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A few passing clouds. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable..

A few passing clouds. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.

ATLANTA (AP) — A new fan-controlled basketball league is expected to begin play in February.

Plans for a venture called Fan Controlled Hoops were unveiled Wednesday by the creators of a similar league — Fan Controlled Football — which is entering its third season.

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Charlie Dean threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Borguet on the first play of overtime, and Harvard scored 21 unanswered points to beat Merrimack 28-21. Borguet finished with 127 yards rushing and three touchdowns for Harvard in its season opener. His 48-yard scoring run pulled the Crimson to 21-14 with 4:31 remaining, and he tied it with a 5-yard touchdown run with about three minutes left. It was Harvard’s 11th consecutive season-opening win at home. Jack Zergiotis was 22-of-42 passing for 218 yards and three touchdowns for Merrimack (1-2).

Yordan Alvarez homered in his first three at-bats, Justin Verlander threw five hitless innings in his return from the injured list and the Houston Astros clinched a postseason berth with a 5-0 win over the Oakland Athletics. The Astros (won their sixth straight game to join the Dodgers as the first two teams to secure playoff spots, reaching their sixth straight postseason. Alvarez, second in the AL with 36 home runs, had solo shots off Adrián Martínez in the first, third and fifth. He capped his big night with a single to tie his career high with four hits.

ATLANTA — Facing the reigning World Series champion Braves in their home ballpark never was going to be an easy task, and for the first seven innings of the game, the Phillies played a pesky brand of baseball, one that seemed to be working against the Braves. Then came the eighth.

DETROIT — It legitimately felt, looking at the schedule back in April, that these last two series with the White Sox in September had a chance to be very meaningful. And they are.

J.D. Martinez had an RBI single in the eighth inning and the Boston Red Sox rallied late to beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1. Martinez’s single to left was just the third hit for Boston, which had just tied it up when reliever Scott Barlow (4-2) walked Jason Verdugo with the bases loaded after Dylan Coleman issued two walks to start the inning. Garrett Whitlock (4-2) gave up a hit in the eighth and Matt Strahm got the last three outs for his fourth save. Boston had lost six of eight, including a two-game sweep by the Yankees at home this week and nearly fell to the struggling Royals.

Unlike his previous start, Kansas City Royals rookie right-hander Jonathan Heasley didn’t have to worry about the weather or his grip on the ball. As a result, Heasley held the Boston Red Sox hitters in check for the better part of seven innings.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays began the season’s final homestand on a sour note Friday night with a tension-filled 4-3 defeat against the Texas Rangers before an announced crowd of 14,127 at Tropicana Field.

NEW YORK (AP) — Taijuan Walker won back-to-back starts for the first time in two months, Daniel Vogelbach homered against his former team and the New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 Friday night.

Albert Pujols hit his 698th home run, a two-run drive that pulled the St Louis Cardinals into a sixth-inning tie with the Cincinnati Reds. Pujols hit a first-pitch slider Raynel Espinal 427 feet into the left-field stands for his 19th home run of the season, tying the score 4-4. Pujols trails only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714). With 2,203 RBIs, Pujols moved within 11 of Babe Ruth for second, behind Hank Aaron’s 2,297.St. Louis has 17 games remaining.Pujols has hit 15 home runs in 47 games since July 10 in his 22nd major league season. He intends to retire at the end of the season.

Victor Reyes hit a deep flyball to center field in the 10th inning, scoring automatic runner Ryan Kreidler from third base and giving the Detroit Tigers a 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. Tigers reliever Alex Lange struck out the side in the 10th, and Willi Castro started the bottom half with a bunt against Liam Hendriks. He was safe when Hendriks bounced his throw to first. Reyes then hit his game-ending sacrifice fly with one out. Adam Engel made a running catch but had no chance to throw out Kreidler. Matt Manning allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings for the Tigers before the White Sox tied it in the eighth inning.

Taijuan Walker won back-to-back starts for the first time in two months, Daniel Vogelbach homered against his former team and the New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3. Pete Alonso had his National League-leading 113th RBI for New York (91-55), which is assured of its most wins since going 97-65 in 2006. The Mets began the night with a one-game lead over second-place Atlanta in the NL East. Rookie Oneil Cruz hit a two-run homer for last-place Pittsburgh (55-90), which has lost 90 or more games in each of the last four fully completed seasons.

Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in a six-run eighth inning off Seranthony Domínguez and the Atlanta Braves rallied for a 7-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.  The opposite field shot erased a 2-1 deficit and touched off a wild celebration at sold-out Truist Park, helping the Braves stay one game behind the first-place New York Mets in the NL East.William Contreras connected off Phillies starter Ranger Suárez to make it 1-all in the fourth and added an RBI single off Domínguez to make it 4-2. Contreras went 3 for 4.

TORONTO — Jordan Lyles was one pitch away from getting out of the fifth inning unscathed. Instead, the full-count curveball left the bat of Toronto Blue Jays star George Springer in a hurry, sailed over the outfield fence and brought the Rogers Centre crowd to its feet, creating the kind of …

NEW YORK — A second straight win, a wish fulfilled, a team that looks to be discovering itself again.