!” she added. Hopefully, SNL will address this soon. The post Sherri Shepherd on Why SNL Must Cast a Black Woman After Ego Nwodim’s Exit appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Jared Leto as Ares in Disney's TRON: ARES. Photo by Leah Gallo. © 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. There’s a moment in Tron: Ares where Evan Peters’s character exclaims, “That might be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” It’s funny; I was thinking the exact same thing throughout the entire movie. 43 years after Tron first pulled audiences into the Grid and 15 years after Tron: Legacy brought us back into this world, this movie reminds us that the future still glows neon, and it’s louder, sleeker, and stronger than ever. In many ways, Tron: Ares feels like a risk. It’s a departure from the previous two movies, which primarily set themselves within the world of Tron. The majority of this sequel is set in the real world, but the screenplay from Jesse Wigutow allows the technology we’re familiar with from that world to enter ours. Tron: Legacy featured a very blue and orange color palette, but this movie swaps those colors out for red. Red is everywhere in this movie, and it’s such a phenomenal aesthetic change that works perfectly within this universe. The film is set a few years after Tron: Legacy. Sam Flynn has left his position as CEO of ENCOM, which is now run by Eve Kim (Greta Lee). Her rival CEO is Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), grandson of Ed Dillinger, the antagonist of the 1982 movie. Dillinger creates a super-intelligent program named Ares (Jared Leto), and the movie follows what happens when Ares begins to develop a mind of his own. It’s a fascinating look at the ever-present topic of artificial intelligence, and it’s told in the most entertaining way possible. Tron: Ares makes the bold choice of setting things in our world, so what happens when you take the Light Cycles and the Identity Discs and you throw them into the cityscapes we know and love? Chaos. Pure, unbridled madness. And that’s what I live for. The film is the most grounded and accessible out of all the Trons because we spend so much of it in a world that’s familiar to us. We’re not watching entire set pieces made on computers and green screens. We’re watching practical stunts and effects, background actors running away, and having a hell of a good time. This movie does such a superb job of combining practical effects with visual effects. Joachim Rønning is also a very talented director. It makes sense as to why Disney has continually hired him, after Young Woman and the Sea, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. He understands that in order to sell heightened technologies like we see here, the imperfections are the key to perfection. There are shots that are mounted onto Light Cycles as they’re speeding down the street; when you see a shot like that, you forget that functional Light Cycles (unfortunately) are not real. He’s always doing something dynamic with the camera, especially during the action. One of the early set pieces surrounds two characters on Light Cycles chasing Eve on a motorcycle, and it instantly sold me. It’s one of the best action sequences of the film. We have another shot where the camera is mounted onto a car that Eve is driving, and the camera stays locked onto the side mirror so that we see Eve’s face driving the car while the stunt is being performed. Even if Greta Lee wasn’t actually driving the car in this stunt, little moments like this do an incredible job of selling the idea that she was. I also love when movies move at a breakneck pace. This is a fast-paced, thrilling movie that launches at full throttle and never slows down. Leto turns in a solid leading man performance, but it’s particularly nice to see Lee in this kind of mainstream blockbuster role after Past Lives. There’s a set piece in the movie that pays tribute to the original 1982 Tron perfectly, and made me appreciate that film more. Tron: Ares does tread on some familiar territory, but it’s told in such an entertaining way with so many breathtaking visual effects and a soundscape unlike any other. This movie is electrifying, and as a lover of Tron: Legacy, it didn’t let me down. It’s a very different movie that focuses on new characters, but it all works out to create a stellar cinematic experience that should be seen on the biggest screen possible. SCORE: 9/10 As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 9 equates to “Excellent.” Entertainment that reaches this level is at the top of its type. The gold standard that every creator aims to reach. Disclosure: ComingSoon attended a press screening for our Tron: Ares review. The post Tron: Ares Review: A Mind-Blowing Sci-Fi