Monday Sports in Brief

MLB

HOUSTON (AP) - Charlie Morton is becoming a Fall Classic fixture, set to start in the World Series for the third time in five seasons this week.

Houston Astros lefty Framber Valdez is virtually unknown to a national audience, with the 27-year-old poised to make his Series debut when he pitches against Morton and the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 on Tuesday night.

SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. is joining the team's ownership group.

The team announced Griffey has purchased a stake in the club that drafted him in 1987 and watched him grow into a Hall of Famer.

Griffey spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Mariners and returned in 2009 for part of two more seasons in Seattle.

He has held the role of special consultant to the franchise, but is the first former player to become a part owner of the Seattle franchise.

CHICAGO (AP) - The Chicago Cubs continued to reshape their front office on Monday, hiring Houston Astros executive Ehsan Bokhari as assistant general manager.

The move comes a week and a half after the Cubs hired Carter Hawkins from Cleveland's front office as general manager to work under president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.

The 38-year-old Bokhari spent the past three years working in player evaluation for Houston. He oversaw all projects by the team's research and development group.

NFL

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Jets will try to turn around their season without Zach Wilson for a few games.

The rookie quarterback has a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will be sidelined two to four weeks, coach Robert Saleh confirmed after Wilson had an MRI on Monday.

To help fill in for Wilson, the Jets acquired veteran Joe Flacco from Philadelphia for a conditional sixth-round draft pick. The pick can become a fifth-rounder based on playing time for Flacco.

Flacco started four games for the Jets last season when Sam Darnold was injured. The 36-year-old QB, a Super Bowl MVP nine years ago with the Baltimore Ravens, signed with Philadelphia in the offseason.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - The injury-riddled Denver Broncos acquired inside linebacker Kenny Young from the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, four days after they were gouged by third-string Cleveland running back D'Ernest Johnson.

The teams also exchanged 2024 late-round draft picks with the Rams (6-1) receiving a sixth-round selection and the Broncos (3-4) getting back a seventh-rounder.

Young is in the final year of his rookie contract that's paying him $2.183 million this year, and his departure means more playing time for third-round rookie Ernest Jones from South Carolina, who's only played 45 defensive snaps so far.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Texas Tech fired coach Matt Wells on Monday, two days after the Red Raiders couldn't hold a two-touchdown halftime lead in a loss at home to Kansas State.

Wells had a shot at his first winning record in his third season with the Red Raiders, but an inability to win Big 12 games plagued him just as it did predecessor Kliff Kingsbury, who also was fired.

The Red Raiders (5-3, 2-3 Big 12) didn't win consecutive conference games under Wells, who came from Utah State to replace Kingsbury. Texas Tech was 13-17 overall and 7-16 in conference under Wells. Kingsbury was 19-35 in league play in six seasons.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

NEW YORK (AP) - Drew Timme of Gonzaga is the lone unanimous selection on The Associated Press preseason All-America team.

He was joined by Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn, UCLA guard Johnny Juzang, Villanova point guard Collin Gillespie and Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Timme was a second-team All-American last season while leading the Zags to the NCAA championship game for the second time.

Cockburn looked into leaving for the NBA before returning. Juzang is back after leading the Bruins to the Final Four, and Gillespie returns after suffering a knee injury. Jackson-Davis is looking to get the Hoosiers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

COURTS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A federal judge on Monday dismissed more of the unsettled lawsuits filed by men who say Ohio State University failed to stop sexual abuse decades ago by now-deceased team doctor Richard Strauss.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson's latest rulings weren't much of a surprise, given how he'd previously dismissed similar cases for the same reasons. Watson has said it's clear Strauss abused hundreds of young men while Ohio State officials turned a blind eye, but he ruled the legal window for such claims has passed.

OBITUARY

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Carl Madsen, who worked as an NFL on-field umpire and then as a replay official, died Sunday. He was 71.

The league confirmed Monday that Madsen, who had worked the Kansas City-Tennessee game, died on his way home.

Madsen, 71, was driving home to Weldon Spring, Missouri, when he had an apparent medical issue. Police were first called at 4:46 p.m. CT about an SUV stalled in a lane on Interstate 65 North with the driver unconscious.

Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said Monday that officers broke open a window, removed Madsen from the vehicle and performed chest compressions until the fire department arrived. Madsen was taken to St. Thomas Midtown Hospital where he died.

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