IMMOKALEE, Fla. — It’s almost noon, and after playing on the playground, working with clay and washing their hands, the 2-year-olds are ready for lunch.
The eight children and their Head Start teachers pray in English, thanking God for the meal. Then, the adults bring over several bowls.
“Hoy tenemos arroz. Eduardo, ¿puedes servir tu arroz, por favor?” In Spanish, the teacher announces the children are having rice, asking Eduardo to start serving. The little boy grabs a ladle and scoops rice onto his plate.
Both English and Spanish are core to daily life in this Head Start preschool in Immokalee, Florida — an agricultural area about 120 miles northwest of Miami. The center serves more than 50 children from mostly Guatemalan families, ages six months to 5 years. Most students arrive speaking little or no English.
Children who speak a language other than English at home account for at least a third of the enrollment in Head Start, a federally funded early childhood program serving roughly 700,000 low-income children and their parents. For decades, Head Start has supported these kids by hiring multilingual teachers to teach them English, while using their home languages as a foundation.
If finalized, the proposal would require Head Start programs to conduct all education in English, though programs could seek waivers, and certain Tribal-language instruction would be exempt. The administration argues emphasizing English will expand children’s future economic opportunities and their ability to participate in American communities.
“A firm foundation in the English language” is critical to preparing kids for school, said the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, in response to questions from The Associated Press.
The administration says the change would allow programs to reduce multilingual services and redirect resources toward English-language education and “assimilation.” But it also estimates tens of millions of dollars in one-time costs to make the switch to English instruction, including nearly $47 million to replace curricula, books, and other classroom materials containing other languages.
How Head Start teaches in multiple languages
Toys line shelves in the Immokalee classrooms, labeled in English and Spanish — helicopters, airplanes, tower builders. Bilingual signs show shapes in different colors and list children’s birthdays.
Every day, teachers sing and read in both languages, with offerings like “La Vaca Lola” (Lola the Cow), “The Wheels on the Bus,” “El Camioncito Azul” (Little Blue Truck) and “Pete the Cat.”
One afternoon, a group of children is eating muffins when it suddenly grows dark outside and thunder rolls. Noticing the preschoolers look worried, a teacher explains in English, “When you see it, it’s lightning. When you hear it, it’s thunder. What was it?”
“Thunder,” a boy responds. Another answers the question in Spanish, noting the danger: “Es muy peligroso.”
“Si te cae un rayo muy fuerte, te puedes lastimar,” the teacher responds. (If a very strong bolt of lightning hits you, you could get hurt.) Then she adds in English: “So we don’t go outside.”
The children cover their ears. “¡Lo escuché!” one shouts. (I heard it!)
Speaking in English, the teacher tries to calm them down. Everything is fine, she explains. They are safe inside the classroom.
This is part of Head Start’s Planned Language Approach in action. Educators help children learn English while also using the language they speak at home — not simply as an accommodation, but as a teaching strategy. Research shows skills and knowledge developed in a child’s home language can provide a foundation for learning English.
If a child already knows the word for “yellow” in Spanish, she doesn’t have to completely rediscover the concept behind the color when learning the word in English. Rather, Spanish becomes a bridge to English.
Asked for research supporting the proposed English-only requirement, the Department of Health and Human Services pointed to a section of the proposal that cites Trump’s executive order designating English as the country’s official language. “The changes set forth in the proposed Head Start rule help achieve these goals by exposing children to English earlier, during a critical time in children’s development,” a department spokeswoman said.
But education studies don’t back up the administration’s claim, said Michael López, a child psychologist who has spent more than three decades researching early learning and leading Head Start studies for the federal government and non-governmental organizations.
“There’s really not any credible research basis that suggests that English-only instruction will produce stronger English academic outcomes,” López said. “It’s a mistake. It’s really going back 30 years.”
Dual-language instruction produces better academic outcomes, he said, including in subjects like mathematics. And, he said, studies suggest instruction in both languages can produce better Spanish skills without sacrificing English-language development.
Francisco Rodriguez, who attended Head Start in Florida as a child, said he spoke English at home with his mother, but often couldn’t communicate with his father, who speaks only Spanish. Head Start helped him build a foundation in Spanish to deepen his relationship with his dad. Today, he is fluent in both languages.
“Knowing how to read or write in English, it was easy for me to pick up Spanish words,” said Rodríguez, now 32, who holds a master’s degree in architecture and creates interactive experiences in museums. “And because I’ve heard them at home, I can easily put two and two together.”
In the 1970s, Head Start began requiring centers with significant numbers of non-native English speakers to hire at least one staff member fluent in their home language — a regulation still in place today.
The Trump administration wants to drop that requirement, saying it could help centers more easily staff classrooms.
The language changes are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to eliminate or rewrite many federal Head Start requirements for classroom conditions, curriculum and safety. Instead, state and local regulations — which are often more lenient — would apply. The administration says the change would give Head Start centers more flexibility over how they operate.
The proposed changes do not require a vote in Congress, but the administration is required to seek and consider feedback from the public. Comments are due Oct. 6.
Thus far, most comments related to the English-only proposal oppose that approach.
Multilingual approach allows parents to participate in learning
At Immokalee, teachers give daily notes to parents when they pick up their children, writing in both English and Spanish. A recent note to the family of a girl named Deleiza, for example, said she’d eaten almost all her breakfast and lunch. “Hoy estuve sonriente,” it said. (Today I was smiling.)
Beyond these simple reports are monthly parent meetings on campus to discuss topics like security, plus four in-person parent-teacher conferences every year — two at the children’s homes and two at school. (Those conferences would become optional under the Trump administration proposal.)
In all of these interactions, parents and staff currently speak in Spanish with each other.
The executive director overseeing the Immokalee center said she is unsure what the English-only proposal would mean in practice, particularly for parents’ involvement.
“I don’t know how you’re going to keep people from … speaking Spanish, because it is the home language,” said Isabel Garcia, who, as executive director of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, supervises 26 Head Start and Early Head Start locations. “It is important that (family members) feel comfortable understanding what is happening with their child.”
HHS told the AP the English-language requirement would apply only to instruction. Head Start teachers could continue using kids’ home languages in non-instructional contexts — explaining safety rules or providing comfort, for example — and when communicating and engaging with families, the department said. In fact, the law requires Head Start centers to communicate with parents in a language they understand, “to the extent practicable,” which wouldn’t change.
But communicating thoroughly may be more difficult without a staff member who speaks the language. The department acknowledged that eliminating requirements for bilingual staffers “may negatively affect communication with non-English-speaking families and weaken family engagement.”
“Technology-based translation tools may help mitigate some of these impacts,” the department said.
