MLB awards week is here, and that means it's time to hand out some hardware as baseball's best of 2019 vie for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year honors.

Will Mike Trout hold off Alex Bregman for his third American League MVP award? Did Cody Bellinger separate himself from Christian Yelich and Anthony Rendon as the National League's most valuable player? And which Astros ace will take home Cy Young honors in the AL? Here's when each award will be announced, the finalists to win and a quick take to get you in the know -- and make sure to check back during the week as we update this page with winners and more key information.

MLB awards schedule

Monday: AL and NL Rookie of the Year

Tuesday: AL and NL Manager of the Year

Wednesday: AL and NL Cy Young

Thursday: AL and NL MVP

(All awards announced at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network.)

Rookie of the Year (Monday)

AL finalists: Yordan Alvarez, Houston Astros; Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays; John Means, Baltimore Orioles

Quick take: Alvarez is the clear favorite here after posting a .313/.412/.655 slash line with 27 home runs in 87 games.

NL finalists: Pete Alonso, New York Mets; Mike Soroka, Atlanta Braves; Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres

Quick take: All three finalists showed that superstardom is in their future this season, but Alonso's rookie-record 53 home runs make him the likely winner here.

Manager of the Year (Tuesday)

AL finalists: Rocco Baldelli, Minnesota Twins; Aaron Boone, New York Yankees; Kevin Cash, Tampa Bay Rays

Quick take: Baldelli excelled in his first season as a manager and Cash steered the small-market Rays to the postseason, but it will be hard to top Boone leading the Yankees to 103 wins and an AL East crown in an injury-filled season for New York.

NL finalists: Craig Counsell, Milwaukee Brewers; Mike Shildt, St. Louis Cardinals; Brian Snitker, Atlanta Braves

Quick take: This one is wide open. Snitker could take home the honor for a second consecutive year, and Shildt has a strong case after leading the Cardinals to the top of the NL Central, but Counsell getting the Brewers back to the playoffs with a strong finish after Christian Yelich's season-ending injury might be too much for voters to ignore.

Cy Young (Wednesday)

AL finalists: Gerrit Cole, Houston Astros; Charlie Morton, Tampa Bay Rays; Justin Verlander, Houston Astros

Quick take: With all due respect to Morton, this is a race between the two Astros aces -- and Cole is likely to come out on top.

NL finalists: Jacob deGrom, New York Mets; Hyun-Jin Ryu, Los Angeles Dodgers; Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals

Quick take: Ryu faded down the stretch after dominating this conversation for most of the year and Scherzer lost part of his season to injuries, leaving deGrom in line for back-to-back Cy Young victories.

MVP (Thursday)

After the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup last season, Robby Fabbri was a restricted free agent. Fabbri signed a one-year, prove-it deal with the Blues, but his agent told general manager Doug Armstrong: if Fabbri wasn't going to be a regular in the lineup, the 23-year-old wanted a fresh start with a new team. Armstrong agreed, but asked Fabbri and his agent to be patient.

Fabbri, St. Louis' 2014 first-round pick, was a scratch for eight of the team's first 17 games. The Blues lost Vladimir Tarasenko for at least five months, and Fabbri still couldn't crack the regular lineup. When he got in, he was averaging less than 10 minutes per game. So one month into the season, Fabbri and Armstrong met. This time, a trade felt imminent.

"It was tough, because I didn't know when it was going to happen, or where I was going to go," Fabbri said in a phone interview this week. "But I knew it was probably going it happen."

On Wednesday night in Edmonton, Fabbri was sitting in the press box yet again, his fifth-straight game as a healthy scratch. That's when Armstrong delivered the news. Fabbri was heading from the defending Stanley Cup champs to the Detroit Red Wings ... the worst team in the league (the Red Wings had lost 12 of 13 games, and had been outscored 57-12 in that span).

"I was just really excited for the opportunity to prove myself," Fabbri said.

The next day he was on a commercial flight to Detroit (via a connection in Toronto), and by Saturday, Fabbri was suiting up with his new team. What an impression he made.

Fabbri scored two goals -- both on the power play -- as the Red Wings defeated one of the NHL's best teams, the Boston Bruins, 4-2. Fabbri, named the game's No. 1 star, matched his goal total from 32 games in 2018-19 in just one night. He seemed to already have chemistry on the first power-play unit alongside Tyler Bertuzzi (with whom he played in junior with the OHL Guelph Storm) and Dylan Larkin (whom he got to know during their 2014 draft season).