Action Spectacle appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Carlos-Rodon-ALDS-G3-Preview-2025.jpgBrad Penner-Imagn Images The Yankees got absolutely thrashed by the Blue Jays during the first two games of the Division Series, losing Saturday’s opener 10-1 and then again on Sunday, 13-7. To be fair, the first game was tight right up to the seventh-inning stretch, after which the Blue Jays expanded their 2-1 lead with four runs apiece in the seventh and eighth innings, but by the same token, Game 2 wasn’t even as close as that six-run margin suggests. The Yankees not only trailed 12-0 through five innings, but also were no-hit by Trey Yesavage through 5 1/3 innings before breaking through against reliever Justin Bruihl in the sixth. Now, for the second time in less than a week, they’ll turn to Carlos Rodón to face an AL East rival with their season on the line. The 32-year-old Rodón started Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox, one night after Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman stifled the Yankees in the opener. Rodón held the Red Sox to three runs in six-plus innings, getting by with more than a little help from his friends. He retired the first six batters he faced before running into trouble in the third inning. Jarren Duran, the lone lefty in the lineup, singled, then Ceddanne Rafaela worked a walk, with Rodón exacerbating the situation with a throwing error on switch-hitter Nick Sogard’s sacrifice bunt. Though he recovered to strike out lefty-masher Rob Refsnyder, both runners scored on a sharp single by Trevor Story. Rodón escaped further damage when he induced Alex Bregman to ground into a double play that began with an acrobatic spin move by second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. After a clean top of the fifth, Rodón was briefly staked to a 3-2 lead thanks to Aaron Judge’s RBI single, but it proved short-lived. Rodón fell behind Story 2-0 to lead off the fifth, then threw him a meatball, a 95.2-mph four-seamer that ended up in the middle of the strike zone and was hammered 381 feet to left field for a game-tying home run. A four-pitch walk to Bregman put him on the ropes, but he recovered by retiring Romy Gonzalez on a popout, then getting Carlos Narváez to ground into an around-the-horn double play. With his pitch count at a reasonable 82, manager Aaron Boone sent Rodón back out to start the seventh, but he walked Nate Eaton on four pitches, threw a wild pitch that sent him to second, then grazed Duran with a 3-0 pitch. Reliever Fernando Cruz managed to clean up the mess without further damage, aided by a stellar diving stop by Chisholm on a Masataka Yoshida infield single that, had it not been stopped, probably would have plated both Duran and Eaton. The Yankees scored what proved to be the decisive run in the eighth, when Chisholm worked a walk against Garrett Whitlock, then raced home on a long single into the right field corner by Austin Wells. For the night, Rodón threw 91 pitches, yielding four hits and walking three while striking out six. He generated 16 called strikes and 10 whiffs, five with his changeup, four with his slider, and one with his four-seamer; both his 28.5% called strike and whiff rate and 11% swinging-strike rate were a bit below his regular season marks (29.5% and 12.4%, respectively), each of which ranked in the 80th percentile or higher among ERA qualifiers. Contact-wise, his average exit velocity of 93.3 mph and 50% hard-hit rate were further off his season marks, though Story’s homer was the only ball the Red Sox barreled. Rodón is coming off a strong campaign, one that represents a vast improvement on the first two seasons of his six-year, $162 million deal, even if it wasn’t quite as dominant as his career-best 18-9 record suggests. He set career highs with 33 starts and 195 1/3 innings, tying for second in the majors in the former and fourth in the latter. Additionally, he ranked seventh among AL qualifiers in strikeout rate (25.7%) and eighth in ERA (3.08). While both his strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate represented slight steps in the wrong direction relative to 2024, he posted the AL’s lowest batting average allowed among qualifiers (.187) and cut his home run rate from 1.59 per nine to 1.01, part of a vast improvement in his contact profile: Carlos Rodón Statcast Profile Season Team EV EV Pctile LA Barrel% Brl Pctile HardHit% HH Pctile ERA xERA 2021 CHW 89.2 38th 18.7 6.6% 67th 36.1% 68th 2.37 2.68 2022 SFG 89.0 35th 19.4 6.5% 66th 39.7% 30th 2.88 2.64 2023 NYY 91.6 2nd 22.1 12.1% 1st 41.6% 30th 6.85 5.32 2024 NYY 90.4 11th 18.1 11.0% 4th 40.9% 32nd 3.96 4.12 2025 NYY 88.6 66th 12.8 7.5% 62nd 38.9% 64th 3.09 3.31 Source: Baseball Savant In Rodón’s first season with the