Blackpool boss Steve Bruce said he has been “touched” by the tributes he has received following the death of his baby grandson.

Four-month-old Madison, the child of Bruce’s son-in-law and former Leeds United, Fulham and Millwall striker Matt Smith, died earlier in October.

Bruce has spent time away from football following his grandson’s passing but will return to the dugout for Saturday’s FA Cup first-round fixture at Gillingham.

“I’d like to take this opportunity on behalf of all the family to thank everyone for the tributes and messages from inside and outside the footballing world. It has touched us all,” he said in a statement, external.

“I’d also like to thank [sporting director] David [Downes], [chief executive officer] Julian [Winter], and the owner Simon [Sadler] for their understanding and support.

“I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday at Gillingham, and back at Bloomfield Road.”

NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers had heard the minimizing and belittling of their short-season championship in the hours and days and months and years since they dogpiled between the mound and home plate at Globe Life Field four seasons ago. They believed what they did in 2020 amid adverse circumstances and a Texas bubble might have been harder and required even more than the typical season. Every other team, after all, had the same chance they did. 

And yet …

“You want the full season one, just to get that whole narrative out of the window,” Gavin Lux said. “I think it kind of bugs everybody a little bit that you don’t get the recognition that you deserve.”

For the past four years, it served as fuel, a little extra motivation to acquire the franchise’s first full-season World Series championship since 1988. The Dodgers had gone to the postseason 11 straight years before this one, with only one pandemic-shortened title to show for it. Many of the same characters from 2020 remained, craving a championship no one could question and a celebration that evaded them the last time they won in the middle of a pandemic. 

Thanks to seven relievers and the first five-run comeback in a World Series clincher Wednesday night in the Bronx, that parade they missed in 2020 will take place Friday in Los Angeles. 

“I’m going to enjoy the heck out of this one,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m sure there’s no asterisk on this one.”

In a season defined by persistence, the Dodgers outlasted the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series, battling back from an early five-run hole, falling behind again, then coming through with the go-ahead runs in the eighth inning of a 7-6 win that embodied their resilience en route to a second championship in five years. 

“Now it’s two, baby, what are you gonna say about that?” Max Muncy said. “World Series champions. Get that Mickey Mouse s— out of your mouth. We got a full season. It’s here.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series] 

At 1:18 a.m. in the Bronx, as Wednesday night bled into Thursday morning and the Dodgers’ eighth World Series championship celebration shifted from a champagne-soaked clubhouse onto a family-filled field at Yankee Stadium, a shirtless Walker Buehler, pants still drenched from the postgame libations, lifted up Will Smith’s 2-year-old daughter for a hug before embracing his catcher for the second time that night. The first, a couple of hours prior, came as more of a surprise. 

Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior had not discussed Buehler pitching at all in the deciding Game 5 of the World Series. That Buehler, an October star again after a turbulent return from his second Tommy John surgery, nonetheless secured the final out of the 2024 season represented a fitting finish to a year that took a path they never could have imagined after their billion-dollar offseason splurge. 

If the chance to celebrate with a parade wasn’t incentive enough, they would find plenty more sources of motivation as their juggernaut roster began to crumble piece by piece. Injuries tattered their rotation to the point that only one pitcher from their Opening Day rotation still remained upright by October. Of the three starters they entrusted to get them through the postseason, one, Jack Flaherty, didn’t arrive until the deadline and was chased after recording four outs in the final win of the World Series. Another, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, missed nearly three months with a shoulder injury. The third, Buehler, had an ERA over 5.00 in a season marred by inconsistent command and mechanics. 

Even the star-studded offense had taken its hits. Shohei Ohtani, the prize of the offseason who finally got his long-awaited opportunity on the sport’s biggest stage, partially dislocated his shoulder during the World Series. Before that, Freddie Freeman suffered a late September ankle sprain that was supposed to keep him out for 4-6 weeks. Freeman’s father, Fred, had to drive him to Dodger Stadium every day for physical therapy because Freddie couldn’t use his injured right foot on the pedal. 

“It was beyond what any human should do,” Freeman’s father said from the field at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, where he celebrated with his son. “I don’t know any other person that could have done that. Maybe Shohei, what he’s been doing right now. Shohei’s a warrior, also.”

Both players pushed through, though Freeman did a lot more than just survive en route to being selected World Series MVP. He set a major-league record with home runs in six straight World Series games (dating back to his 2021 championship run with the Braves) after homering in each of the first four games of this year’s World Series. The streak ended in Game 5, but his production did not. Freeman delivered a two-run hit as part of the Dodgers’ five-run fifth to tie the game. A medley of Yankees errors and miscues opened the door. An opportunistic Dodgers club knocked it down. 