López, the researcher, noted parents help advance their children’s learning by being teachers at home, even when they’re using a language other than English. They help kids by counting, referencing different colors, and repeating stories and songs.
“We are going to lose that bridge,” López said.
During naptime at the Immokalee center, a mother opens the door to pick up a sick child. The teacher greets her in Spanish, reporting her daughter didn’t want to sleep or eat.
“No quiso dormir. No quiso comer,” the teacher says.
The mother lifts her daughter from the mat, rests her little head on one of her shoulders, and says to her: “It is OK, bebé.”
“Hasta mañana,” the teacher whispers. “Hope you feel better.”
NEW YORK — The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate jumped this week to its highest level in nearly three years.
The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.28% from 7.03% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday, the biggest leap in four years. A year ago, the average rate was 6.34%.
It is the sixth consecutive week that mortgage rates have increased.
The average rate is now the highest it’s been since Nov. 22, 2023, when it reached 7.29%, and it’s not climbed this fast week-to-week since October 2022.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also climbed this week. That average rate increased to 6.60% from 6.42% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.55%.
Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month to borrowers’ costs, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power. As rates rise, that can also lead prospective home shoppers to delay buying.
In late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly dipped to 5.98%, its lowest level going back to late 2022. The roughly 1 percentage point increase in the rate since then translates roughly into an additional $276 a month cost for a borrower financing a $400,000 home loan at the current average rate.
Depending on a borrower’s income, credit, and other factors, they may qualify for a rate on a 30-year mortgage that is below or above the current average.
Mortgage rates are influenced by inflation, Federal Reserve policy, and bond-market investors’ expectations for the economy, among other factors. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
Expectations of higher inflation amid surging oil prices have pushed up the 10-year Treasury yield, which was at 3.97% in late February, before the war began. It surged to 5.34% in midday trading but then pulled back to 5.23% Thursday.
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at a 30-year low.
Last month the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell 2% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million units. That was their slowest annual pace in more than a year.
And many potential homeowners are now hitting the brakes.
Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, tumbled 6% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This marks the fourth straight weekly drop.
Applications for loans to refinance existing mortgages also declined.
The elevated mortgage rates are driving more prospective homebuyers to adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs. Such loans, which typically offer lower initial interest rates than traditional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, accounted for more than 10% of all mortgage applications last week, MBA said.
NEW YORK — The finishing point from the end of last season is where the Villanova men’s basketball team starts — at least on paper — to begin the 2026-27 basketball season.
The Wildcats landed as expected in the third spot behind Connecticut and St. John’s in the preseason Big East coaches poll announced Thursday morning in New York at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.
St. John’s went 18-2 in Big East play last season, UConn went 17-3, and third-place Villanova was 15-5. Fourth-place Seton Hall, meanwhile, was 10-10. Villanova’s offseason was spent reloading a roster in the hopes that the Wildcats, who reached the NCAA Tournament in Kevin Willard’s first season, close the gap between themselves and the top two teams in the conference.
Villanova coach Kevin Willard with forward Devin Royal during an open practice on July 27.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The roster looks a lot different. Only two players returned, including senior Tyler Perkins, who was selected preseason first-team all-conference. Matthew Hodge, the other returning player, is recovering from ACL surgery.
Villanova will begin its season in Rome vs. Notre Dame on Nov. 1. Its new-look starting lineup is projected to feature Perkins and four new players: point guard Elijah Crawford, forwards Kwame Evans Jr. and Devin Royal, and Italian big man Luigi Suigo, a 7-foot-3 center who is projected to be a first-round pick in next year’s NBA draft. Evans and Royal were both named to the all-Big East second team announced Thursday.
UConn received eight first-place votes while St. John’s received two and Marquette got one. Coaches cannot vote for their own team.
Wildcats women picked second
Like the men, Denise Dillon’s Villanova women’s team also is where it was at the end of last season: staring up at powerhouse UConn from the No. 2 spot.
The Wildcats received one first-place vote, which had to be from UConn coach Geno Auriemma, considering the rest of the first-place votes went to the Huskies.
Villanova had its fifth consecutive 20-win season last year. The Wildcats finished 25-8 and 16-4 in Big East play. They reached the NCAA Tournament and lost a first-round game to Texas Tech.
Villanova’s Jasmine Bascoe averaged 18.9 points and 4.0 rebounds last season.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Leading scorer Jasmine Bascoe, a junior guard, is back after averaging 18.9 points and 4.0 rebounds. She was a unanimous first-team all-conference player last season and landed on this year’s preseason all-Big East team alongside sophomore guard Kennedy Henry.
The full men’s and women’s preseason polls are below:
ATLANTA — For years, the Phillies applied a pitching formula to optimize success in short postseason series.
“Wheeler, Nola, and it’s all o-vah.”
It was their twist on “Spahn, Sain, and pray for rain,” and it worked, at least in best-of-three wild-card series in 2022 and 2023. Now, facing a third elimination game in less than a week Thursday night, they will lean on their two longtime horses again.
Aaron Nola will start Game 3 here against the Braves. Zack Wheeler is expected to be available to follow Nola.
Nola will be on full rest, four days after starting on only two days’ rest and lasting only one inning in a desperate gambit to clinch a playoff spot last Saturday night. But the Phillies will take an “all hands on deck” approach to their pitching plan, interim manager Don Mattingly said Wednesday.
Wheeler, who would be on three days’ rest after starting the regular-season finale, is almost certainly part of that plan. It’s possible the Phillies could take a similar approach to Game 3 of the division series last year in Los Angeles, when Nola faced eight batters in two innings before yielding to fellow starter Ranger Suárez.
Nola said Sunday that he felt “a little bit more [sore], for sure” after his first-ever start on short rest. But he threw a between-starts bullpen session Monday in Atlanta.
“I could throw 40 to 50 pitches in a bullpen, and it’s never going to be the game situation, the adrenaline rush,” Nola said. “But I feel good.”
Aaron Nola (left) and Zack Wheeler, pictured in spring training, will factor into the Phillies’ Game 3 pitching plan, with Nola making the start.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
Nola has made 41 career starts against the Braves, posting a 3.71 ERA in 252⅓ innings. In three starts this season, he has a 4.50 ERA, with the Braves batting .250 with a .500 slugging percentage.
In the postseason, Nola has twice faced the Braves in a series that was tied at one game apiece. He allowed one unearned run in six innings against the Braves in Game 3 of the 2022 NL division series and two runs in 5⅔ innings in Game 3 of the same round in 2023. The Phillies won both games — and both series.