Yankees — one in which he was limited to 14 starts due to forearm and left hamstring strains as well as back stiffness, which required a cortisone shot — he ranked near the very bottom among qualified pitchers in both average exit velocity and barrel rate. Two years later, he was well above average in those departments, with a career-low average exit velo as well as his lowest average launch angle since 2017. That latter mark coincides with Rodón’s vastly improved groundball rate. His 9.6-point jump from 2024 (33.8%) to ’25 (43.5%) ranked third in the majors among pitchers with at least 50 innings in both seasons, behind Griffin Canning (10.2%) and Tanner Bibee (10.1%). That jump owes something to Rodón’s reconfigured repertoire. This year, he regularly used a sinker for the first time since 2018, throwing it 31.3% of the time against lefties, who hit just .119 and slugged .143 against it, while whiffing on 31.9% of their swings, though just 3.2% of the time against righties, who hit .364 and slugged .409 against it, albeit in just 23 plate appearances. http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/rodonpitchpct-scaled.png Batters hit groundballs on 57.7% of the 52 sinkers they put into play, the highest rate among Rodón’s offerings save for his curveball, which produced just seven balls in play: Carlos Rodón Groundball Rate by Pitch Type Pitch 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Four-Seamer 33.9% 30.7% 23.9% 25.6% 28.4% Slider 52.9% 40.5% 32.6% 40.0% 48.0% Changeup 34.0% 33.3% 50.0% 56.5% 56.6% Curveball — 50.0% 33.3% 32.0% 71.4% Sinker — — — — 57.7% During Rodón’s media session before the Wild Card Series opener, I asked him about the “new” pitch, which he reintroduced in collaboration with the Yankees’ analytics department and coaching staff. “[When] I came in the league, I had what you call a two-seamer. Back then we didn’t have quite the movement plots that we do now and understanding pitch movement and pitch profiles the way we do now,” he said. “So it was slightly a different pitch, and the grip was slightly different. I had an idea of how to throw what you call a sinker, two-seamer from throwing it eight, nine years ago… we just stumbled upon it and the Yankees pitching department refined it. [Pitching coach] Matt Blake had a hand in that, [assistant pitching coach] Preston [Claiborne] had a hand in that. We went with it.” Rodón’s sinker comes in slightly slower than his four-seamer (averaging 91.9 mph vs. 94.1) with almost a foot more drop (6.3 inches of induced vertical break vs. 17.6 inches) and more arm-side movement (14.6 inches vs. 10.8 inches). Before Rodón’s Wild Card Series start, Boone described the lefty’s evolution, saying, “He is a more complete pitcher, [has] more ways of beating you now.” More: “For the bulk of his career, he was that fastball-slider guy, big four-seam fastball up in the zone with the wipeout slider. As he has navigated these last couple of years and obviously had a lot of success for us the last couple of years, he’s evolved that arsenal a little bit… He still has a four-seam [and] slider that’s bread and butter for him. Now he is incorporating the sinker. The changeup is a really good pitch for him now. He can slow you down and spin it in there. “He has a lot of different ways to go about it now. There’s been a lot of different games where something different has been featured and really been that go-to pitch for him. Add it all up and it has been a really strong year.” The other notable aspect of Rodón’s evolution has been a greater effort to control his emotions. His experience pitching big games, as well as his talking to some of the Yankees’ big-game pitchers of yesteryear, seems to have helped. “I learned fairly quick last year that things need to be in check, and [I need to] save that energy for some extra innings down the road,” he said of the extent to which he dialed back his celebration of strikeouts. After his rough 3 2/3-inning, four-run start against the Royals in Game 2 of last year’s Division Series — a start that began with the very amped-up lefty strutting around after striking out five of the first eight hitters he faced before things escalated — he spoke to Andy Pettitte (now a Yankees advisor) and Gerrit Cole (currently serving as a quasi-assistant pitching coach as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery). “Those two, after that start, got my mind where it needed to be,” he said. As for how all of this will translate to Tuesday’s critical start, Rodón has his work cut out. The Blue Jays tied for third in the majors with a 111 wRC+ against lefties, and in the two times they faced Rodón — both at the Rogers Centre, within a span of 22 days — they chased him after five labor-intensive innings: On June 30, Rodón