Big news coming out of baseball last night.
The Cubs are finalizing a seven-player deal that will send ace Yu Darvish to the Padres. Multiple reports say Chicago will be receiving right-hander Zach Davies and four prospects in exchange for Darvish and catcher Victor Caratini. The package of prospects coming to the Cubs are a 17and 20 year-old shortstops and a couple of 18-year-old outfielders. Davies had a career-best 2.73 ERA last season for San Diego. The 34 years old Darvish was scheduled to earn $22 million dollars in the 2021 season with the Cubs.
Last night on Monday Night Football, Josh Allen riddled the Patriots for 320 yards passing and four touchdowns as the Bills won 38-9 at New England. Buffalo improved to 12-and-3. Cam Newton was benched for back-up Jarrett Stidham for the Patriots, who dropped to 6-and-9.
College bowl games scheduled for tonight. The 18th-ranked Miami Hurricanes will face the Oklahoma State Cowboys at the Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando Florida.
The Alamo Bowl will be played between the Texas Longhorns and the Colorado Buffaloes tonight at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Longhorns are making their second straight appearance in the Alamo Bowl.
In college basketball, Illinois State took another beating from the Loyola Ramblers 86-55. Josiah Strong led the Redbirds with 21 points, tying his career high. ISU now sits at 3-5 and will face Evansville on January 9th.
The Iowa Hawkeyes will host Northwestern tonight. Iowa fell six spots in the Coaches Poll this weekend after a brutal Christmas Day loss to Minnesota, now sitting 7-and-2 on the season. The Wildcats found their spot on the Top 25 Poll, coming in at number 22, after defeating the then-number 11 Michigan State and number 20 Ohio State. Northwestern is sitting at 6-and-1 on the season
The NCAA is starting a public awareness campaign to promote the benefits of wearing masks. The NCAA has filed a trademark for “Mask Madness.” The official filing says the NCAA will sell “Mask Madness” branded face masks and use the campaign to bring more awareness and promote the benefits of wearing masks as a protection against viral infections. The trademark was filed December 23rd.
The Bulls visit the Washington Wizards tonight in their first road game of the season. Chicago is 0-and-3 after losing to the Warriors on Sunday. The Bulls and Wizards will face each other again Thursday night in DC.
The Blackhawks may be losing Kirby Dach for the season. The forward is expected to miss four-to-five months after surgery to repair a right wrist fracture. Dach was injured playing for Team Canada during an exhibition win last week against Russia before the world junior championships. The 19-year-old was selected by Chicago with the number-three pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. He posted eight goals and 15 assists in 64 games during his rookie season.