Jesús Luzardo could possibly sit in the bullpen for Game 3, although it’s unclear if the Phillies would use him on two days’ rest after he missed three weeks in September with an inflamed left shoulder.
Rookie starter Andrew Painter saved the Phillies’ season in Game 2 against the Braves by making his postseason debut as a reliever and tossing three scoreless innings in a 4-3, 10-inning victory.
NBC Sports Philadelphia was first with the news that Nola would start Game 3.
Trump’s travel to Texas and Oklahoma kicks off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3.
Vance stumped in Florida, putting the Republican Party’s highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races. The vice president tried to cast the GOP as representing common sense in the face of a Democratic push to the left.
“I have the easiest job in the world,” Vance said in Lakeland, Florida. “I get to talk about how crazy the Democrats are.”
Trump and Vance could have their work cut out for them, though.
Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices as his unpopular war in Iran drags on.
According to Trump, his party’s headwinds are merely a matter of poor public relations about a job he says is well done.
“I give us an A+ on the government, on economics, on everything,” Trump said Thursday, as he left the White House, while blaming the press for not covering the positive aspects of his administration.
Landing in Texas, he said “we have to get the message” out, while vowing “to go campaigning all over the country.”
Democrats say Trump and the Republicans are desperate
Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that “the president is barnstorming the country, energizing our base, and supercharging Republican candidates in battleground districts and beyond.”
The Democratic National Committee said Trump and Vance are “desperately trying to rally their base as the midterm elections approach and Republicans face defeat.”
“Donald Trump and JD Vance started a deadly and costly war with Iran that sent the economy spiraling and pushed prices even higher, and now — in the final stretch to the midterms — they’re desperately pleading with voters to ‘give (them) another chance,’” said DNC deputy communications director Kendall Witmer.
In Oklahoma, Trump will campaign with Republican Mike Mazzei, who is running against Democratic state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson in the race for governor.
Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said Trump’s campaign rally shows that Republicans “are in full-on panic mode.”
“This race continues to get more competitive — and national Republicans are right to be worried about Mazzei,” he said.
The event will be held on the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, putting Trump in the company of just a handful of U.S. presidents who have visited tribal nations while in office.
Before his evening Oklahoma stop, Trump toured a truck manufacturing facility and chatted briefly with workers in Texas, where Republicans are spending heavily to try to bolster state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race. Paxton faces a very competitive challenge from Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
Paxton planned to attend the event.
Vance also stumped for GOP candidates
Trump will be campaigning in more politically competitive areas in the days and weeks ahead as he embarks on his travel blitz, but Republican officials will not send him to places where they think his presence could drag down their candidates, according to a person familiar with the party’s strategy who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump’s Oklahoma visit, and likewise one on Friday to Alabama, are aimed at hitting two targets with one stop, the person said.
Republican officials have noted that Durant is close to the Dallas and Fort Worth media market, meaning Trump’s message will also be carried to Texas voters, and he’s expected to talk about Paxton even while addressing voters in the neighboring state.
His Friday stop in Mobile, Alabama, is aimed not only at boosting Sen. Tommy Tuberville as he runs for Alabama governor but also at shoring up support in Florida’s adjacent panhandle for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds. Donalds is running for Florida governor against David Jolly, the Republican-turned-independent who is now running as a Democrat.
Donalds’ campaign in heavily GOP Florida comes as Republicans there have faced some turbulence and voter concerns about affordability and artificial intelligence data centers have become central issues.
While Trump is in Oklahoma and Texas, Vance campaigned for Donalds in central Florida. That came a day after the vice president campaigned in Texas, rallying with Republican candidate Eric Flores, who is in a tight U.S. House race in south Texas.
Vance, speaking in Harlingen, Texas, on Wednesday, acknowledged broader discontent over the high prices in the U.S. but shifted the blame away from Trump and Republicans.
“I know that there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress,” he said, but “we have spent every single day fighting for you, digging ourselves out of the hole that Joe Biden left us in.”
Trump will also campaign on Saturday in Vandalia, Ohio, and on Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska.
Trump is expected to campaign for the GOP almost daily
In a meeting on Capitol Hill this week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles described privately to GOP senators that Trump will have a near-daily sprint of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
Wiles showed Republicans the president’s upcoming travel schedule, which attendees described as extensive and almost every day, all across the country.
West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that White House officials are “acknowledging the headwinds” but that “they have a strategy, and we have a strategy,” including money that the president’s operation will continue to deploy.
Capito also defended the White House’s plan to send Trump to traditionally conservative territory, arguing that he can motivate the Republican base not just where he travels but elsewhere in the country because he has such a broad reach.
“He can get more of his voters out — that are going to be our voters — than anybody else,” Capito said.
‘This team needs changes’: Reaction to Phillies season-ending loss to the Braves
Alec Bohm walks off the field after the final out in Game 3.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
NBC analyst John Kruk: “People are going to say the Braves wanted it more… The Phillies battled, but they just got beat by a better team.”
NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Ricky Bottalico: “This is disappointing in so many different ways. It’s not just because of Aaron Nola, it’s because the hitting didn’t show up [and a] lot of things didn’t come to fruition. This is a team that it may have been their last chance as is.”
Jayson Stark, The Athletic: “Watching Otto Kemp make the last out of a postseason series sends a fitting message to Phillies management. Depth. They’ve had way too little of it in every aspect of their roster construction. With an aging roster, that can’t happen again.
94.1 WIP’s James Seltzer: “This team needs changes. Big changes. This era of the Phillies has to end and a new one has to start. This group has gone as far as they’re going to go together. They’re just not good enough.”
Chris Sale sealed the Braves’ win against the Phillies.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA – It ended with Otto Kemp, whose last major-league at-bat came on May 20, striking out against Chris Sale.
The Phillies season is over.
Another year that began with the promise of a star-laden $322 million payroll ended with a 6-2 drubbing by the Braves in winner-takes-all Game 3 of the wild-card series.
The Phillies have made the postseason in five consecutive years but haven’t won a postseason series since the 2023 NL division series against the Braves.
Atlanta will move on to face the Dodgers in the division series.
Despite holding a four-run lead, they brought in ace Chris Sale with two out in the eighth inning to face Bryce Harper. And Sale struck out Harper on four pitches, the last of which was so far outside that it was in the right-handed batter’s box.
The ball skipped away from catcher Drake Baldwin, but Harper didn’t run immediately and was thrown out at first base.
And the Phillies are down to their last three outs.
Phillies pull Zack Wheeler and immediate regret it.
Jonathan Bowlan took the mound in the seventh inning of Game 3. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The Phillies pulled Zach Wheeler going into the bottom of the seventh inning and replaced him with reliever Jonathan Bowlan, his first appearance since Sept. 17.