burned through 96 pitches, allowing five hits and three walks but just two runs while striking out four. Boone brought him out to start the sixth with the Yankees ahead 2-1, but pulled him after he yielded a leadoff double to Davis Schneider, then watched the bullpen melt down to allow four runs in what ended up as a 5-4 defeat. On July 21, six days after Rodón threw a scoreless inning in the All-Star Game (his first appearance in three trips to the Midsummer Classic), he threw 107 pitches, allowing six hits, five walks and four runs, all in the fifth; the big blow was a two-run double by Bo Bichette, who is out of commission for this series due to a left knee sprain. After Rodón won a 14-pitch battle (!) to get Schneider to pop up for the second out, throwing errors by third baseman Oswald Peraza and shortstop Anthony Volpe made the last two runs unearned. To Boone’s point about Rodón’s having different go-to pitches in different outings, in the first of those two starts against Toronto, his four-seamer (37.5%) and slider (34.4%) accounted for nearly three-quarters of his offerings, while in the second, his four-seamer (50.5%) and changeup (25.2%) made up over three-quarters of his pitches. The Jays were all over that slider, hitting .364 and slugging .545 against it while whiffing on just 5.3% of their swings, but they hit a more modest .222 and slugged .333 against the four-seamer, whiffing on 21.4% of their swings. Rodón threw his sinker just 8.2% of the time in those two games, with batters swinging at just six of the 17 he threw them, whiffing on two (one for strike three), fouling three off, and hitting one 100.1 mph to center field for an out. If manager John Schneider matches what he did against the left-handed Max Fried on Sunday, the only lefties in the Blue Jays lineup might be center fielder Daulton Varsho (who went 4-for-5 overall, with two doubles in two at-bats against Fried, plus two homers off righty Will Warren) and second baseman-turned-shortstop Andrés Giménez (who struck out and singled against Fried). Varsho hit for a respectable 99 wRC+ in 56 plate appearances against lefties this year and owns a career 90 wRC+ against them; Giménez managed just a 39 wRC+ in 86 PA against them this year but similarly owns a 92 wRC+ against them for his career, with his defensive advantage over Bichette helping to offset the loss of the latter’s 143 wRC+ against lefties this year. Righties Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (163 wRC+ against lefties), Ernie Clement (146 wRC+), and George Springer (132 wRC+) gave lefties a hard time, and both Alejandro Kirk (113 wRC+) and Davis Schneider (106 wRC+) were at least solid. Particularly with Tim Hill the only lefty reliever the Yankees are carrying in this series, having a platoon disadvantage isn’t going to be much of a concern for Toronto. Rodón recognizes the challenge, saying in his media session on Sunday, “There’s not a lot of miss. They’re tough to strike out. They force action. They put the ball in play. They make teams play defense. They’re pretty athletic. There’s also slug within the lineup. And it makes it tough. There’s times where you need a strikeout, and just the miss isn’t there. They seem to have a really good understanding of the zone as well. So the chase is low… they have a good idea of what they want to do at the plate.” Regarding that lack of swing-and-miss, the Blue Jays had the majors’ third-lowest swinging-strike rate (9.4%) and lowest strikeout rate (17.8%), with players such as Clement (10.4% strikeout rate), Kirk (11.7%), and Guerrero (13.8%) particularly difficult to punch out. That said, Toronto’s 28.9% chase rate was actually the majors’ ninth-highest mark, though the Jays did have the highest out-of-zone contact rate (63.6%) by four full percentage points — which generally works in a pitcher’s favor. Kirk’s .305 average and .356 slugging on pitches outside the zone were by far the best marks on the team. There’s no getting around the fact that the Blue Jays — who will counter Rodón with Shane Bieber — are squarely in control of this series, after winning the division on the basis of their 8-5 series advantage during the regular season. For as well as Rodón has pitched in 2025, and for as well as he may end up pitching Tuesday night, it still may not be enough for the Yankees to stave off elimination. Source View the full article

