AP Sports SummaryBrief at 11:17 p.m. EDT

Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre says he has Parkinson's disease WASHINGTON (AP) Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre told a congressional committee Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinsons disease.

Favre made the announcement as part of his testimony about a welfare misspending scandal in Mississippi.

Favre does not face criminal charges, but he has repaid just over $1 million in speaking fees funded by a welfare program in the state.

He was also an investor a biotech company with ties to the case that said it was developing concussion drugs.

It is unclear if Favres disease is connected to his football career or head injuries.

Pac-12 files a federal lawsuit against Mountain West over $43 million in 'poaching' penalties The Pac-12 is suing the Mountain West over what it calls unlawful and unenforceable fees that could cost the rebuilding conference more than $40 million for adding Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State and San Diego State.

The antitrust lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in California and is seeking a declaratory judgment by a judge.

The Mountain West has exit fees of upward of $17 million for departing schools.

There are also poaching fees that were put in place in the Mountain Wests scheduling agreement with Oregon State and Washington State, the only current Pac-12 members this season.

Astros overcome terrible start to clinch 4th straight AL West title with win over Mariners HOUSTON (AP) The Houston Astros have clinched their fourth straight AL West title with a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners, overcoming a terrible start to reach the playoffs for an eighth consecutive year.

The Astros are the first team to win four straight AL West crowns since Oakland won five in a row from 1971-75.

Its the first time theyve won four consecutive division titles, after winning three in a row twice before.

Houston limped out to a 7-19 record and trailed Seattle by a season-high 10 games on June 18.

But the Astros won their next seven to start a 13-2 stretch as they improved to 46-42 by July 5.

They moved past the Mariners into first place in mid-August and cruised home to the division crown.

Baltimore Orioles clinch playoff berth for 2nd straight season NEW YORK (AP) The Baltimore Orioles are headed to the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since the 1990s, clinching no worse than a wild-card berth with a 5-3 win over the New York Yankees paired with Minnesota's loss to Miami.

Baltimore has only a remote chance of overtaking the Yankees for the AL East title.

The Orioles trail by five games with five games left but hold the tiebreaker after clinching the season series.

Coming off their first AL East title since 2014, the Orioles started 23-11 and were 55-31 before play on July 3 but have gone 32-39 since.

Ionescu scores 36 points and Liberty advance to WNBA semifinals with 91-82 win over Dream NEW YORK (AP) Sabrina Ionescu tied a franchise playoff record with 36 points and the New York Liberty beat the Atlanta Dream 91-82 on Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs.

Jonquel Jones added 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Liberty, who will face either Las Vegas or Seattle in the next round that begins Sunday in New York.

New York, which entered the playoffs as the top seed, swept the best-of-three series.

Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard did all they could to try and stave off elimination.

Gray finished with 26 points and Howard added 19.

Los Angeles Sparks cut ties with coach Curt Miller after 2 losing seasons LOS ANGELES (AP) Curt Miller is leaving as coach of the Los Angeles Sparks after the WNBA franchise missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and second under him.

The team on Tuesday announced Millers dismissal, saying the sides had mutually agreed to part ways.

The Sparks will begin their search for a new coach immediately.

The Sparks were 25-55 in Miller's two seasons at the helm.

He is 165-141 as a head coach in the WNBA.

He guided the Connecticut Sun to the WNBA Finals twice, but they lost both times.

Miller was the first openly gay male coach in college or professional basketball when he joined the Sun.

Harris and Schwellenbach shine as Braves down Mets 5-1 in opener of pivotal series ATLANTA (AP) Michael Harris II had three more hits, including a solo home run and an RBI double, and rookie Spencer Schwellenbach shut down the New York Mets again as the Atlanta Braves cruised to a 5-1 win in the opener of a pivotal three-game series.

Marcell Ozuna added his 39th home run for Atlanta, which trails the Mets by one game in the National League playoff race with five remaining.

New York began the night a half-game ahead of Arizona for the second of three wild cards, while the Braves were 1 1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks.

Schwellenbach threw seven strong innings.

He allowed one run and five hits while striking out 15 batters over 14 innings in two wins against the Mets this season.

Five backup QBs have already been pressed into starting duty with the NFL season just 3 weeks old Sixty-six quarterbacks started an NFL game last season and already five teams have had to turn to their backup QB through Week 3 this season.

Most were pressed into duty because of injuries to the starter although the Carolina Panthers benched Bryce Young for veteran Andy Dalton after the first overall draft pick in 2023 fell to 2-16 with two bad games.

Dalton promptly led the Panthers to their first victory.

Justin Fields has played so well in Russell Wilson's absence that he may keep the job.

Both Fields and Minnesota's Sam Darnold have their teams off to 3-0 starts.

On Football: Plenty of parity in the NFL through 3 weeks Six winless teams earned their first wins of the season.

Nine road teams and eight underdogs were winners.

Its only September but the season has been unpredictable, just the way the NFL likes it.

A league built on parity has seen plenty of competitive balance in the first three weeks.

Five teams remain undefeated: Chiefs, Bills, Steelers, Vikings and Seahawks.

The Bengals, Jaguars and Titans are winless.

Theres plenty of surprises in that group of eight teams.

But there are no guarantees in the NFL and thats been quite evident over the first three weeks.

Bowman, Briscoe and Cindric step up in postseason to advance in NASCAR playoffs CHARLOTTE, N.C.

(AP) Alex Bowman opened NASCARs playoffs on defense not of his style of driving, but of his status in the seat of the No.

48 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports.

The first playoff race was just days away and Bowman spent an entire afternoon insisting rumors hed be out of the car next season were untrue.

He ended the first round by scoring the most points of any driver through the three races and advanced to the second round.

Bowman joins Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric and Daniel Suarez as drivers who were iffy to make it out of the first round but head to Kansas Speedway still in title contention..

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