Fabbri added that something else made the game extra special for him: His parents and girlfriend were in the crowd.

As Fabbri made the trip from Edmonton and got settled in with his new team, his girlfriend began packing up the apartment in St. Louis, and she drove his two french bulldogs up to Detroit. Like many just-traded players, Fabbri has to sort out some logistics. He's staying in a hotel right now, but the hotel doesn't allow dogs. "So I obviously have to figure that out," he said.

Fabbri knows goals (and wins) will be harder to come by in Detroit this season (though they got another W on Sunday against the Golden Knights). The Red Wings are in the middle of a rebuild, and new GM Steve Yzerman has been careful to assign a timeline on when he expects the team to start contending again. Entering the Boston game, the Red Wings had lost four straight games by at least four goals.

Yzerman clearly knew his team needed more talent. The Fabbri acquisition was Yzerman's second low-risk, high-ceiling trade in as many weeks. The other -- getting Brendan Perlini from Chicago -- followed a nearly identical mold: Perlini was also a first-round pick from the 2014 draft who had yet to fully realize his NHL potential. When Perlini couldn't crack the Blackhawks' regular lineup, he, too, asked for a trade. Yzerman's other trade in his tenure as Red Wings GM is snagging Adam Erne (a 2013 second-round pick) from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Erne, Perlini and Fabbri are all 23 or 24 -- the same age as Detroit's young core -- and all become restricted free agents this coming summer, meaning there's minimal commitment if things don't work out.

Fabbri's career with the Blues was initially promising. He scored 18 goals as a rookie in 2015-16 (with 15 more points in 20 playoff games) and 11 goals in 51 games in 2016-17. Since then, he has been sidetracked by two ACL surgeries to his left knee that cost him nearly three crucial years of development. Any injured player will say one of the worst parts of rehab is being isolated from teammates, and for Fabbri, the second one was especially unique because he chose to rehab at home in Toronto. "It definitely had benefits like being close to my family, but it was hard to be away from the guys," he said.

Fabbri made it back for last season, in which he had a limited role and played in 10 games during the Blues' Stanley Cup run. He got a ring and got to cherish the experience with teammates, but he was also ready for the next chapter, in which he could start to find some individual success as well. Asked what he's most proud of in his career to this date, Fabbri said: "Honestly, just coming back to playing in the NHL after what I went through."

Jump ahead:
Emptying the notebook | What we liked this week
Three stars of the week | Biggest games coming up

Emptying the notebook

The buzziest word in the NBA right now? Load management. On Sunday, I asked Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman if we'd ever see something similar in the NHL. "There's a lot of logic to it," Bowman said. "But culturally, I don't know if it's ever going to happen. I've talked to players before -- usually more toward the end of the year, not so much the last couple years, but when we were clinching playoff spots early -- and players just don't want to do it. It's just a part of the culture; they don't ever want to miss a game. So even though it would be better for them, and better for the team ... I don't know if we'd get there. Things do change, and I think we're seeing some of the traditions, like morning skates are being limited around the league. If you would have told me that five years ago, I would have said that's never going to change. Goalies are not playing 65 to 70 games anymore. But when it comes to [load management], I think it probably would be better for the sport, but then you get the other side where there's a lot of criticism, like how could you have this many players miss this many games? So I don't think it's going to hit hockey for at least a little bit."

The Blackhawks obviously haven't had the start they wanted, five points out of a playoff spot entering Monday's games. "I thought we would have had a better start than we've had," Bowman said. "We need to get ourselves going." The Blackhawks are turning to the kids (Kirby Dach and Adam Boqvist) to help, and I'll have more on that in a column later this week. One of the areas Bowman wants to see improved: the power play, which is ranked No. 24 in the league at 14.5 percent. "That set us back in the month of October," Bowman said. "We were so good for a couple months last year, it was almost automatic. And then this year, there's no reason it shouldn't be automatic again, but it doesn't always work the way it did. So we gave it a long time to work itself out, and finally we changed it up. We have two units now, and I like the way it's looking. But if there's one thing that's been the disappointment, it's probably been that, because all of those close games where we got one point or we got zero points, if we had a good power play, we'd probably have a much different record right now."

