Edition 13

A quick rundown of the biggest stories in sports—without assuming you know every player, rule, or stat. Whether you’re at happy hour, in the office, watching with friends, or on a date with a sports fanatic, you’ll have something to contribute to the conversation.

This week had a little bit of everything.

An actual end of an era. Playoff baseball. The WNBA Finals are officially set. A walk-off field goal in London. A TIE?! And because apparently I needed another hobby… we need to talk about Fi’s Playbook merch.

A lot happened.

Let’s get into it.

Okay, this one hurts.

Lionel Messi officially played his final game for Argentina, ending a 21-year international career in pretty much the most Messi way possible.

Argentina beat Benin 3–0 in front of more than 85,000 fans in Buenos Aires — and Messi finished his final game with one goal and two assists.

There were tears during the anthem, fireworks, tributes, a giant No. 10 jersey, and eventually an entire stadium getting one last chance to say goodbye.

Messi leaves Argentina after 208 appearances and 126 goals, both national records, plus a World Cup and two Copa América titles.

For those of us who have basically grown up watching him in that blue-and-white jersey…

Yeah.

This one feels weird.

Gracias, Leo. 🇦🇷

We are officially down to four teams.

In the National League, the Brewers and Dodgers are battling for a spot in the World Series. Milwaukee took Game 1 2–1, which is especially interesting because the Dodgers are trying to win their third straight championship while Milwaukee is chasing its first World Series appearance since 1982.

Meanwhile, the American League gave us some actual playoff chaos.

Cleveland went down 0–2 against the White Sox and then came all the way back to win the series in Game 5. They became just the fourth team to ever come back from losing the first two games at home in a best-of-five postseason series.

Now it’s:

Brewers vs. Dodgers
Guardians vs. Rays

Translation: we are VERY close to knowing who is going to the World Series.

And I don't think many people had this matchup on their bingo card.

The Atlanta Dream swept the New York Liberty 3–0, while the Golden State Valkyries swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces 3–0.

Now they're playing each other for the championship.

Atlanta is heading to its first Finals since 2013.

Golden State?

They've existed for TWO SEASONS.

The Finals start Saturday, and honestly, I love a championship matchup that feels this fresh.

If you went to bed early yesterday… you missed A LOT.

The Bills beat the Rams 37–34 in overtime after a fourth quarter that basically refused to calm down. The two teams combined for 35 points in the fourth quarter alone, and the Rams scored with seconds left to force OT.

Meanwhile, I had Josh Allen in fantasy and was down 26 points.

So going into halftime?

I was SICK.

I had already mentally accepted the loss.

Then Josh Allen apparently remembered my fantasy game was on the line.

Overtime somehow got even messier. Buffalo got the ball first, immediately broke off a huge play… and then fumbled it right back to L.A. The Rams drove into field-goal range with a chance to win — only for Buffalo to BLOCK the kick.

Allen then used his legs to get the Bills back into range, and Tyler Bass hit a 45-yard walk-off field goal to finally end it.

Allen finished with 121 rushing yards, Matthew Stafford threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns, and there were six lead changes.

Absolute chaos.

But more importantly… Josh Allen saved my week.

⚾️ MLB Playoffs
The League Championship Series are happening basically all week.

Guardians vs. Rays
Brewers vs. Dodgers

At this point, every win gets someone one step closer to the World Series, so you really can't pick a bad night to turn baseball on.

🏈 Seahawks @ Broncos (Thursday, Oct. 15 - 8:15 PM ET)
Seattle just came out of that absolute mess against San Francisco. Now they get Denver four days later.

🏈 No. 4 Ohio State @ No. 5 Indiana (Saturday, Oct. 17 - 12 PM ET)
Top five. Big Ten. Both teams have serious playoff expectations. This is the one to know Saturday.

🏀 WNBA Finals - Game 1 (Saturday, Oct. 17 - 3:30 PM ET)
The Dream haven't been here since 2013. The Valkyries have literally only existed for two seasons. One of them is about to win a championship.

🏈 Panthers @ Eagles (Sunday, Oct. 18 - 1 PM ET)
Carolina is coming off the bye. Philadelphia is coming off THAT loss to Jacksonville. Do with this information what you will.

I am choosing optimism.

🏈 Cowboys @ Packers (Sunday, Oct. 18 - 8:20 PM ET)
Dallas. Green Bay. Sunday Night. Easy One.

🏈 Commanders @ 49ers (Monday, Oct. 19 - 8:15PM ET)
Washington gets to follow up the weirdest tie imaginable by playing an undefeated San Francisco team. Good luck!