Matt Olsen made the Phillies pay, crushing a solo bomb off Bowlan to extend the Braves’ lead 6-1.
Wheeler’s final line in Game 3? He gave up three hits and walked three in four innings, giving up two earned runs while striking our three.
Bryce Harper hits a double during the sixth inning.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA – It took three games, but we finally got the long-awaited Bryce Harper-Robert Suarez postseason rematch.
Harper took Suarez deep in Game 5 of the 2023 NL Championship Series for his famous pennant-clinching “Bedlam at the Bank” homer. And when they met again in the sixth inning here, Harper roped a double into the right-field corner.
Of course, the Phillies were trailing by five runs at the time.
But Harper’s double followed a single by Kyle Schwarber, who scored one batter later on Alec Bohm’s groundout. The Braves happily traded the out for the run and hold a 5-1 lead with nine outs to get.
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler after giving up a two-run homer in Game 3.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
While the Atlanta Braves jumped out to the early lead, NBC analyst and former NL MVP Joey Votto offered words of optimism with Phillies ace Zack Wheeler on the mound.
“As good as Zack Wheeler looks, this game is as in play as it gets,” Votto said during the broadcast. “I do not see the Braves scoring any more runs the rest of the way.”
Four pitches later, Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies crushed a Wheeler fastball over the wall in right-center field, extending the Braves’ lead to 5-0.
“Joey, I’ve had a lot of fun working with you over these last three days, man,” said fellow analyst C.J. Nitkowski. “Do not check your mentions.”
After a nine-pitch walk to Austin Riley, Zack Wheeler left a fastball over the middle of the plate for Ozzie Albies, who deposited it over the right-center field wall. It’s 5-0 Braves in the fourth, and the Phillies’ at-bats have hardly been competitive so far.
ATLANTA — That’s it for Braves opener Ray Kerr, who is lifted with one out in the fourth for Grant Holmes.
Kerr did his job, shutting down the Phillies for three innings and leaving a runner on first for Holmes, who will face Alec Bohm. The Phillies saw Holmes four times this year, and he held them to a 3.05 ERA. He is expected to be the bulk pitcher for Atlanta the rest of the way, as the Phillies are still staring down a 3-0 deficit.
Were Phillies wrong to turn to Aaron Nola on short rest?
Aaron Nola leaves Game 3 in the second inning. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA – It’s fair to wonder, especially now, about the potential toll that pitching on two days’ rest took on Aaron Nola.
Nola, starting on full rest in Game 3, exhibited none of his typical precision command in lasting only 1 ⅔ innings. Ten of his first 13 pitches were balls. J.T. Realmuto wanted the 14th pitch low and away. It ran back over the plate for a three-run homer to Michael Harris II.
Last Saturday, in their desperation to clinch a wild-card spot before the last game of the season, the Phillies started Nola on two days’ rest. He lasted only one inning in a loss.
The next day, during the Phillies’ clinching celebration, I asked Nola how his arm felt one day after starting on short rest for the first time in his career.
“A little bit more [sore] than after a bullpen,” he said. “A little bit more, for sure. Obviously it was a game situation. I could throw 40 to 50 pitches in a bullpen, and it’s never going to be the game situation, [with] the adrenaline, rush.
“But I feel good.”
Nola threw a bullpen session here Monday without issue. But he was able to face only nine batters and get five outs in the winner-take-all Game 3 before being lifted for lefty Tim Mayza, who got the final out of the second inning.
Zack Wheeler, on three days’ rest, is on for the third inning with the Phillies trailing 3-0.
Aaron Nola didn’t make it through the second inning of Game 2.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — Zack Wheeler has begun throwing in the Phillies’ bullpen in left field.
After Aaron Nola allowed a two-out single up the middle to nine-hole hitter Dominic Smith, his night ended there. Lefty Tim Mayza entered the game tasked with finishing off the second inning, while Wheeler continues to warm.
Wheeler will be appearing on short rest, after throwing 97 pitches on Sept. 27 to help the Phillies finally clinch a playoff berth in Game 162.
Braves pitcher Ray Kerr during the second inning in Game 3.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — The Phillies haven’t figured out Braves opener Ray Kerr.
The lefty, who was only promoted to Atlanta’s major league roster on Aug. 16, did his job of handling the top of the Phillies’ order, outside of a single from Kyle Schwarber. He returned for a 1-2-3 second, as that single remains the Phillies’ only hit of the night so far. It’s unknown how long Kerr is expected to remain in the game, but if he continues to be this efficient — 28 pitches — it could be another turn through the lineup.
The Braves have one hit, too, but it happened to be a three-run homer. The Phillies offense has some work to do.
The Braves’ Michael Harris II hits a three-run home run off Aaron Nola in the first inning.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA – It’s already a nightmare start for Aaron Nola and the Phillies.
Nola has not had his command early. After a first-pitch flyout from Drake Baldwin, he issued back-to-back walks to Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson. He started Michael Harris II off with consecutive balls, too, before Harris went down to get a sinker below the zone and sent it 387 feet out of the stadium.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is projected to start Game 1 of the NLDS for the Dodgers. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
If the Phillies defeat the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 Thursday night, they’ll advance to the National League divisional series and take on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Here is the full NLDS schedule:
Game 1: Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, Saturday, Oct. 3, 4 p.m. (FS1)
Game 2: Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, Sunday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m. (FS1)
Game 3: Dodgers at Braves/Phillies, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 6 p.m. (FS1)
Game 4*: Dodgers at Braves/Phillies, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6 p.m. (FS1)
Game 5*: Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, Friday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m. (Fox)
‘A cool ride’: Justin Crawford enjoying his postseason debut
Justin Crawford bunts during Game 2 against the Braves.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — Justin Crawford’s father, Carl, was six years into his career before he got his first taste of postseason baseball.
Carl Crawford debuted for Tampa Bay in 2002, but didn’t play his first game in October until 2008. Fans of his son’s team know well how that story ended: with the Phillies beating the Rays in five games in the World Series, and a parade down Broad Street.
Justin, 23, didn’t have to wait nearly that long. His first experience in the postseason is coming in his rookie year. He started in Wednesday’s Game 2 and is also in the lineup against Atlanta for Game 3, batting ninth and playing center field.
“It’s been really cool,” Crawford said. “At the end of the day, I’ve kind of had to remind myself it’s still baseball. The game stays the same. So go out there, compete, work your tail off, and leave it all out there on the field and see what happens. I would say the biggest thing was definitely the adrenaline, and just the adrenaline factor and seeing how much that kind of played. But it was a really cool feeling to be out there and competing.”