A touchy word in Vancouver? Sophomore slump. Brock Boeser became upset earlier this season when he started to hear chatter about Elias Pettersson potentially taking a step back this season. Pettersson scored only three goals in his first 10 games (after scoring 10 goals in the same span as a rookie). The 20-year-old recorded 11 points in that span -- with all of his eight assists being primary assists. "People are absurd if they say Petey is having a slump," Boeser said. "I think in Vancouver they started to think that, I started to hear a little of it, which is insane to me. He's doing so well. Yeah, he scored 10 goals in his first 10 games of his NHL career, but people out there just base stuff off of that. You can't have those expectations. He's going to score. And now that we have [J.T.] Miller on that line, he doesn't need to score as much. He's just setting us up. He's having a tremendous year."

Despite losing four straight games, the Canucks are sitting pretty in a playoff spot, and the play of Boeser and Pettersson are big reasons why (as is special teams, as they rank top 10 in the league in power plays and penalty kills). Defenseman Chris Tanev was particularly effusive about Pettersson: "Every night he's out there he does something that surprises you and impress you at the same time. Every game he'll do something -- beat a D-man, toe-drag someone, make the goalie go into the corner and then score -- he's an incredible player, he's super smart. He's very creative, he's always trying new things. Maybe that's why he's hasn't hit [the sophomore slump], because you don't really know what he's going to do out there."

Last thing on the Canucks: When I talked to Boeser in Chicago, Vancouver had won nine of its first 15 games. The biggest change he saw from last season? "Our work ethic," Boeser said. "We show up every night to the rink, and we're ready to play each and every game. Last year we'd have games where we'd play that way, then we'd have some games where we'd show up and we wouldn't play that way. So we weren't as consistent. So far we have that consistency right now." The Canucks have since lost four straight, including a 2-1 loss to New Jersey on Sunday. So it will be interesting to remember these comments and see how Vancouver responds.

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't found a consistent stride yet this season, but they also haven't had a full lineup. Just when they got one $11 million man back this week (John Tavares), they lose another. Mitch Marner is expected to miss approximately four weeks with an ankle injury. Coach Mike Babcock tried to play a spin zone on Sunday, telling reporters in Chicago that absences can improve their team because "guys are playing a lot more, in a lot more situations than they would. ... So guys get opportunity and when you make good on it, you earn confidence and you get to be a better player. So a good opportunity for us that way." But the loss of Marner isn't insignificant. The 22-year-old is second on the team in points (18) and first in assists (14). He plays on both the power play and penalty kill. "I thought our best line last year was Tavares, [Zach] Hyman and Marner. They haven't played together this year," Babcock said. "They'll play together at some point."

Three Stars of the Week

Jean-Gabriel Pageau, C, Ottawa Senators

Hey, the Senators won three of four this week! Pageau had a whopping five goals in those games, including the overtime winner against the Kings on Thursday.

Bryan Rust, RW, Pittsburgh Penguins

After starting the season on injured reserve, Rust is back -- and producing like crazy. The 27-year-old had four goals in three games, including a monster performance against the Islanders in which he scored a third-period tally and the game-winner in overtime.

Cale Makar, D, Colorado Avalanche

The rookie defenseman had six points in three games this week, including his first career two-goal game, against the Blue Jackets. They grow up so fast

What we liked this week

• Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby does a lot for the community behind the scenes that we rarely see. This story did come to light, and I'm glad it did. Crosby learned about Madeline Malizio, an Army specialist and 28-year-old single mother. Malizio doesn't own a car and rode the bus to school, work and to bring her 3-year-old son to daycare. So this week, Crosby gifted her the Honda Passport Elite he won for earning MVP at last year's NHL All Star game:

A TRUE ROLE MODEL: Pittsburgh #Penguins captain Sidney Crosby gave the car he won as part of his NHL All-Star Game MVP honors to a veteran as a salute to service this Veteran's Day weekend. https://t.co/LuQdOXTplY #LetsGoPens #Veterans #VeteransDay pic.twitter.com/AGGiiTc95w

— KDKA (@KDKA) November 8, 2019

• Ryan Straschnitzki was one of 13 Humboldt Broncos players injured in the 2018 bus crash. The 20-year-old was paralyzed from the chest down. He received experimental spinal surgery in Thailand and, according to the CBC, it was a success as Straschnitzki "began moving his legs" while "nearly kicking his therapist and asking if he could hit the gym." Best of luck with his recovery.