“Get dealt a couple blows, come back from it,” Muncy said. “Get dealt some more blows, come back from it. This game was literally our season in a nutshell.”

Given their dearth of starting options, the Dodgers needed to rely on a cavalcade of relievers to persevere, as they had all October. Their postseason run included 22 more innings from their bullpen than from their starters. 

“I’d be one to tell you there would never be a bullpenning team that won the World Series,” said Blake Treinen, who recorded seven outs on Wednesday, marking the first time in six years that he’d gone more than two innings in an outing. “I’m eating crow.”

So depleted of starting pitchers, and needing to keep their highest-leverage arms fresh, the Dodgers and manager Dave Roberts chose to punt on certain playoff games when his team got down in a bullpen game. Roberts would live to fight another day, saving his most trusted relievers for more positive game scripts, so the opponent wouldn’t get as many looks at them. The dangerous strategy ultimately triumphed. Maligned for his decision-making in postseasons past, Roberts navigated a treacherous road deftly. 

“Doc,” Smith said, “pushed all the right buttons.” 

The most important might have come two weeks before the playoffs, when the team’s mounting injuries seemed to be taking a toll on the club both physically and mentally. In mid-September, after the Dodgers learned All-Star Tyler Glasnow’s season was over, Roberts read the room and saw a team that looked demoralized. The Dodgers had just dropped two straight games in Atlanta, and the Padres were clawing into their division lead. 

Roberts rarely calls for team meetings, but Teoscar Hernández said the timing of this one changed everything. The skipper told his players that he couldn’t believe in them more than they believed in themselves, and the change needed to begin that night. Buehler responded by bouncing back from a five-run outing to hold the Braves to one earned run in six innings. It was one of 11 wins in the final 14 games of the regular season for a Dodgers team that would be playoff bound for a 12th straight year, and it set a tone for a team that would then rebound from a 2-1 deficit in the National League Division Series against the Padres. It was around that time when Roberts realized this group, which would run through the Mets and Yankees, was different from recent iterations. 

“I believe in this team,” Roberts said before a do-or-die Game 5 of the NLDS, “more than any team I’ve had.”

After winning the 2020 World Series, the past three years didn’t go the way the Dodgers planned. In 2021, they couldn’t dig out of another 3-1 NLCS hole against Freeman’s Braves, who would go on to win the whole thing. In 2022, a historic team that won 111 games bowed out in the first round in a stunning upset against the upstart Padres. A year later came another shocking first-round shellacking at the hands of a division foe, this time with the Diamondbacks blitzing the Dodgers.

Getting swept yielded sweeping changes. 

The Dodgers opened the bank to bring in the most talented player in the game. A third MVP atop the lineup could, ideally, help stabilize an offense that had recently sputtered in October. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was at his son’s soccer game on a Zoom call recruiting another player when he got the news that Ohtani was on board, ending an emotional roller-coaster for a Los Angeles franchise that had long coveted the two-way sensation.

That Ohtani, determined to be part of a winning organization for the first time in his unmatched six-year big-league career, decided to set up his contract in an extraordinary way, deferring most of the $700 million he was owed over the next 10 years, freed up the Dodgers to continue adding. They made fellow NPB standout Yoshinobu Yamamoto the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history with a contract that was $1 million more in total value than Gerrit Cole, the ace who took the mound for the Yankees on Wednesday in Game 5 of the World Series. 

The Dodgers kept going, trading for and extending Glasnow and bringing in even more offensive firepower by adding Hernández on a one-year deal. They had formed what seemed to be an inexorable machine, one capable of exorcising their recent postseason failures and delivering their city the parade they never got. 

But more work would be required from the Dodgers’ front office to acquire the pieces necessary to get them over the top. In one of the most vital trade deadlines in franchise history, they acquired the best pitcher available on the market in Flaherty, the local Los Angeles product who did just enough for his hometown team in a volatile postseason to help his club survive. Just as importantly, they also swung a three-team deal for versatile defender Tommy Edman, who hadn’t played a game this year to that point as he rehabbed wrist and ankle injuries, and reliever Michael Kopech, who was languishing on the worst team in modern baseball history. Kopech would slot in among the bevy of relief arms Roberts would come to rely upon. 

Amid the injuries, the Dodgers knew they still possessed talent. And as they clawed through the postseason, they learned more about their ability to overcome adversity. There was perhaps no better example than the player who threw the final pitch of the season. 

