SPORTS HEADLINES 10/1/21

MLB
The St. Louis Cardinals are placing their playoff hopes in the hands of a longtime starter. 40-year-old pitcher Adam Wainwright will start the team’s wild-card game on Wednesday. That outing will come either against the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants, depending on how the final weekend of the regular season pans out. Wainwright has his most wins since 2014 as he sports a 17-and-7 record with a 3.05 earned run average this season.

NFL
LeSean McCoy is hanging up his cleats as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles as he will officially retire today. He will also be recognized at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday when the Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs and Andy Reid, who coached McCoy while he was in Philadelphia. McCoy had four one-thousand yard rushing seasons with the Eagles. In all, McCoy ran for 11,102 yards and scored 89 total touchdowns in 12 years as a pro.

Golf
Louisville area native Justin Thomas said in a statement last night he did not fire his caddie Jimmy Johnson to replace him with Jim “Bones” McKay, formerly of Golf Channel and NBC. Thomas said Johnson came to him after the Ryder Cup last weekend and indicated he wants to pursue other opportunities.

Meanwhile, Bubba Watson also announced Thursday he and his longtime caddie Ted Scott were parting ways. Scott was on Watson’s bag for the 2012 and 2014 Masters victories. Watson has not named a replacement for Scott-who caddied for him for 15 years.

NASCAR

NASCAR is set for high speed and drama Sunday as the Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway as another driver will look to punch their ticket to the round of eight. Denny Hamlin won last week’s race at Las Vegas to advance. Hamlin starts the race up front alongside Kyle Busch. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson round out the top five.