Thomas makes PAC team

GROVE CITY, Pa. — After capturing its first Presidents’ Athletic Conference Tournament title in 20 seasons, the Grove City College men’s soccer team had five players on the All-PAC first team.

Among those is senior midfielder Camden Thomas, a South Range High School standout.

Thomas earned first-team for the second straight season after recording five goals and two assists in conference play. He has started all 19 matches this season, aiding the Wolverine efforts at both ends of the field.

The Wolverines will make their first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance since 1980 when they face Calvin (Mich.) at 1:30 p.m. today at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y..

Ohtani, Judge are MVPs

Shohei Ohtani likes winning Most Valuable Player awards. He loves winning the World Series even more.

The two-way Japenese star did both for a second season in a row for the Los Angeles Dodgers, earning his fourth career MVP on Thursday night while unanimously earning the National League honor. He’s just the second to win four MVPs after Barry Bonds with seven and the only player to win unanimously more than once.

Considering Ohtani is 31, overtaking Bonds doesn’t seem out of the question. Especially if it leads to more Fall Classic opportunities.

“If I’m playing well as an individual that means I’m helping the team win, so in that sense, hopefully I can end up with a couple more MVPs,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about winning games.”

In the American League, Aaron Judge became the New York Yankees’ fourth three-time winner, edging Seattle’s Cal Raleigh with 17 first-place votes to 13 for the switch-hitting catcher. The vote was the closest for an MVP since the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout topped Houston’s Alex Bregman by 17-13 in 2019.

Judge, who won the AL award in 2022 and 2024, joined Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle as three-time MVPs with the Yankees. The 33-year-old outfielder led the majors with a .331 batting average and 1.144 OPS while hitting 53 homers.

When asked about his place in MLB and Yankees lore, Judge acknowledged he’s in rare company.

“It’s tough for me to wrap my head around,” Judge said. “It’s mind blowing from my side of things, because I play this game to win, I play this game for my teammates, my family, all the fans in New York.”

Later he added: “You’ve got to pinch yourself every single day. It’s truly an incredible honor.”

Ohtani won a MVP for the third straight year, his second in the NL with the Dodgers after two in the AL with the Angels. He became the first to win in each league twice after getting the AL honor in 2021 and 2023. Ohtani signed with the crosstown Dodgers the following offseason and won NL MVP in 2024 during his first season in Chavez Ravine. He’s also won the World Series in both his seasons with the Dodgers.

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber finished second in the NL with 23 second-place votes and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto was third with four.

Ohtani hit .282 and led the NL with a 1.014 OPS. He also had 55 homers, 102 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

The right-hander returned to pitching in June after missing 1 1/2 seasons on the mound because of an elbow injury. He struck out 62 batters over 47 innings, slowly increasing his workload while preparing for the postseason.

Ohtani continued to shine in October with arguably the greatest single game in MLB history. He hit three homers while striking out 10 over six dominant innings on Oct. 17, leading the Dodgers over Milwaukee to finish an NL Championship Series sweep.

Schwarber, who earned a $50,000 bonus for finishing second, hit an NL-best 56 homers and led the big leagues with 132 RBIs for Philadelphia.

Soto overcame a slow start to the season to have his typically stellar offensive output. The four-time All-Star — who signed a $765 million, 15-year deal last December — had 43 homers, 105 RBIs and an NL-best 38 stolen bases. He received a $150,000 bonus for finishing third in the MVP voting.

Judge is the first AL player to win back-to-back MVPs since Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera it in 2012 and 2013.

Raleigh, nicknamed “Big Dumper,” led the big leagues with 60 homers, the most for a player primarily a catcher. He started 119 games behind the plate and another 38 at designated hitter.

The 28-year-old also had a career-high 125 RBIs, leading the Mariners to one of their best seasons in franchise history. Judge said he got to know Raleigh a little during the All-Star break and the catcher asked for some leadership tips.

“Cal’s a special player,” Judge said. “I could sit here and talk all night about the player he is, but really the kind of leader and person he is really stuck out to me at the All-Star Game.”

Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez finished third in the AL.

Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo was fourth in the NL voting, earning him $2.5 million annual salary increases in 2028 and 2029 along with the price of Arizona’s 2030 club option.

MLS will start season in summer

Major League Soccer owners voted Thursday to shift the league’s season to a summer-to-spring calendar in 2027, bringing it more in line with its international counterparts.

The move aims to put MLS in a more competitive position for player transfers, while also freeing up players for national team duty during the summer, when many major international tournaments take place.

This season the league started play in late February, with a break for the Club World Cup over the summer. The MLS Cup championship game is set for Dec. 6.

The vote came at the Board of Governors meeting in Palm Beach, Florida. Under the new calendar, league play will begin in mid- to late July 2027, with the final day of the regular season in April 2028. The playoffs and championship will take place in May.

The league would go on an extended break during the winter, with just a few games played in early December and no games in January before resuming in early to mid-February.

The league is working with the Major League Soccer Players Association to finalize the transition.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber told reporters on a conference call Thursday afternoon that the move was “one of the most important decisions in our league’s history.”

“This is an opportunity for us to eliminate the competition that we’ve had for our playoffs as they exist today in a very crowded time of the year. It allows us to be aligned with the international transfer windows, which we think is incredibly important. It gives us a wide variety of opportunities that will expand our ability to be on this path to be one of the top and leading leagues in the world,” Garber said.

While there were concerns about weather challenges during the winter months, teams like Minnesota United and the Chicago Fire already face cold and sometimes snowy conditions. In a March 2024 match, Real Salt Lake and LAFC played in blizzard conditions in Sandy, Utah.

But with a warming climate, matches in the summer months have become problematic, too. Soaring temperatures were a concern at some of the Club World Cup matches this past July and August.

“To be sure, the calendar change discussion also raised challenges related to the weather for a number of the league’s most northern-based teams, but we are confident in the efforts that have been made, and will remain a priority for the entire league, to address it,” Toronto FC said in a statement released following the MLS announcement. “It was our view that with more than 90 percent of the proposed MLS schedule staying consistent with its current format, the benefits to the future league product outweighed the potential challenges.”

The current schedule was based on not only the geography of the United States, but also the tastes of the American sports fan, avoiding the crowded months when NFL plays its biggest games, and the NBA and NHL are in full swing.

In the changeover to the new calendar, MLS will stage an abbreviated or “sprint” season at the beginning of 2027, running from February to May. Each team will play 14 regular season matches, with a playoffs and MLS Cup. The results will determine qualification for the U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup.

The league was also considering a new playoff format, as well as a division structure, but those proposals were still under consideration.

The league previously considered a European schedule in 2013. There were earlier rumors that the owners might approve a shift following the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. MLS plans to break for the tournament.

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