Fast Break

Baseball

Tigers find little to celebrate

If the Detroit Tigers are going to extend their surprising season by making a run in the playoffs, they’ll have to get past the New York Yankees.

After wasting several chances to wrap up an A.L. Central title, the slumping Tigers slipped to a wild-card spot Sunday and now must play the Yankees, beginning Tuesday.

Also, St. Louis won the N.L. Central when the Cardinals and Astros both lost. In the N.L. West, San Diego and Los Angeles both won, meaning the Padres win the division and the Dodgers get the wild card.

College football

Stolen Auburn laptop found

A laptop containing Auburn’s offensive gameplan was stolen out of the team hotel by “a drifter” the night before the Tigers played South Carolina, coach Tommy Tuberville said Sunday.

The laptop was lifted from the offensive meeting room while players and coaches stood around following dinner on the eve of the Tigers’ 24-17 victory Thursday night in Columbia, S.C. The thief was caught on video nabbing the expensive computer, which Tuberville valued at $15,000.

“We saw who did it, and it takes a lot of nerve to walk in there with 300-pounders standing around it and pick it up and put it in your pants and walk out the door,” Tuberville said.

College football

Whitworth climbs

Whitworth is ranked 14th in this week’s D3football.com Top 25 as the Pirates continue to improve on their highest-ever rating in the Division III football poll. The Pirates, 4-0, open the Northwest Conference season Saturday at Pacific Lutheran.

“ There were no changes among the Top 10 in the Associated Press Division I-A Top 25.