October 7th and 8th are Amazon Prime Days, and that means a whole lot of sales for members, including on books and Kindles. We’ve included some of the most exciting sales on hardcovers, paperbacks, and book boxed sets below, but there are a lot more to explore. Check out our Daily Book Deals page for ebook sales. There are some categories of books that have a ton of titles on sale during Prime Days. Take a browse through the cookbooks section and children’s books section to start with. Most Dungeons and Dragons books are also on sale today. Here’s a pro tip: most of these titles are on sale even without a Prime membership, but it’s a slightly smaller discount. So it’s worth browsing even as a non member. Now, let’s get into the books! Prime Day Deals $8The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu MandannaGet This Deal $9The Reformatory by Tananarive DueGet This Deal $7Normal People by Sally RooneyGet This Deal $10Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. ButlerGet This Deal $112The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated by the Author by J. R. R. TolkienGet This Deal $30The Hobbit Illustrated by the Author by J. R. R. TolkienGet This Deal $25The Complete Poppy War Trilogy Boxed Set by R. F. KuangGet This Deal $15The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. JemisinGet This Deal $22A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set by George R. R. MartinGet This Deal $83The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill WattersonGet This Deal View the full article

A number of teams (and their fanbases) have already turned their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking a look at the players who’ll be available at each position. We’re moving to second base, where the eligibility cutoff is players who either logged at least 50 innings at the position this season or have primarily played there in their careers. Every shortstop could theoretically play second base, and there’ll be teams that have interest in Bo Bichette and/or Ha-Seong Kim on the right side of the infield. They’ll be covered in greater detail with the shortstop preview, so we’ll limit this to true second basemen and/or utility players. Ages listed are for the 2026 season. Previous entries in this series: catcher, first base Everyday Players Gleyber Torres (29) Torres hits the market for a second straight season. He chose a one-year, $15MM pillow contract with the Tigers last time. Torres was coming off a relative down season in his final year with the Yankees. He’d hit .257/.330/.378 across 665 plate appearances, and while that was weighed down by a slow start, teams clearly weren’t making the kind of long-term offers he’d sought. The stint in Detroit started brilliantly. Torres hit .281/.387/.425 in the first half and was named the AL’s starting second baseman at the All-Star Game. The numbers dropped significantly after that, as he limped to a .223/.320/.339 finish amidst Detroit’s near collapse. He ended the year with numbers that were only a little better than he managed in 2024: .256/.358/.387 with 16 homers over 628 plate appearances. Torres is a bat-first second baseman who is a good but not great hitter. He’s young enough to have a shot at a four or even five years, but that would’ve been easier to see if his numbers hadn’t crashed in the second half. Free agency generally hasn’t been kind to second basemen in recent years, especially those who aren’t capable of or willing to play other positions. Torres has been adamant about sticking about the position in the past and seemingly rebuffed interest from the Nationals in moving to third base last offseason. It’s not clear if he’ll be more open to moving around the diamond in his second trip to free agency. The Tigers could make Torres a qualifying offer, which will reportedly come in around $22MM. That looked quite likely early in the season but now seems borderline. The Giants, Angels, Reds, Royals, Astros and potentially Nationals could all be involved if Detroit lets him walk. Jorge Polanco (32) Polanco’s contract technically contains a $6MM player option, but he’s going to decline that and hit free agency. The Mariners surprisingly re-signed him on the heels of a disappointing 2024 season. Seattle attributed the down year to a knee injury through which he’d played that required postseason meniscus surgery. They’ve been proven right with a resurgent year from the switch-hitting infielder. Polanco drilled 26 homers and 30 doubles with a .265/.326/.495 slash line in the regular season. He’s carried the hot bat into October, blasting a couple solo homers off Tarik Skubal on Sunday night to help the Mariners even their Division Series against Detroit. While Polanco can still hit, he’ll face questions about his defensive workload over 162 games. Seattle initially planned to play him at third base, believing that not needing to navigate the second base bag would be easier on his knee. That lasted five games before renewed soreness and an oblique injury led the M’s to use him as a full-time designated hitter for a while. He began mixing in second base work in June and played there regularly for the