He’s also been enjoying sharing the experience with some of the other rookies on the team. Alex McFarlane and Andrew Painter both played key roles in relief in Wednesday’s Game 2 victory, with McFarlane getting a big out to end the seventh and Painter pitching the final three innings to earn the win.
“Obviously, all three of us came up playing with each other,” Crawford said. “And especially me and Alex, we were drafted the same year and really have played with each and every level with each other. It’s really cool being able to go out there and compete with those guys, and being able to enjoy the moment with them as well. It’s really fun to be able to go out there and just contribute anyway we can. It’s been a cool ride.”
Phillies first baseman Alec Bohm works with interim manager Don Mattingly ahead of Game 3 at Truist Park in Atlanta. Yong Kim / Staff PhotographerPhillies shortstop Trea Turner fields during warmups. Yong Kim / Staff PhotographerEdmundo Sosa will start Game 3 at third base after suffering a groin injury Wednesday. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
// Timestamp 10/01/26 7:08pm
Mattingly: ‘All hands on deck’ for Game 3
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — A couple of hours before game time, Phillies manager Don Mattingly and Braves counterpart Walt Weiss both used the same phrase when addressing questions about the availability of certain pitchers in Thursday night’s decisive Game 3.
“I’d say all hands on deck today,” Mattingly said when asked if Zack Wheeler will be available in the bullpen on three days’ rest.
It’s a somewhat ironic choice of words for Mattingly, given the number of Phillies relievers he seems determined to avoid using.
The point stands, though. Aaron Nola will start the Phillies off. From there, everything will be depend on the score and the situation. If the Phillies need Zack Wheeler or even Game 1 starter Jesus Luzardo to throw, I wouldn’t expect Mattingly to hesitate.
Duran’s availability will be a game-time decision; Sosa won’t be 100%
Phillies closer Jhoan Duran will test his arm before deciding if he can pitch in Game 3.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — Jhoan Duran’s availability to pitch in the Phillies’ win-or-go-home Game 3 of the wild-card series will be determined in the same way that it was for Game 2.
Duran will play catch and report back on how he feels.
“I’m expecting him to be good,” interim manager Don Mattingly said here Thursday in a pregame meeting with reporters.
But Mattingly was hopeful of getting a thumbs-up from the star closer and the medical staff before Game 2, too. Instead, Duran wasn’t ready to pitch after throwing 27 pitches over two innings and giving up a go-ahead three-run homer to Austin RIley in a 5-3 loss in Game 1.
Mattingly clarified that Duran wasn’t injured but rather sore after the heavier-than-usual workload in Game 1. It marked only the second time all season that the Phillies called on Duran to get more than three outs in a game.
“It was a couple of different factors, without having to go into all of them,” Mattingly said. “But mainly just he was beat up, arm-wise. Because he pitched the last game [of the regular season], too.”
Meanwhile, infielder Edmundo Sosa went through an early workout to test his injured groin. He passed the test and will be in the lineup, although Mattingly noted Sosa won’t be able to run full speed.
All-Star Brandon Marsh starting an elimination game on the bench
Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh isn’t starting Game 3 even though lefty Ray Kerr is only expected to pitch a few innings.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — Remember when Brandon Marsh started in right field for the National League in the All-Star Game?
Three months later, he isn’t in the Phillies’ lineup for an elimination game.
Amid a deep second-half slump, Marsh fell into a platoon in which he typically starts only against right-handed pitchers. But he will begin Game 3 of the wild-card series on the bench here Thursday night, even though Braves lefty Ray Kerr is an opener and expected to pitch only a few innings.
Instead, the Phillies went with righty-hitting Bryan De La Cruz in left field.
“I think De La’s better equipped either way [vs. lefties or righties],” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “And then I’m able to, kind of the way we’re set up, we’re able to pinch hit where we need to pinch hit and give us some sort of leverage.”
It was telling, though, that Mattingly stuck with lefty-hitting Justin Crawford in center field against Kerr. Derek Hill, a right-handed hitter who splits time with Crawford, will be on the bench.
Marsh batted .319/.352/.530 with 15 homers through July 1. After that, he batted .177/.241/.241 with three homers. He came off the bench and got a hit in the ninth inning of Game 1 against the Braves before starting and going 1-for-3 in Game 2.
Edmundo Sosa is back in the Phillies lineup a day after leaving the game early win an injury.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The Phillies are trotting out a very similar lineup to Game 2, especially at the top. The first five spots remain unchanged. Bryan De La Cruz replaces Brandon Marsh in the sixth spot with lefty Ray Kerr starting. The only other change from the last game is J.T. Realmuto and Justin Crawford swapping spots at the bottom of the order.
That also means that Edmundo Sosa, who came up limping after trying to beat out a ground ball in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s win and had to leave the game, is back in the lineup for the Phillies. He’ll bat seventh.
Trea Turner (R) SS
Kyle Schwarber (L) DH
Bryce Harper (L) RF
Alec Bohm (R) 1B
Bryson Stott (L) 2B
Bryan De La Cruz (R) LF
Edmundo Sosa (R) 3B
J.T. Realmuto (R) C
Justin Crawford (L) CF
Meanwhile, the Braves have changes up and down the lineup against righty Aaron Nola after facing lefties in Games 1 and 2.
Now the Phils have every advantage to become just the fourth team in the new postseason format to win a wild-card series after dropping Game 1.
The key to winning this series was forcing a third game as Atlanta entered the playoffs unsure who would be its third starter. They’ll use Ray Kerr, a reliever who returned in August from Tommy John surgery, as an opener likely followed by Grant Holmes as a bulk reliever.
Now that they’ve reached a decisive Game 3, the Phillies know what they need from their pitchers.
Nola needs to … do what he did last year against the Dodgers in an elimination game. He pitched two innings, navigating one turn through the L.A. lineup in Game 3 of the National League Division Series before passing it to Ranger Suárez. Nola and Suárez combined for one run over seven innings. The plan was then to use Duran for six outs but that wasn’t necessary as the Phils took a seven-run lead in the eighth. The Phils will ask more from Nola than two innings but the task will be the same: Keep it close and get the ball to Wheeler.
Wheeler needs to … do what he always does. The Phillies looked ready to collapse last week until you saw that Wheeler was starting Game 162 and the Phillies just needed a win. Did anyone doubt Wheeler? He threw 97 pitches on Sunday so he’ll be pitching in Game 3 on three days’ rest. How many innings can the Phils expect from him? Two or three would be ideal. If Nola goes four or five and Wheeler gets you to the seventh, then Duran can take it from there.
Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber reacts after hitting a solo homer in the eighth inning against the Braves.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The Phillies’ Game 2 win over the Braves was a lot of different things.
It was playoff baseball at its finest, not to mention its most hazardous to a fan’s cardiac health. It was a showcase: of the razor-thin margins that will determine which of these two teams advances, and of the strengths that once again have the Phillies on the verge of an NLDS berth.
Mostly, though, Game 2 was a story. First, of failure. Then, of overcoming it.
Whether the story endures is a question that will be decided on Thursday in a decisive Game 3. The winner will move on to face the Dodgers in a best-of-five series. The loser will move on to face the haunting what-ifs of an early offseason.
But if momentum is real, and if adversity is a buoy, the Phillies have to like their chances, whatever the odds say. There’s also some history. Once upon a time, this Phillies team had a mojo that forced you to believe, regardless of circumstance, that they would overcome.
“It’s in our DNA,” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said. “We’re not going to quit.”
Hayes: Grant Alec Bohm’s wish to be a Phillie for life
Alec Bohm celebrates after hitting a 10th-inning solo home run to lift the Phillies over the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of their National League wild-card series.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — Alec Bohm sat behind a microphone for what could have been the last time as a Phillie on Wednesday morning, and he reflected on his 6½ seasons in the majors as a Phillie, supporting rosters dotted with future Hall of Famers. He will be a free agent this winter, and his inconsistent play combined with his occasional truculence have led to assumptions that he will be moving on.
Then, five hours later, Bohm, hitting in the No. 4 spot, rocked the winning home run in the 10th inning of Game 2 of the wild-card series against the Braves. The Phillies took a 4-3 lead, which held up in the bottom of the inning as rookie Andrew Painter dealt the third of his three scoreless innings, and the season was saved.
With it, Bohm might have saved his future in Philadelphia and erased some of the less jubilant moments of his past.
The Phillies have tried to platoon him, they’ve benched him in the playoffs, they’ve shoved him from the cleanup spot to the bottom of the order, and they’ve put him on the trading block so often he might as well have been a bale of beaver pelts in the Old West. He never much cared, it seemed, until now.
Once a Philly hater, he now desperately wants to be a Phillie for life.
“I would love nothing more than to stay,” he said afterward. “I mean, if you think about it, like, not that often does a guy get to play his whole career in one place.”
Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola will start Game 3 against the Braves, and will have some support out of the bullpen.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
ATLANTA — Facing their third elimination game in five days, the Phillies will hand the ball to their longest-tenured player.
Aaron Nola will start Thursday night in Game 3 of the best-of-three wild-card series, according to a major league source. The Phillies had not yet announced a starter.
Nola will be on full rest four days after starting on only two days’ rest and lasting only one inning in a desperate gambit to clinch a playoff spot last Saturday night. But the Phillies will take an “all hands on deck” approach to their pitching plan, interim manager Don Mattingly said Wednesday.
Zack Wheeler is expected to be available out of the bullpen on three days’ rest. It’s possible the Phillies could approach the game similar to Game 3 of the division series last year in Los Angeles, when Nola faced eight batters in two innings before yielding to fellow starter Ranger Suárez.
Nola has made 41 career starts against the Braves, posting a 3.71 ERA in 252⅓ innings. In three starts this season, he has a 4.50 ERA, with the Braves batting .250 with a .500 slugging percentage.
In the postseason, Nola has twice faced the Braves in a series that was tied at one game apiece. He allowed one unearned run in six innings against the Braves in Game 3 of the 2022 NL division series and two runs in 5⅔ innings in Game 3 of the same round in 2023. The Phillies won both games — and both series.
The Braves are turning to lefty Ray Kerr to start Game 3.Gene J. Puskar
The Atlanta Braves are turning to lefty Ray Kerr as their Game 3 starter.
Kerr, a reliever who returned in August from Tommy John surgery, as an opener likely followed by Grant Holmes as a bulk reliever.
And we thought Don Mattingly’s options were limited this postseason.
Kerr throws in the mid-90s and faced the Phillies twice in September, holding them scoreless over 6⅓ innings in relief in a pair of games the Phils won. Holmes is a middle-of-the rotation starter with a low-90s fastball who blanked the Phillies for six innings in a 1-0 Phils victory on Sept. 7.
Kerr and Holmes handled the Phillies in September. But then again, who didn’t?
The toughest game of the series was always going to be Game 1 against Chris Sale, and the Phillies nearly won. The level of difficultly eased up in Game 2 against Tyler Mahle. The Phillies won that. The key to winning this series was always if the Phils could force a third game, knowing Atlanta could not match their starters. The Phillies got to Game 3. There’s no excuse not to finish the job.
Braves manager Walt Weiss runs on the field before Game 1.Brynn Anderson
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly was picked apart after Game 1, so how about the Braves not using Robert Suarez in Game 2?
Suarez returned from the injured list in September and pitched twice in the season’s final week before being added to the postseason roster. He was lights out as Atlanta’s setup man before injuring his elbow in June and his velocity last week was about where it was preinjury.
So how does Suarez — who the Braves signed before the season to a three-year contract worth $45 million — not get used in Game 2?
The Braves played matchups in the eighth and got burned by left-hander Dylan Lee giving up back-to-back left-on-left homers to Harper and Kyle Schwarber. Suarez, a right-hander, had better numbers this year against lefties than righties. That could’ve been his spot.
In the 10th, Bohm homered against Didier Fuentes, who pitched for a second straight day after giving up a two-run triple in Game 1 to J.T. Realmuto. That could’ve been Suarez, too.
The winner of the Phillies-Braves series will move on to face Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The winner of Game 3 between the Phillies and Atlanta Braves will punch a ticket to the National League divisional series to face the No. 2 seed Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Phillies went 2-4 against the defending World Series champs this season, though the last time the two teams faced off was way back in July. It would also be a replay of last year’s NLDS, which the Dodgers handily won 3-1.
Here is the NLDS schedule:
Game 1: Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, Saturday, Oct. 3, 4 p.m. (FS1)
Game 2: Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, Sunday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m. (FS1)
Game 3: Dodgers at Braves/Phillies, Tuesday, Oct. 6, TBD
Game 4*: Dodgers at Braves/Phillies, Wednesday, Oct. 7, TBD
Game 5*: Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, Friday, Oct. 9, TBD
Phillies-Braves Game 3: Start time, how to watch and stream
NBC wild-card announcers (from left) C.J. Nitkowski, John Kruk, and Matt Vasgersian.NBC Sports
The Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of their National League wild-card series Thursday night. The winner moves on to the National League divisional series, the loser’s season is over, and everyone will have to stay up late.