Earlier in the day, Buehler told the Dodgers’ coaching staff and front office he’d be available in the bullpen. 

“Like, yeah, Walk, that’s awesome,” Friedman said, shaking off the thought. 

“Well, what if it gets wonky?” Buehler asked. 

With Flaherty departing in the second inning, things got wonky. 

The Dodgers had already deployed all those high-leverage arms they were saving, forcing Treinen to record seven outs as the bullpen options dwindled. From there, the Dodgers had a couple of options. They could turn to Daniel Hudson, who threw 20 pitches the night prior, one of which resulted in a grand slam, and had grinded through another grueling year that would end with the 15-year big leaguer declaring his retirement late Wednesday night. 

Or, they could go to Buehler, who had already made his way to the bullpen. With the Dodgers leading by one run in the ninth, after he threw four scoreless innings in Game 3 of the NLCS and five scoreless innings in his lone start of the World Series just two days prior, Buehler, in what could have been his final act as a Dodger, emerged and added another spotless frame. 

“What Walker did right there, he’s etched in Dodger royalty for the rest of his life,” Clayton Kershaw said. 

“I can’t say enough about him,” Friedman added. “It shouldn’t be surprising. Time and time again, what he’s done in October cements his legacy as an all-time Dodger great.”

It was also a fitting microcosm of the Dodgers’ year of fortitude. After recording the final out of the 2024 season, Buehler raised his hands in the air with his palms to the sky, in a motion that was less “I can’t believe it” and more “What else would you expect?” 

In a season that didn’t go the way Buehler hoped, he was still the October hero. 

In a year and a game that didn’t go the way the Dodgers scripted, they were still victorious. 

This time, four seasons after the previous title, a parade will mark the accomplishment. And there’s nothing anyone can say to diminish it. 

“First one’s just as much as this, in my opinion, Smith said. “People can say whatever they want, but this is No. 2 for us, No. 2 for me. Hopefully, we get a few more.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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La Liga champions Real Madrid’s match against Valencia, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed after the devastating flash floods in Spain.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has postponed all matches in the Valencia region, where at least 95 people have died and dozens more are missing after torrential rain.

Villarreal’s La Liga meeting with Rayo Vallecano has also been called off, along with three games in the Segunda division – Castellon v RC Ferrol, CD Eldense against SD Huesca and Malaga’s visit to Levante.

in Liga F, the women’s top flight, Valencia’s match against Deportivo La Coruna and Real Madrid v Levante are among the postponed fixtures.

The RFEF had received requests from La Liga, Liga F and the clubs themselves to postpone all professional matches in the area after the flash floods.

Several Copa del Rey matches, including Valencia’s trip to Parla Escuela, had already been rescheduled.

The RFEF said a minute’s silence will be observed during the weekend’s games to show Spanish football’s “solidarity for those affected, especially the relatives of those who have died in the natural disaster”.

Though they haven’t exactly looked like a juggernaut this season, the Chiefs have won 13 straight games dating back to last season. And other than the Buccaneers on Monday and the Bills in Week 11, Kansas City’s second-half schedule doesn’t seem overly daunting. 

So who’s going to stop the Chiefs from rolling over the league on their way to the first three-peat of the Super Bowl era? We may get a hint on Sunday when the Lions visit the Packers. Does the winner of this marquee matchup get to claim the title of Best Team in the NFC? 

FOX Sports’ NFL experts tackle that topic as well as several others, including whether Anthony Richardson is finished in Indy, who’ll be impacted most by the Maryland Miracle and which big names could be on the move before next week’s trade deadline. 

Let’s get started.

Should the winner of Sunday’s Lions-Packers game be considered the best team in the NFC?

The fact that the Packers are still in this conversation with Jordan Love having missed significant time (and could again this week) says all you need to know about the viability of this Green Bay team. The Packers have an incredibly well-rounded offense, even when Malik Willis is at the helm, and their defense has been tweaked and adjusted nearly every week to have very few holes. They take the ball away at one of the best rates in the league and are now figuring out how to get pressure in Jeff Hafley’s new scheme. 

Meanwhile, the Lions look like an absolute juggernaut and can seemingly win at-will. Not only are they winning, but they’re playing with their food in the process. Running back David Montgomery threw a touchdown pass last game. There’s seemingly no limit to offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s creativity, and the defense has figured out how to get by without its best pass rusher.