final three weeks of the season. He logged a little under 300 innings at the keystone overall. Polanco is eligible for a qualifying offer. Seattle probably wouldn’t want to commit $22MM at the beginning of the offseason, but he has played so well this year that it’s at least a long shot possibility — especially if he helps carry the lineup on a deep playoff run. Luis Arraez (29) Arraez also isn’t expected to start 100+ games at second base, though that’s not because of injury. He’s simply not a good defensive player. The Padres have pushed him mostly to first base over the past couple seasons. He only started 10 games and logged 82 innings at second base this year. It’s unlikely teams would want to live with his glove there on an everyday basis, but he could get part-time work while playing mostly first base as he has done in San Diego. Readers are surely familiar with Arraez’s unique offensive skillset. He’s the sport’s best contact hitter and one of the few players who can be expected to hit close to or above .300. The throwback style doesn’t include many walks or extra-base hits, which becomes more of an issue as he falls further down the defensive spectrum. Baseball Reference has valued Arraez around one Win Above Replacement in consecutive seasons. His free agency will be a test case for how much teams still care about batting average. Multi-Positional Types Willi Castro (29) Castro was one of the better utility players available at the deadline. The switch-hitter had turned in a .250/.335/.398 line over two and a half seasons in Minnesota. He looked to be on track for a solid multi-year contract as free agency approached. Things have gone sharply downhill since he was traded to the Cubs, however. Castro hit .170/.245/.240 in 34 games with Chicago. That dropped his season batting mark to .226/.313/.366 through 454 trips to the dish. Adam Frazier (34) The lefty-hitting Frazier was also traded at the deadline. His numbers picked up after the move. Frazier carried a .255/.318/.336 slash in 78 games with the Pirates. He turned in a league-average .283/.320/.402 line in nearly 200 plate appearances in his second stint with the Royals. He finished the year with a .267/.319/.365 line over 459 trips to the plate. Frazier doesn’t take many walks or hit the ball hard, but he’s a plus contact hitter who still grades as a competent defender. Luis Rengifo (29) Rengifo has some similarities to Castro. He’s a switch-hitter, relatively young for a free agent, and has had a couple above-average offensive seasons. He has played all over the field but isn’t an especially good defender anywhere. The bat has been good enough to make up for that in previous years. Rengifo combined for a .273/.323/.431 slash in almost 1300 plate appearances between 2022-24. However, he ended the ’24 campaign on the injured list after undergoing wrist surgery, and he’s now coming off the worst full season of his career in ’25. While he appeared in a personal-high 147 games, he managed just a .238/.287/.335 batting line. He should still command a big league deal based on his track record, but it’ll likely be a one-year contract. Miguel Rojas (37) Teams know what they’re getting from Rojas, a rock solid defensive infielder who can play a fine shortstop, second base or third base. He’s coming off a second straight decent offensive season, hitting .262/.318/.397 across 317 plate appearances. Rojas isn’t going to put many balls in the seats, but he makes a ton of contact and has enough juice to pick up 20-25 doubles. Amed Rosario (30) The Yankees acquired the righty-hitting Rosario from the Nationals at the deadline — one of two utility pickups (along with José Caballero) to complement lefty-swinging infielders Ryan McMahon and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Rosario hit .303 in 16 games in pinstripes and finished the year with a combined .276/.309/.436 line. He has a lifetime .298/.336/.464 slash versus lefty pitching, which should get him another low-cost big league deal. Team Options Ozzie Albies (29) The Braves control Albies on a $7MM option that comes with a $4MM buyout, making it a $3MM decision. That’s still an easy yes even with Albies coming off a second straight middling year and suffering a season-ending hamate fracture. They’re not going to cut their longtime second baseman to save what amounts to low-end utility player/middle reliever money. Brandon Lowe (31) Lowe isn’t going to get to free agency either. The Rays have an $11.5MM club option, a bargain for a middle infielder coming off a 31-homer season. He’ll probably be in trade rumors because this will be his final year under club control and that salary is a bit steep by Rays standards, but Tampa Bay would be able to find a solid trade return even if they’d rather reallocate the money. Minor League Deal Candidates Tim Anderson (33) Orlando Arcia (31) Jon Berti (36) Cavan Biggio (31) Paul DeJong (32) Kyle Farmer (34) Garrett Hampson (31) Kiké Hernández (34) Jose Iglesias (36) Scott Kingery (32) DJ LeMahieu (37) Nicky Lopez (31) Dylan Moore (34) Brendan Rodgers (29) Josh Rojas (32) Chris Taylor (35) Luis Urías (29) View the full article