With the three other wild-card series already decided, first pitch of Game 3 between the Phillies and Braves Thursday night is scheduled for 8:15 p.m.
NBC will once again broadcast the game, with John Kruk in the booth alongside play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian and fellow analyst C.J. Nitkowski. Joey Votto is back as the on-field analyst, while Ashley ShahAhmadi will report from Truist Park.
Fans can also stream the game on Peacock, NBC’s subscription streaming service. But if you live in and around Philadelphia, you can stream the game for free using a digital antenna, since it’s being broadcast on NBC.
94.1 WIP will broadcast the game on radio, with Scott Franzke and Kevin Stocker on the call.
NBC Sports Philadelphia will offer pre- and postgame coverage, featuring Michael Barkann, Ricky Bottalico, Ben Davis, and former Phillies general manager turned broadcaster Rubén Amaro Jr.
After suffering their first loss of the season, the Eagles (2-1) look to bounce back in Week 4 as they host the Los Angeles Rams (1-2) at Lincoln Financial Field. As both teams prepare to meet, here’s a look at updated game odds and some interesting prop bets from two of the biggest sportsbooks:
Eagles vs. Rams updated odds
Both teams are heading into Sunday with something to prove. The Rams are coming off a 30-26 loss to the Denver Broncos after blowing a 16-0 halftime lead. And the Eagles struggled against the Chicago Bears and third-string quarterback Case Keenum in a 27-7 loss.
Entering the week, the FanDuel and DraftKings have the Eagles as three-point underdogs at home.
Hurts threw for over 200 passing yards in Weeks 1 and 2, with 203 yards against the Washington Commanders and 264 yards against the Tennessee Titans. But during Monday’s game against the Bears, he was limited to 153 passing yards.
Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford is coming off a game in which he threw for 390 yards — making it the second time he has eclipsed 300 passing yards this season, after a 327-yard game against the New York Giants in Week 2.
Over the last three weeks, Hurts has thrown for five touchdowns — three in Week 1 and two in Week 2. However, he recorded zero passing touchdowns vs. the Bears.
Stafford has thrown for six touchdowns in three weeks, including two passing touchdowns in Week 3 against the Broncos.
In last week’s meeting with the Bears, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley led the team in rushing with 82 yards. Meanwhile, Kyren Williams led the Rams in rushing with 88 yards.
DeVonta Smith led the team in receiving yards in the last two weeks, recording 65 yards in the Birds’ loss to the Bears and 117 yards in their win over the Titans.
Meanwhile, Rams receiver Davante Adams has led the team in receiving yards for the last two weeks in the absence of Puka Nacua, who was out because of groin and hip injuries. The receiver is expected to play on Sunday.
The Phillies have Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler lined up Thursday to face the Braves in Game 3, a game that seemed unlikely to be played when Bryce Harper lost that fly ball in the afternoon sun. But we know what happened next. Atta’ boy, Harper.
Now the Phils have every advantage to become just the fourth team in the new postseason format to win a wild-card series after dropping Game 1.
The key to winning this series was forcing a third game as Atlanta entered the playoffs unsure who would be its third starter. They’ll use Ray Kerr, a reliever who returned in August from Tommy John surgery, as an opener likely followed by Grant Holmes as a bulk reliever.
And we thought Don Mattingly’s options were limited this postseason.
Credit Cristopher Sánchez and Andrew Painter for the heavy lifting in Game 2 on Wednesday. They were excellent and allowed the Phils to enter Game 3 with Nola and Wheeler, two pitchers who have met the moment more often than not in this Phillies era.
Jhoan Duran didn’t pitch in Game 2 so he’ll be ready on Thursday. Mattingly said it’s “all hands on deck” but the Phillies would love to just use three.
After throwing 27 pitches in a two-inning appearance in Game 1, closer Jhoan Duran should be available for Game 3.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Earl Weaver famously said momentum in baseball is the next day’s starting pitcher. The Phillies left Game 2 with plenty of momentum after punching back with three homers and now they’ll enter Game 3 on the same ride as the Braves scramble to find a pitcher.
Kerr throws in the mid-90s and faced the Phillies twice in September, holding them scoreless over 6⅓ innings in relief in a pair of games the Phils won. Holmes is a middle-of-the rotation starter with a low-90s fastball who blanked the Phillies for six innings in a 1-0 Phils victory on Sept. 7. Kerr and Holmes handled the Phillies in September. But then again, who didn’t?
The toughest game of the series was always going to be Game 1 against Chris Sale, and the Phillies nearly won. The level of difficultly eased up in Game 2 against Tyler Mahle. The Phillies won that. The key to winning this series was always the Phils forcing a third game, knowing Atlanta could not match their starters. The Phillies got to Game 3. There’s no excuse not to finish the job.
Nola needs to …
Do what he did last year against the Dodgers in an elimination game. He pitched two innings, navigating one turn through the L.A. lineup in Game 3 of the National League Division Series before passing it to Ranger Suárez. Nola and Suárez combined for one run over seven innings. The plan was then to use Duran for six outs but that wasn’t necessary as the Phils took a seven-run lead in the eighth. The Phils will ask more from Nola than two innings but the task will be the same: Keep it close and get the ball to Wheeler.
Do what he always does. The Phillies looked ready to collapse last week until you saw that Wheeler was starting Game 162 and the Phillies just needed a win. Did anyone doubt Wheeler? He threw 97 pitches on Sunday so he’ll be pitching in Game 3 on three days’ rest. How many innings can the Phils expect from him? Two or three would be ideal. If Nola goes four or five and Wheeler gets you to the seventh, then Duran can take it from there.
Rookie Andrew Painter pitched three shutout innings to close out the Braves in Game 2.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
I’m still thinking about …
… Painter starting his postseason debut by throwing six straight balls before pitching three scoreless innings for the win. The biggest positive to come out of this season has been Painter since he returned from triple A. He didn’t look ready for the moment in the first half of the season just like he didn’t look ready for it on Wednesday. But he finished the regular season with a 3.65 ERA in 11 starts. He recovered, just like he did on Wednesday. It’s too early to think about 2027 but at least the Phillies know they can factor Painter into their plans. That wasn’t a guarantee in June.
… how about the Braves not using Robert Suarez in Game 2? Suarez returned from the injured list in September and pitched twice in the season’s final week before being added to the postseason roster. He was lights out as Atlanta’s setup man before injuring his elbow in June and his velocity last week was about where it was preinjury. So how does Suarez — who the Braves signed before the season to a three-year contract worth $45 million — not get used in Game 2?
