The Milwaukee Brewers lost a home game to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

But they still had a reason to get together and celebrate in their clubhouse.

That was due to the Chicago Cubs losing to the Atlanta Braves and the Brewers clinching the NL Central.

Each season when a team clinches a playoff berth, they celebrate in the locker room.

But most times it is after a team wins a game of their own.

Milwaukee still wanted to celebrate even after a loss.

That is because winning the division title is so much more than just one game.

According to Adam McCalvy, Corbin Burnes was in the clubhouse when the Braves took a late lead over the Cubs.

He talked about how the staff started to get the clubhouse ready for a celebration.

Corbin Burnes was in the clubhouse when the Cubs-Braves game flipped, and witnessed Brewers staffers hurriedly preparing the room for a champagne mess. “However it happened,” he said, “they lost, and we won the division.” pic.twitter.com/8cDn67IDQ5

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 27, 2023

The Brewers deserved the opportunity to celebrate after having a strong season.

Before the year many people were uncertain how good they could be.

There were questions about how good their lineup was and if they had enough to keep up with the top teams.

Milwaukee has won 88 games this year and has seemingly answered all of those questions.

One spot where they have thrived is with their pitching rotation.

It all starts with Burnes, who has turned in another strong season.

He has a 10-8 record on the year with a 3.46 ERA and is leading the league in WHIP with 1.060.

Along with Burnes, they have Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta.

Not to mention one of the best closers in baseball, Devin Williams.

Many people may still be overlooking the Brewers, but they are a sneaky pick to win the NL pennant.

The post Brewers Took Time To Celebrate Latest Feat appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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When it comes to top players in the NFL, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs are two of the all-time best at their respective positions.

Mahomes and Kelce are coming off a Week 3 game in which they helped the Chiefs defeat a miserable Chicago Bears team by 31 points.

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky came away from the latest performance of this duo thoroughly impressed, but it probably isn’t for a reason that most noticed while watching the game live this past Sunday.

The @PatrickMahomes and @tkelce is absurd and one of the greatest of all time pic.twitter.com/fSprApWrXV

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) September 27, 2023

Orlovsky couldn’t contain his excitement when discussing a play he shared on Wednesday from a Kansas City offensive drive in Week 3.

In his post, the ESPN analyst did his best to share with the world how much Mahomes and Kelce are on the same exact page when they’re out on the field together each week.

In the play he shared, Orlovsky points out how Kelce likely cut off his planned route to the corner of the left side of the field in order to avoid a defender, and instead of throwing the ball to the original planned spot, Mahomes noticed the same thing the tight end saw, and he put the football right in Kelce’s bread basket.

It’s this kind of excellence that has resulted in the Chiefs being able to appear in three of the last four Super Bowls and win two of them.

Mahomes and Kelce already possess enough physical tools to excel at their craft in the NFL, but it’s the mental skills of this duo that have allowed them to separate from their peers in terms of greatness.

The post Dan Orlovsky Makes All-Time Claim About 1 AFC Duo appeared first on The Cold Wire.

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CALGARY — Standing patiently outside the Calgary Flames dressing room, like the thousands of kids he’s signed for over the years, Mikael Backlund waited for the inscription.

He’d purchased an autographed Lanny McDonald jersey at the Flames’ charity golf tourney, and this was his chance to have the legend personalize it.

With Sharpie in hand, McDonald disappeared into the coach’s office to pen something meaningful.

The list of autographed jerseys Backlund has collected over the course of his 14-year career can be counted on one glove, as the polite Swede has only dared to ask a few Flames legends, like Jarome Iginla and Jaromir Jagr.

He’ll get Miikka Kiprusoff’s when the fantastic Finn returns for his jersey retirement in March.

Moments and players like these matter to Backlund, as he understands and respects the history of the franchise he’s poured his professional life into.  

Soon he’ll be one of them.

Any day now, the 34-year-old Swede will sign an extension with the Flames.

What will follow, quite possibly that same day, is his unveiling as captain.

It’ll be a moment few thought we’d see five months ago when the frustrated centre left town with a frank, honest declaration that he’d need to see what direction the organization went in before he’d even consider extending his stay.

Sometime between the firing of Darryl Sutter and his arrival in town earlier this month, he had a change of heart.

Not that he ever lost his love for the city, the organization or his teammates.

He simply needed tangible proof the direction of the organization would veer from the high-tension, drama-filled environment he grew tired of last season under Sutter.

It has.

Dramatically.

New life has been injected into the organization with the additions of head coach Ryan Huska and GM Craig Conroy, who both spent the summer reminding Backlund how important he is as a player and a leader.

Backlund hadn’t even made it to the baggage carousel earlier this month when fans approached him, telling him they hope he stays.

That means something to Backlund, as it should.

Here, he matters.

As does the captaincy, which the organization has said it will award before the season opener.

Although he suggested he wanted to take his time to decide his future, doing so would have cost him the captaincy he so richly deserves.

Passing that up would be regrettable.  

He is the Flames’ leader and has been throughout camp already.

His relationship with Huska goes back to their WHL days in Kelowna, where Huska coached the Vasteras native to the Memorial Cup tourney.

He is the last active player to have played alongside Conroy, making the relationship with the GM and coach rock-solid. 

“I think everybody would say (the captain) should be Mikael,” Jonathan Huberdeau said last week, echoing the sentiments of Nikita Zadorov and Rasmus Andersson. 

“He’s been here 14 years. 

“He deserves to be. 

“He’s a leader — he’s the guy who gets everybody together. 

“In my opinion, it should be him, but obviously his contract stuff … but hopefully he’s still with us and is our captain.”

Count on it, as they’ve counted on him the last two seasons to be the de facto captain.

Soon it will be made official. 

And as the Flames look to continue trying to rebound from last season’s nightmare, it’s just another momentum builder.

Another page-turner.

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In a city that embraced him shortly after he was drafted as a shy first-rounder in 2007, he has responded in kind with a dedication to the local community that earned him the NHL’s coveted King Clancy Award last season as the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community. 

Those who were there speak of the powerful emotion Backlund demonstrated the day he was shown a video from the charities he’s repped, thanking him.

He understands the value and power of deciding to let that relationship continue to grow.

Here he is beloved by the fans, management and teammates.

Elsewhere, it’s unclear whether he’d be recognized as anything other than a diligent depth forward with perfect hair and a swell personality.

He’s thought of how much it would mean to play his 1,000th game in red and gold where it would truly mean something.

He’s openly admitted that earning a silver stick in Calgary is on his mind (he’s 92 games away) as is the possibility of going down in club lore as Forever a Flame.

Not bad for a third-line centre.

When he stood in front of reporters last spring and admitted he wasn’t sure about his future in Calgary, management and ownership heard him loud and clear.

That, and the groundswell of players who urged ownership for a coaching/culture change, had a profound effect on the decision to buy Sutter out at $8 million.

The right move was made, paving the way for Backlund’s change of heart.

It’s starting to feel like things are moving in the right direction again in Calgary, and inking Backlund to be the captain is a big part of that.

More from Sportsnet

Flames signing Mikael Backlund to two-year extension

Flames forward Jakob Pelletier out indefinitely with shoulder injury

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