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Tariffs Trap Libraries’ Internationally Loaned Books 404 Media reports that tariffs and the elimination of some fee exemptions is creating new challenges for university libraries, “reversing long-held standards in academic cooperation.” Some libraries that have materials loaned out internationally can’t get those books back due to carriers being unwilling to ship to the U.S. and confusion caused by new tariffs and the elimination of de minimis exceptions for items that cost less than $800, for example, about how mail services should handle loaned books. An American Library Association group has even found it necessary to create a site to help librarians navigate the new and unpredictable terrain formed by these changes. “If we can’t do [interlibrary loans] anymore and we’re limiting what our users can access, because maybe they’re only limited to what we have in our collection, then ultimately could hinder academic progress,” associate director of resource sharing and reserves at Yale University Library Jessica Bower Relevo told 404. Truly Rallying Book Ban News Twelve-year-old Abigail Friedman organized a Right to Read Rally in Amherst with the help of friends. The event, which set out to combat book bans in New York State, was held last weekend and featured local authors who have been impacted by these bans. The author lineup included Jasminne Mendez (The Story of My Anger), Jewell Parker Rhodes (Ghost Boys), and Marieke Nijkamp (This is Where It Ends), and U.S. Congressman Tim Kennedy was a featured speaker. Friedman, co-creator of the YouTube channel 2 Kid Interviews, told the Amherst Bee, “When I lived in Illinois, I was in the only state that banned book bans. I loved that. I really want New York to become the second state to do it.” The Twits Come to Netflix An animated movie inspired by the characters from Roald Dahl’s The Twits is coming to Netflix on October 17th, and you can watch the trailer here. The film is written, directed, and produced by Phil Johnston (Ralph Breaks the Internet) and features the voice talents of Natalie Portman, Emilia Clarke, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, among others. The Netflix film detours from the original text to pit Mr. and Mrs. Twit, a loathsome couple who despise each other, against a group of orphans. Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company a few years ago, so this likely isn’t the last Dahl-inspired production we’ll see from them. The Twits is one of the Dahl books posthumously revised for offensive language, and antisemitism, racism, and other reprehensible offenses have tarnished the author’s legacy. What Books Do Readers Find Most Confusing? Find out what books confuzzled readers the most! What are you reading? Let us know in the comments! View the full article

Al Horford reportedly has a 15% trade kicker included with a second-year player option in his two-year, $12 million deal with the Golden State Warriors, league sources told HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto on Monday. Al Horford Was Warriors’ No. 1 Big Man Target Horford was Golden State’s top center target entering free agency in July as […] The post Al Horford Has 15% Trade Kicker in Warriors Contract appeared first on Basketball Insiders | NBA Rumors And Basketball News. View the full article

Awards season is upon us, and the National Book Award judges just released their 2025 shortlists across five categories. You may recall that longlists of 10 titles each began to roll out in September. Now the lists grow shorter in anticipation of the awards ceremony on Wednesday, November 19, when winners in each category will be announced. Finalists each take home $1,000, while the winner in each category received $10,000 and a bronze sculpture. The Awards honor books written by U.S. authors for books published in the United States. The five categories include Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. Here’s the 2025 National Book Awards Shortlist for Fiction: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar The Antidote by Karen Russell North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford Palaver by Bryan Washington Here’s the 2025 National Book Awards Shortlist for Nonfiction: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy by Julia Ioffe Things In Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care