A gambling-fueled stealing scandal. An unprecedented statistical season. A protracted-awaited first championship.
The Yankees and Mets’ playoff runs, their head-to-head bidding struggle for Juan Soto and the Liberty’s first WNBA title energized New York, however — as evidenced by the Ohtani developments — there was loads of drama past the 5 boroughs.
Listed below are 2024’s greatest non-New York sports activities tales.
All about Ohtani
It was to be anticipated that Ohtani would command appreciable consideration in 2024, contemplating the Japanese famous person had simply signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with considered one of MLB’s marquee franchises.
However Ohtani’s Dodgers tenure bought off to a whirlwind begin when, in March, he accused his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, of stealing cash from him to repay a playing debt.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf,” Ohtani stated on the time. “I never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.”
In April, Mizuhara was charged with felony financial institution fraud for allegedly stealing greater than $16 million from Ohtani. In June, Mizuhara pleaded responsible.
The scandal might have served as a distraction for Ohtani, however the slugger didn’t let it intervene along with his play.
He hit 54 dwelling runs and stole 59 bases for the primary 50/50 season in MLB historical past en path to his third MVP Award.
Ohtani additionally helped lead the Dodgers to a five-game victory over the Yankees within the World Sequence. It was the primary championship for Ohtani, who spent his first six MLB seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, and the primary for the Dodgers in a non-COVID-shortened season since 1988.
Biles bounces again
Simone Biles’ return to the Olympics couldn’t be described as something however golden.
The 27-year-old American gained 4 medals, together with three gold, on the 2024 Summer time Video games in Paris, additional solidifying her standing as the best gymnast of all time.
Biles gained gold within the particular person all-around closing, the vault closing and the staff closing and claimed the silver within the flooring train.
It was a powerful feat contemplating three years earlier, a psychological situation often known as “the twisties” prompted Biles to withdraw from 5 occasions on the Tokyo Olympics.
Simone Biles gained 4 medals on the Paris Olympics. (Photograph by Carmen Mandato/Getty Pictures)
Biles now boasts seven Olympic gold medals and 11 total, each information for an American in her sport.
“I can’t be more proud of how I’ve done,” Biles instructed Eurosport. “I’m 27 years old walking away from this Games with four medals to add to my collection. Not mad about it.”
Dream Crew
Biles was hardly the one American to make her nation proud on the Paris Olympics.
Crew USA’s males’s basketball staff featured its most star-power in over a decade, with LeBron James competing for the primary time since 2012; Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid becoming a member of for the primary time; and Kevin Durant again for the fourth time.
Regardless of its superior age, that roster led Crew USA to its fifth consecutive gold medal and its seventeenth total.
It didn’t come simply, as Crew USA trailed by 17 factors in opposition to Serbia within the semifinal earlier than eking out a 95-91 win.
It additionally didn’t come with out drama.
Jaylen Brown, who had simply gained an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics, was left off the roster — a snub he urged was associated to Nike being Crew USA’s official shoe sponsor. Brown beforehand had a shoe take care of Adidas.
His Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum, in the meantime, hardly noticed the ground for Crew USA in a equally head-scratching saga.
Cait the Nice
For sure stretches of 2024, it felt as if Caitlin Clark was setting one other significant file in each sport she performed.
On Feb. 15, the then-Iowa famous person set the all-time NCAA ladies’s scoring file.
On Feb. 29, Clark turned the highest-scoring participant within the historical past of major-college ladies’s basketball.
And on March 3, she turned the all-time NCAA Division I scoring chief, breaking “Pistol” Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old file.
It was that sort of yr for Clark, who would later lead Iowa again to the NCAA Event closing, get drafted No. 1 total by the Indiana Fever in April, and assist gas WNBA attendance and viewership information in a paradigm-shifting increase to the game.
Caitlin Clark delivered highlights on the NCAA and WNBA ranges in 2024. (Photograph by Justin Casterline/Getty Pictures)
Clark’s skilled profession bought off to a gradual begin — between poor taking pictures numbers and “welcome-to-the-league” protection from bodily opponents — however by the tip of her rookie season, the sharp-shooting guard discovered her type.
Her 19 assists on July 17 set a single-game WNBA file.
She recorded 9 double-doubles with factors and assists in an 11-game stretch.
And she or he led the Fever (20-20) to their first non-losing season and first playoff look since 2016.
Total, the 22-year-old Clark averaged 19.2 factors, 5.7 rebounds and a WNBA-best 8.4 assists per sport.
The long run is shiny.
Mahomes magic
In what’s turning into an annual entry to those end-of-year lists, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs gained the Tremendous Bowl once more.
This one was significantly epic.
Mahomes overcame a 10-point deficit within the first half of Tremendous Bowl LVIII and a three-point deficit in time beyond regulation to beat the San Francisco 49ers, 25-22, in walk-off vogue.
In February, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes gained his third Tremendous Bowl and was once more named the sport’s MVP. (Photograph by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photograph by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
The ultimate play was a factor of magnificence, with broad receiver Mecole Hardman utilizing pre-snap movement to get open for a game-winning, three-yard landing move from Mahomes.
It was significantly poetic contemplating Chiefs head coach Andy Reid drew up the intelligent play to defeat 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, a grasp of pre-snap movement.
With the victory, Mahomes turned the fifth quarterback to win three Tremendous Bowls and the third to be named Tremendous Bowl MVP thrice.
His Chiefs now purpose to develop into the primary staff in NFL historical past to win three consecutive Tremendous Bowls.