🦅 THE EAGLES LOST WITH 8 SECONDS LEFT. Philadelphia kicked a field goal to take a 17–16 lead over Jacksonville with eight seconds remaining. Game over, right? Nope.

Jacksonville returned the kickoff 53 yards, and Cam Little kicked a 57-yard field goal on the final play to win it 19–17. Eight seconds. That is sick.

🤝 THE GIANTS AND COMMANDERS JUST… TIED. New York and Washington finished 27–27 after overtime — and somehow BOTH teams had chances to win it.

The Giants got into field-goal range and fumbled.

Then Washington got into field-goal range, Jayden Daniels ran with the ball with no timeouts left, and the clock expired before they could even attempt the kick.

Nobody won.

Everybody suffered.

😭 MIKE EVANS LITTLE-BRO’D TREVON DIGGS. During the 49ers–Seahawks game, Trevon Diggs started talking trash to Mike Evans after a play.

Evans’ response? He literally turned Diggs around to read the name on the back of his jersey because he apparently didn’t know who was talking to him.

After the game, Evans said he basically asked, “Who are you?” before realizing it was Diggs.

I’m sorry… getting your jersey name-checked mid-trash talk is the definition of being little bro’d.

There is simply no recovering from that.

⭐️ THE 49ERS ARE STILL UNDEFEATED. San Francisco beat Seattle 32–29 in a game that featured SEVEN turnovers. Seven.

And somehow the 49ers survived all of that to move to 5–0.

🏈 NO. 1 TEXAS IS NO LONGER NO. 1. Oklahoma beat Texas 27–24 on a walk-off field goal, which immediately shook up the college football rankings.

Georgia is now the new No. 1.

While Messi was getting fireworks, tears and an entire stadium saying goodbye, Cristiano Ronaldo's situation with Portugal got very messy.

Ronaldo recently walked out of Portugal's training camp after a disagreement with head coach Jorge Jesus.

According to Ronaldo, Jesus had made promises about how his playing time would be handled and then broke his word — twice.

Ronaldo eventually released a lengthy statement explaining his side of things and said he was still willing to play for Portugal again.

Portugal's federation has since opened disciplinary proceedings and provisionally suspended him.

So no, we don't officially know if we've seen Ronaldo's final Portugal game.

But the difference between the two potential endings this week?

Messi closed the chapter. Ronaldo… might still be writing his. ☕️

The Panthers were on a bye this week, which meant I was supposed to have a peaceful Sunday.

Naturally, the rest of the NFL said absolutely not.

First of all, the Commanders–Giants ending had me YELLING at my TV.

I don’t even like the Commanders, but there I was literally jumping on my couch screaming “SPIKE THE BALL!!!”while Jayden Daniels ran around with no timeouts and the clock disappeared.

The stress I experienced for a team I do not care about???

Unnecessary.

And then getting to watch Atlanta lose on Sunday Night Football?

Just a nice little bonus.

Throw in the Eagles losing right before Carolina plays them next week, and suddenly Sunday got a whole lot more entertaining.

The Panthers had the week off, but somehow I was still fully emotionally invested in everyone else’s problems.

Classic.

Okayyyy this is officially real.

Fi’s Playbook merch is LIVE.

What started as me making a couple designs “just for fun” somehow turned into hoodies, crewnecks, tees, hats, baby tees and even some stuff for the little sports fans (…coming soon).

You’ll see Fi’s Playbook Athletic Club, Now You Know, Wait… What’s the Spread? and a few other favorites that feel very us.

Whether you actually know ball or you’re still asking what the spread is… there’s something for you.

Go check it out — and PLEASE send me pics if you get something because I will absolutely freak out.

P.S…. use code NOWYOUKNOW for 15% off 😉

An average NFL game lasts around three hours… but there are only about 11 minutes of actual live football.

The rest? Huddles, replays, commercials, timeouts and everyone getting back into position.

So technically, we’re committing an entire Sunday afternoon for 11 minutes of action.

And somehow… we keep coming back every week.

“The Eagles took the lead with eight seconds left… and still lost.”

Jacksonville returned the kickoff, got into field-goal range, and won it on a 57-yard kick as time expired.

Eight seconds. That’s all they needed.

Messi said goodbye, baseball is getting serious, the WNBA Finals are set, and the NFL somehow gave us a tie, a walk-off and Mike Evans asking another grown man who he was.

Just a normal week in sports.

And now Fi’s Playbook merch is officially out in the world too, which still feels a little crazy to say.

October is giving us A LOT — and I have a feeling it’s only getting better from here.

See you next week.

Now you know. 💚