• Not only is Andrei Svechnikov scoring the sickest goals in all of the hockey land, but he's spreading the wealth. The 19-year-old was spotted at Hurricanes practice teaching his teammates some moves:

Course: How to Michigan 101

Professor: A. Svechnikov

Enrolled: M. Necas , W. Foegele pic.twitter.com/SyCzAsg5bE

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) November 6, 2019

• Remember last year how the Hurricanes took Don Cherry's "Bunch of Jerks" comment and turned it into a rallying cry? And they also printed it on merchandise and sold a boatload of T-shirts? It seems like the Coyotes are onto something similar. Sportsnet columnist Mark Spector published a column in which he ripped the Coyotes for their "boring style of play." "If boring worked, would Arizona be the NHL's welfare state, drawing on the league's revenue-sharing program since the day after they left Winnipeg?" Spector wrote. That drew the ire of Coyotes team president Ahron Cohen, who told the Arizona Republic: "We're not going to get in the business of responding to every negative story or tweet, but with this you have a misinformed story from a Canadian journalist that doesn't bother to look at all the positivity we've built in this Arizona community." And the Yotes aren't letting up. Check out their new Twitter bio, too: "This is where you come for boring hockey updates."

• Montreal Canadiens fans haven't always been the biggest fans of Zdeno Chara (the 2011 hit on Max Pacioretty, which left the then-Canadiens forward with a severe concussion and fractured vertebrae is a big reason why). But that hit is not who Chara is. And so it was neat to see the Bell Centre crowd give Chara a standing ovation for playing in his 1,500th career game:

Zdeno Chara gets a standing ovation in ... Montreal?

A nice moment at the Bell Centre. pic.twitter.com/YBVNkMaxOf

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) November 6, 2019

What we didn't like this week

Monday is Remembrance Day in Canada, which honors those in the armed forces who have passed away. And how did Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry choose to celebrate it? With a totally unprovoked rant that insulted immigrants because Cherry perceives ingratitude on their part.

"I live in Mississauga," Cherry said during his regular Saturday segment. "Very few people wear the poppy. Downtown Toronto, forget it. Nobody wears the poppy. Now you go to the small cities. You people ... that come here, whatever it is -- you love our way of life. You love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys paid the biggest price for that."

Sportsnet put out a statement denouncing Cherry's comments and apologizing. Cherry's co-host, Ron McLean, offered this when he was back on air Sunday evening: "Don Cherry made remarks which were hurtful, discriminatory, which were flat out wrong. ... I owe you an apology, too. I sat there, did not catch it, did not respond."

The NHL condemned Cherry in a written statement, which I must say surprised me. Hockey Canada put out something similar. Politicians across Canada chimed in, including Toronto Mayor John Tory, who called the comments "unfair and just plain wrong," then suggested Cherry visit Old City Hall on Remembrance Day to "see thousands of Canadians of all ages, nationalities, faiths and backgrounds."

Do you know who we haven't heard from in all of this? The 85-year-old Cherry. I'm not here to pile on, but I do find it disappointing that these comments can be made with no consequence. Cherry has a platform, which is a privilege. He has used it to spew hatred and promote divisiveness. That's not what this sport -- and certainly not this world -- needs right now.

Games of the week

Tuesday, Nov. 12: Edmonton Oilers at San Jose Sharks (ESPN+)

What's more shocking: that the Oilers have the best record in the Pacific Division or that the San Jose Sharks have the second-worst? A battle of early-season surprises.

Wednesday, Nov. 13: Toronto Maple Leafs at New York Islanders

Who doesn't love a good revenge game? Let's see how the fans at the Coliseum treat John Tavares this time around.

Saturday, Nov. 16: Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins (ESPN+)

Both of these teams have been playing like Stanley Cup contenders. This one should provide some fireworks.

Quote of the week

"People talk a lot about last year, but I played for arguably the worst defensive team in the league for three years in Buffalo, so it's nothing new."

-- The always blunt Blackhawks goalie Robin Lehner, who has gone from playing behind the Islanders (one of the NHL's stoutest defenses) to facing 50-plus shots in two of his 10 outings so far this season with Chicago.

Twin half-centuries in the first two T20Is in Australia helped Babar Azam consolidate his position at the top of the men's T20I rankings for batsmen. There was major movement just below him with Dawid Malan moving up all the way to No. 3 and Aaron Finch jumping from No. 4 to No. 2 in the latest update.