So the answer is yes, absolutely.  — Carmen Vitali 

Perhaps Washington deserves a seat at the table? Other than a loss at Tampa Bay in Jayden Daniels‘ first NFL start, the Commanders only other defeat was a seven-point loss to the Baltimore Ravens, one of the best teams in the AFC. On the other hand, Washington’s most impressive win this year came on a Hail Mary against the Chicago Bears, the last-place team in the NFC North. So, I think at this point of the season, this game pits the top two teams in the NFC in the best division in football. And the winner should be given top billing as the best team in the conference. — Eric D. Williams

Can the Browns push for a playoff bid with Jameis Winston under center, or was their win over the Ravens just a one-week bounce?

With a defense still playing well and a group of playmakers on offense that includes Nick Chubb, Elijah Moore, Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku, the Browns are more than capable of going on a run. Winston remains a prolific passer who can dial up big plays. And Cleveland’s next four opponents — the Chargers, Saints, Steelers and Broncos — are all beatable teams. If the Browns fall out of the playoff picture early, they will be the type of team that opponents do not want to face down the backstretch of the season — a talented squad with nothing to lose. — Eric D. Williams

It was a one-week bounce. It’s going to be too difficult for any of these 2-6 teams to make the playoffs in the AFC this year. It’s such a strong set of teams at the top. And it’s not like AFC North is vulnerable. The Browns still live in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL. The Steelers and Ravens look like clear-cut playoff teams. And the Bengals can beat anyone with Joe Burrow under center. It’s hard to imagine this Browns team rallying around Winston for a truly epic playoff run, particularly after trading Amari Cooper. They played great against the Ravens — who played down to their opponent. But even if the Browns play well the rest of the way, they’re in too big of a hole. — Henry McKenna

Is Colts QB Anthony Richardson asking to be subbed out for being tired going to spell the end for him in Indy? Or is this all overblown?

I think it will be the end for him in Indy eventually — but not because of tapping out. Taking a break is a very bad look, but I’m of the belief that it actually happens more than we think. It’s just that no one has been foolish enough to admit it like Richardson did. 

At the same time, we must remember that the former No. 4 overall pick is just 22 years old, and before his benching, had been the youngest QB1 since the start of last season. There’s a lot he’s still learning. This is something I believe he grows from — even if it winds up being elsewhere long-term. 

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Colts frame his benching as a learning opportunity behind an experienced, Super Bowl-winning quarterback like 39-year-old Joe Flacco. But the reality is that there just aren’t many examples in recent NFL history of early-round quarterbacks who have been Day 1 starters, were benched and came back to have success with that same team. — Ben Arthur

The subbing situation is absolutely overblown. It was clearly immature of Richardson to leave the game — and then to admit he’d done it because he was tired. But if a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes admitted to needing a break, everyone would laugh. No one would criticize Mahomes. So that helps us see what’s really in question: Richardson’s body of work. Criticism of his play is not overblown. He’s a developmental quarterback who hasn’t improved at the pace we’d expect. That counts on the field, where he’s still missing easy throws. That counts off the field, where he’s mishandling the media. 

The Colts have decided to let Joe Flacco take over for a playoff push. That’ll only cast more doubt on Richardson’s development. He’s sitting back and watching more when what he really seems to need is game reps. The Colts have a good team that can support him. He’s started just 10 NFL games and he was a college starter for just one season. I don’t know what the Colts expected from Richardson if not growing pains. He’s already struggled to stay on the field due to injuries. Pulling him now? It spells trouble. It shows a lack of commitment to his development. It’s a bad look for the Colts. — Henry McKenna

Which team will the Maryland Miracle ultimately impact more – the Commanders or the Bears?

If it impacts the Bears, they’re in big trouble. This is the kind of game that you need to move on from and forget about as soon as possible — except if you’re Tyrique Stevenson. Then you need to think long and hard about how you play and about not getting carried away to the point of costing your team a game. This could come back around to bite the Bears at the end of the season if they have any playoff hopes, but I’ve been very vocal about that not being the expectation for this team. The resiliency they showed prior to the Hail Mary to take the lead after being behind all game is incredibly encouraging. They need to use that resiliency now to bounce back.

What went wrong for Chicago on Sunday?

The Commanders, on the other hand, executed the last drive to perfection and again proved to be an offense that can move the ball. Jayden Daniels played through his rib injury and has now proven how comfortable he is in his new scheme. In turn, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury trusts him enough to continue to open up the offense. This game should go further in building that trust and seeing the whole playbook come to life for Daniels, which is ahead of schedule for a rookie quarterback. — Carmen Vitali 

I’ve heard coaches tell me for years that you learn more from losses than you do from wins, and maybe that’s true. But you don’t gain any confidence or momentum from losses. And when you win a game that you know you almost lost, that you were probably lucky to win, there’s a real chance you can get all of that.