by Claudia Row When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan Thomas Here’s the 2025 National Book Awards Shortlist for Poetry: The New Economy by Gabrielle Calvocoressi Becoming Ghost by Cathy Linh Che Scorched Earth by Tiana Clark I Do Know Some Things by Richard Silken The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith Here’s the 2025 National Book Awards Shortlist for Translated Literature: On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russel We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje, translated from Dutch by David McKay We Computers: A Ghazal Novel by Hamid Ismailov, translated from Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, translated from French by Natasha Lehrer Here’s the 2025 National Book Awards Shortlist for Young People’s Literature: A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff The Leaving Room by Amber McBride The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi The National Book Awards are among the most prestigious honors bestowed upon books in a given year. They began in 1936 by the American Booksellers Association, took a break during World War II, and then resumed under the leadership of several collaborating book industry organizations in 1950. A few decades later, the National Book Foundation took over, with the goal of ensuring these books are not only honored but that their impact is felt across the country in a real, meaningful way. More information about the National Book Awards finalists is available on their website. Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books. View the full article

This week is Amazon’s biannual Prime Day sale, which hopes to draw in new Prime members by offering discounts on a range of products, including books. Some competitors are now holding their own “Anti-Prime Day” sales at the same time, including Bookshop.org. October 7th and 8th, they’re offering free shipping in addition to most titles already being 10% off. This overlaps with their Banned Books Week sale, which runs October 5th-19th. You can get 20% off banned books using the code BBW25 at checkout. This is a partnership with We Need Diverse Books, and you can see all the eligible titles on Bookshop.org’s Banned Books page. Bookshop.org sales go towards support independent bookstores. You can choose a bookstore to support with your purchases. Since it started in 2020, Bookshop.org has raised $39 million for indie bookstores. You can find more details on their Anti-Prime Day sale at Bookshop.org. Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books. View the full article

(Photo by Kevin Mazur/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management) Taylor Swift recently praised One Battle After Another during a recent appearance on national television. On Monday night, Swift appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to promote her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which was released on October 3. During the interview, Fallon and Swift played the Game of Lasts, where the pop star answered questions about the last thing she did. When Fallon brought up the last movie she saw, Swift excitedly answered with Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film. What did Taylor Swift say about One Battle After Another? “One Battle After Another. My god,” Swift said to Fallon. The Fate of Ophelia singer then broke down what she loved about the movie, spotlighting two performances that are Oscar-worthy. “Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor, how are they going to split the Oscar?” Swift explained. “Benicio [del Toro] was so funny. They were so funny. Leo [DiCaprio] was hilarious. The fact that when you hear that theme [film’s score] each time, it makes you feel something different every single time.” Swift added, “We are so lucky to be alive at the same time as Paul Thomas Anderson. It’s crazy that he’s just out here doing that. He’s writing it. He’s directing it. He’s existing on this higher level that we get to watch.” In One Battle After Another, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Bob Ferguson, a washed-up revolutionary who must find his daughter when his former nemesis resurfaces after a 16-year hiatus. Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti also star. Anderson wrote and directed One Battle After Another, his tenth feature film. Released on September 26, Anderson’s movie has grossed $102 million worldwide. One Battle After Another has received near-universal praise and launched itself into contender status at the 2026 Oscars. One Battle After Another is now in theaters. The post Taylor Swift Praises New Leonardo DiCaprio Movie, Shares Oscars Predictions appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article