The Braves played matchups in the eighth and got burned by left-hander Dylan Lee giving up back-to-back left-on-left homers to Harper and Kyle Schwarber. Suarez, a right-hander, had better numbers this year against lefties than righties. That could’ve been his spot. In the 10th, Bohm homered against Didier Fuentes, who pitched for a second straight day after giving up a two-run triple in Game 1 to J.T. Realmuto. That could’ve been Suarez, too. The Phils will take it.
Jesús Luzardo gave the Phillies five strong innings in Game 1.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
If the Phillies win …
Game 1 of the NLDS will be Saturday in Los Angeles against the Dodgers and the Phils would be happy to have to figure out their pitching plan. Jesús Luzardo would be on three days’ rest but would the Phils push him so soon after returning from the injured list? Painter would be on two days’ rest after throwing 37 pitches in relief. Can he go on Saturday?
It’ll be interesting to see how the Phils handle Game 1. One guess: They use Painter as an opener and hope he can give them three innings. Then they lean on the bullpen and try to steal a game. That allows Luzardo to be on regular rest in Sunday’s Game 2 and Wheeler to start Tuesday’s Game 3 on regular rest in Philly. First, they have to win Thursday.
Christa Pike was in critical condition Thursday and receiving “lifesaving care” at a hospital, her lawyers said, a day after a failed attempt to execute her in what Tennessee’s governor called a “deeply disturbing” outcome.
Pike, who was sentenced to death in a 1995 murder, was taken to a hospital Wednesday night after she received a double dose of the drug Tennessee uses to execute prisoners but survived.
“We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment,” attorney Randy Spivey said during a news conference. ”But we know she is alive right now.”
The failed execution, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Republican Gov. Bill Lee to order a review and to indefinitely postpone Pike’s execution and Tennessee’s lone other one scheduled for this year. It also reignited the debate over the state’s execution procedures, including its single-drug lethal injections.
Spivey called the process cruel and tortuous, saying he was “haunted” by what he saw after the execution team struggled to find a vein for the lethal drugs. He said he counted at least seven needles in her left arm.
During the struggle to locate a vein, Pike even suggested where they might find a spot, he said.
“Please try here, please try here,” Spivey recalled her saying. “She told them over and over, please try higher on my shoulder.”
An execution fails
The state tried to execute Pike by lethal injection, but neither the initial nor backup dose of pentobarbital killed her and she was still snoring when the execution chamber’s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the attempt. She was later taken to a hospital for treatment.
At one point during the execution attempt, she asked prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way, though it’s unclear if it was after the first dose entered her body, as officials don’t share that information. Later, more than an hour after the process began and nearly 30 minutes after a backup dose of pentobarbital was administered, she could be heard snoring loudly.
Another of Pike’s attorneys, Steve Ferrell, said she feared there would be complications with the lethal injection because of a lifelong blood disorder that made it tough to get needles into her veins. “Throughout her life, she’s explained to us that she had trouble having blood drawn,” he said.
It was quite possible, Ferrell said, that the IV line didn’t enter her vein properly and that the drug was filling her arm instead of entering her bloodstream.
Her lawyers called for her death sentence to be commuted, saying what she went through Wednesday amounted to torture.
May Martinez, whose daughter was murdered by Pike and her boyfriend and who traveled to Nashville to watch the execution, told NBC News “it was a mess.”
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for a murder she committed at age 18. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
An appeals court stopped the lethal injection an hour before it was scheduled to begin, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that stay hours later.
It was the second time this year that Tennessee was unable to complete an execution. In the other case, officials couldn’t find a suitable vein for an IV line so the drugs weren’t administered.
Governor halts another 2026 execution
The governor said it appeared prison staff followed procedure, but he described what transpired as “deeply disturbing.”
“There are very few answers this morning. It’s very early,” Lee told reporters Thursday. “The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered.”
Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said in court filings late Wednesday. The drug has been used in executions in multiple states and by the federal government, but there have been concerns raised about the potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.”
The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.”
The state changed its execution method two years ago
Tennessee announced in 2024 that it was switching from a three-drug series for lethal injections to a single drug, pentobarbital. That came more than two years after the state abruptly halted the execution of Oscar Smith and acknowledged it had failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs had been tested properly.
Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what Pike experienced is “singular and unparalleled” in that she survived long enough to be moved to a hospital.
Seven other people have survived medical problems due to an execution team’s failure to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one has stayed alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions, she said.
Executions in the U.S. have fallen sharply since the beginning of this century amid growing public opposition and concerns about the costs and the drugs used. But the number of executions nearly doubled last year behind a record increase in Florida.
Pike would have been the 30th person executed in the U.S. this year.
Pike was awake in the chamber
Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber, Pike described herself as at peace.
When asked if she had any last words, Pike said several things, including, “I’m at peace. I’m ready to be free. … This is a happy day.”
But she remained awake, and at one point complained about the feeling in her arm. The chamber’s curtains were closed briefly, suggesting it had been five minutes since the first dose was administered. But they were reopened three minutes later.
An hour after officials first raised the curtains, witnesses reported that a second dose of pentobarbital was administered. Pike could still be heard snoring behind a closed curtain until the microphone was cut off almost 30 minutes later.
Her lawyers filed an emergency motion with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in “unnecessary agony” and the procedure violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment.
Last May, Tennessee officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing three people in 1994, after executioners tried for over an hour but failed to find a suitable vein for a secondary IV line.
Pike didn’t deny her role in the killing
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate. The killing stoked fears of Satan worship because of a pentagram carved on Slemmer’s body.
Pike’s boyfriend wasn’t eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the killing and received a sentence of life in prison. He was denied parole last year.
Pike didn’t dispute that she helped kill Slemmer, but supporters argued that Pike’s age at the time of the murder, her mental illness and her allegations of severe sexual abuse should be considered. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after the killing.
“It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done,” she once said.
It was a blowout, and it left a lot of questions. The Eagles’ 27-7 loss to the Bears Monday night at Soldier Field featured an offense that fizzled, a defense that folded, and a coaching staff that looked outmatched. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Jeff Neiburg provide a postmortem of the defense’s disappointing start to the season, critique of offensive coordinator Sean Mannion’s approach, and assessment of how some of general manager Howie Roseman’s moves have panned out so far.
00:00 The defense has been a major disappointment
16:12 Sean Mannion’s offense has yet to impress
34:17 Scrutinizing Howie Roseman’s roster construction
unCovering the Birds is a co-production of KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts and The Philadelphia Inquirer, hosted by award-winning Inquirer reporter Jeff McLane. Look for new episodes throughout the season.
We’re always looking for mailbag questions! Hit Jeff up on his socials, or drop a question in the comments. Jeff could answer it in a future episode!