That’s why I think the Commanders will get the most out of this game. The momentum and confidence part is obvious. It has to give them a feeling like they’re in the midst of a special year. Going into games feeling like you can’t lose can be a really powerful thing. But they also know this wasn’t a great game for them. They thoroughly outplayed the Bears. They had nearly 500 yards of offense. But until that final Hail Mary, they couldn’t get in the end zone. That might be their biggest problem, and it was exposed for everyone to see. So they’ve got something glaring to fix. It’s like a check on their unbridled confidence.

The Bears right now are just picking up the pieces. The Commanders can see how close they are to completing their puzzle. — Ralph Vacchiano

At the season’s halfway point, biggest overachieving and underachieving teams and why?

Pittsburgh and Washington are obvious choices, but let’s give Jonathan Gannon and the Arizona Cardinals some love here. Few expected Arizona to be leading the NFC West at the midpoint of the season, but the Cardinals sit at 4-4 and hold the tiebreaker because of a 2-0 record in the division. Kyler Murray is playing more consistent football and Trey McBride has emerged as one of the best tight ends in the NFL. If the Cardinals can get more consistent play from their defense, they could be dangerous in the second half of the year.

As for the biggest underachieving team, the Jets are at the top of the list. They were predicted to compete for a Super Bowl, but Robert Saleh was fired five games into the season and Aaron Rodgers has failed to spark the offense, even with the addition of his security blanket in Davante Adams. — Eric D. Williams

The Denver Broncos had one of the worst offenses and defenses in the NFL last year and they sure looked like they were starting a rebuilding process during the offseason. Not only that, they put their faith in a rookie quarterback (Bo Nix) who got off to a terrible start.

So how are they 5-3? Sean Payton has surely done one of the NFL’s best coaching jobs, and so has his defensive coordinator, Vance Joseph. They basically rode the NFL’s No. 3 defense and just found ways to keep Nix out of trouble until he found his footing. He has thrown just one interception in the past six games, which is why the Broncos have won five of them. None of the current contenders was more unexpected than them.

On the flip side, remember all that hype about the New York Jets being a healthy Aaron Rodgers away from the Super Bowl? Well, Rodgers is healthy, they still have a dazzling array of young skill players, a top-five defense and … well, they’re 2-6 and have already fired their coach. Disappointments are nothing new for the Jets, but this is an unprecedented flop for them. They probably were never a Super Bowl team, but they have the talent to be a lot better than they are. — Ralph Vacchiano

Are Aaron Rodgers and the Jets finished after dropping to 2-6?

In the final days before the Nov. 5 trade deadline, one surprising big name who could be on the move?

I’m going to throw out DK Metcalf. The Seahawks are very much alive in the playoff hunt, being that they’re in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC West, but the sixth-year receiver has no guaranteed money left on his contract after this season. A third contract would likely take him to age 30 (he’ll turn 27 in December), which could be a turn-off for general manager John Schneider. And Seattle could net a strong return for an elite receiver who’s playing at a high level (he’s averaging 81.1 receiving yards per game, eighth-most in the NFL) and has been relatively healthy throughout his career. The Seahawks would be equipped to absorb the loss too, with receivers Tyler Lockett and Jaxon-Smith Njigba and tight end Noah Fant. — Ben Arthur

[RELATED: Cooper Kupp, DK Metcalf headline WRs who could move before trade deadline]

How about Jets cornerback D.J. Reed? The Jets were just buyers with Davante Adams. And they’re not going to turn around and trade him (or any of their quarterback’s buddies) because they might want to try to convince Aaron Rodgers not to retire. But a guy like Reed could net a nice return and take some money off the books this year. 

The tricky thing for the Jets (when compared to other sellers like the Panthers) is that they’re likely not going to be big spenders in free agency. So Reed would need to command a serious draft pick, commensurate with what he’d net the Jets as a compensatory pick. That’s why the Panthers sold off Diontae Johnson at such a low price — they will likely be buyers in free agency, which would eliminate any shot at compensatory picks. 

But given how well Reed has played on the perimeter, he could be a worthwhile addition for a team in serious need of secondary reinforcements. The Jets can sell without offending Rodgers, in part because they can make that pick now as opposed to waiting on the compensatory formula to award them a selection in 2026. — Henry McKenna

The following writers contributed to this story: Ben Arthur (@benyarthur); Greg Auman (@gregauman); Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis); Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano); Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV); Eric D. Williams (@eric_d_williams).

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