September 2005 in Sports - 25 September 2005

25 September 2005

• Major League Baseball playoff races:
  • American League
    • New York Yankees 8, Toronto Blue Jays 4
    • Boston Red Sox 9, Baltimore Orioles 3
      • New York and Boston remain tied in the AL East with seven games to play.
    • Chicago White Sox 4, Minnesota Twins 1
    • Kansas City Royals 5, Cleveland Indians 4
      • The White Sox move 2.5 games up on the Indians, whose lead over New York and Boston in the wild-card race drops to half a game.
    • Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8, Los Angeles Angels 4
    • Texas Rangers 6, Oakland Athletics 2
      • Oakland's loss reduces the Angels' magic number in the AL West to 4.
  • National League
    • Atlanta Braves 5, Florida Marlins 3
      • Atlanta's magic number in the NL East drops to 2.
    • Philadelphia Phillies 6, Cincinnati Reds 3
    • Chicago Cubs 3 Houston Astros 2
      • Houston's lead in the NL wild-card race falls to one game.
    • San Francisco Giants 6, Colorado Rockies 2
    • Arizona Diamondbacks 4, San Diego Padres 3
      • San Diego's magic number in the NL West remains at 4.

• Motorcycle sport:
  • Valentino Rossi wins his seventh World Championship when he secures the MotoGP championship for the fourth successive year by finishing second in the Malaysian GP. (Superwheels)
• Auto racing:
  • Champ Car World Series: In a race that ends near 2 am US EDT (0600 UTC) on the East Coast, Sébastien Bourdais wins the Las Vegas Hurricane Relief 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The only caution of the race occurs late when Bourdais makes contact with then-leader Paul Tracy, who then crashes into the wall in Turn 4. (ChampCar.ws)
  • NASCAR: 2005 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup: Jimmie Johnson wins the MBNA RacePoints 400 at Dover. (NASCAR.com)
  • IndyCar: Scott Dixon wins the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix, but Dan Wheldon finished fifth, and clinches the 2005 IRL series championship. (IndyCar.com)
  • Formula 1: Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Räikkönen give Team McLaren a 1–2 finish at the 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix at São Paulo.
    • Fernando Alonso, who finishes third, wins the Formula 1 World Championship, becoming its youngest ever champion at 24 years and 58 days.
  • A1 Grand Prix: Nelson Angelo Piquet, for A1 Team Brazil wins both the sprint race and feature race of the first ever A1 Grand Prix event, the 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Great Britain at Brands Hatch.

• Basketball:
  • In the final of Eurobasket 2005, Greece defeats Germany 78–62, in a result that to many Greek fans brings back memories of their football team's stunning victory at Euro 2004. Germany and Dallas Mavericks superstar Dirk Nowitzki is named tournament MVP. (Yahoo!)

• NFL Week Three:
  • New England Patriots 23, Pittsburgh Steelers 20: In a rematch of last year's AFC Championship game at Heinz Field, Adam Vinatieri kicks a game-winning 43-yard field goal with one second left after Pittsburgh's Hines Ward scored the tying touchdown on the previous drive. Ben Roethlisberger is sacked four times, while Corey Dillon runs for two touchdowns and Tom Brady completes all twelve of his fourth quarter passes for 163 yards. Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was injured in the first quarter and will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, MCL and PCL in his knee and starting offensive lineman Matt Light will be out the rest of the season as well. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Philadelphia Eagles 23, Oakland Raiders 20: At "The Linc", David Akers, fighting a hamstring injury, kicks the game-winning field goal from 23 yards with nine seconds remaining. Kerry Collins has 345 yards passing and two touchdowns, and Terrell Owens catches a touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Jacksonville Jaguars 26, New York Jets 20 (OT): Byron Leftwich outdueled fellow Marshall University quarterback Chad Pennington in The Meadowlands and throws a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Smith 5:12 into overtime to win it for Jacksonville. Pennington and Jets' backup QB Jay Fiedler both suffered injuries, with Pennington likely out for the season due to a torn rotator cuff. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Indianapolis Colts 13, Cleveland Browns 6: Edgerrin James runs for 100 yards for the first time this season, and the vastly improved Colts defense held their third consecutive team to under 10 points at the RCA Dome. Marvin Harrison and Peyton Manning also break the record for most yardage passing between two teammates with 9,568 yards between them, passing Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, who combined for 9,538 yards with the Buffalo Bills. Manning passes the 30,000 yards passing mark for his career in his 155th contest becoming the second fastest to do so. Only Dan Marino threw for 30,000 yards in his career faster, doing so in 154 games. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17, Green Bay Packers 16: "Cadillac" Williams runs for 158 yards, while Brett Favre throws three interceptions (two to Will Allen) as Tampa Bay wins for the first time at Lambeau Field since 1989. The difference comes when Ryan Longwell misses a point after touchdown, ending his streak at 157 straight PATs made. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Dallas Cowboys 34, San Francisco 49ers 31: The Cowboys come back from a 12-point deficit at Monster Park in the fourth quarter to win as Keyshawn Johnson catches the go-ahead touchdown with 1:51 remaining from Drew Bledsoe. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Seattle Seahawks 37, Arizona Cardinals 12: Shaun Alexander runs for four touchdowns, two of which were thirty seconds apart at Qwest Field. Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner suffers a groin injury and is replaced with Josh McCown. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Miami Dolphins 27, Carolina Panthers 24: Lance Schulters intercepts Jake Delhomme late in the fourth quarter at Miami to set up Olindo Mare's game-winning 32-yard field goal with four seconds left. Steve Smith catches three touchdown passes for Carolina, while Ronnie Brown of the Dolphins had 132 rushing yards. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • St. Louis Rams 31, Tennessee Titans 27: In their first meeting since Super Bowl XXXIV, Marc Bulger throws three touchdown passes, while Adam Archuleta returns an interception by Steve McNair 85 yards for a score. Both teams combine for seven turnovers. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Atlanta Falcons 24, Buffalo Bills 16: Falcons QB Michael Vick has two touchdown passes and run for 236 yards as a team. Buffalo's Willis McGahee runs for 160 yards and a touchdown, but the Bills lose linebacker Takeo Spikes with a torn Achilles tendon for the rest of the season. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Minnesota Vikings 33, New Orleans Saints 16: Daunte Culpepper throws for 300 yards and three touchdowns, one of them on their first play of the game, as the Vikings get their first win of the season against a Saints team that committed fourteen penalties and four turnovers. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • Cincinnati Bengals 24, Chicago Bears 7: The Bengals improve to 3–0 for the first time since 1990 at Soldier Field by intercepting Kyle Orton five times, while Carson Palmer throws for three touchdowns. The five INTs mark the first time since 1971 that an NFL team had five interceptions in three straight games. (Yahoo!/AP)
  • San Diego Chargers 45, New York Giants 23: LaDainian Tomlinson runs for 192 yards and three touchdowns and throws another touchdown to Keenan McCardell as the "Lightning Bolts" win at Qualcomm Stadium. This was Eli Manning's first game in San Diego since the 2004 NFL draft, where he was selected first overall by the Chargers and, unhappy with the team, was immediately traded to the Giants. (Yahoo!/AP)

Bye Week: Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Washington Redskins.