Among bowlers, Deepak Chahar was the toast of town after recording the best figures in men's T20Is - 6 for 7 - in the third T20I against Bangladesh, and while that helped him move up 88 spots to No. 42, it remains a list dominated by spinners: Rashid Khan is still at the top and only two quicks, Andile Phehlukwayo at six and Chris Jordan at ten, are in the top ten.

Malan has made a brilliant start to his T20I career, scoring 458 runs at a strike rate of 156.31 in his nine games to date, with the 51-ball 103* in the fourth T20I against New Zealand his best so far. But Malan, and Finch - 37*, 17 and 52* against Pakistan - remain well behind Azam, who has 876 points to the Australian's 807 and the Englishman's 782. Below them in the top ten are Colin Munro, Glenn Maxwell, Hazratullah Zazai, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Martin Guptill and Eoin Morgan.

Chahar's upward movement, or the performance of the other bowlers in that series, haven't impacted the top of that list, with Mitchell Santner, Imad Wasim, Adam Zampa and Shadab Khan below Rashid and ahead of Phehlukwayo, and Adil Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ashton Agar also in the top ten. Santner, who picked up 11 wickets in New Zealand's series of five matches against England, has reached the second place for the first time since climbing to the top in January 2018.

The update includes the recent men's T20 World Cup qualifiers, and his 12 wickets in the competition has lifted Scotland left-arm spinner Mark Watt 13 spots to No. 15. Among batsmen, Papua New Guinea's Tony Ura has moved up to No. 37, one spot above Jonny Bairstow and Mohammad Naim, the Bangladesh batsman who made a name for himself after hitting a quick 81 in the last game against India. Also within the top 50 were Scotland's Calum MacLeod (No. 44), UAE's Muhammad Usman (No. 45) and Oman's Jatinder Singh (No. 46).

With Glenn Maxwell having taken an indefinite break from the game, Mohammad Nabi has moved to the top of the allrounders' rankings, while in a big development, Oman's Zeeshan Maqsood has jumped to No. 6.

In the team rankings, Pakistan's 2-0 series loss in Australia hasn't cost them the No. 1 spot, but the difference between the two sides has been trimmed to just one point.

England batsman Jonny Bairstow has been reprimanded and given one demerit point by the ICC after being found guilty of "use of an audible obscenity during an international match".

The Level 1 offence was levelled at Bairstow by the match officials after England's fifth T20I against New Zealand in Auckland. Bairstow was picked up by the television broadcast swearing loudly after his dismissal by Jimmy Neesham. His 18-ball 47 had kept his side in contention to win the deciding match, and Bairstow subsequently went out to bat in the Super Over as England clinched the series.

Bairstow currently has two demerit points on his record, having previously received a reprimand for swinging his bat at the stumps on being dismissed during an ODI against Pakistan in May. Accruing four during any two-year period leads to an automatic suspension.

Pakistanis 3 for 336 (Babar 157*, Shafiq 119*) v Australia A

Pakistan's sublimely talented Babar Azam belied an infamously poor 50s to 100s conversion rate by gliding to a masterful century against Australia A in a high quality tour contest under lights at Perth Stadium.

In a fixture billed as a selection trial for six Australian batsmen duelling for two spots in the Test top six, a successful call at the toss allowed the tourists first use of a Perth surface that proved more docile than the pitch prepared for last year's Test against India.

This combined with a pink Kookaburra ball that lost its hardness through the middle of the day to allow Azam and Asad Shafiq the chance to get themselves into Test match rhythm after a horrid Twenty20 series that should have finished 3-0 to Australia. Their unbeaten stand was worth 276 by the close, frustrating the aspiring Test batsmen opposed to them but also heartening the touring party.

Azam made a typically effervescent start after the Pakistanis had slipped to 3 for 60 before lunch, but in contrast to so many of his first-class and Test innings he knuckled down after the early flurry to turn an attractive cameo into a truly substantial score. Shafiq proved the ideal partner, as the pair pushed through into the evening, floodlit session and successfully negotiated the second new ball despite some nifty late swing from Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser.

Helping Pakistan was the fact that the Australia A attack operated in two distinct halves. Richardson and Neser worked away tidily in the fashion of seasoned red ball bowlers, whereas Riley Meredith - albeit with an early spell that reaped two wickets for his raw pace - Sean Abbott and Travis Head were notably expensive.

The inability of the hosts to apply consistent scoreboard pressure across the day, in conditions where blasting the opposition out was proven to be an unsustainable approach, will provide food for the thinking of the Australian selectors Trevor Hohns and Justin Langer.

A more fire and brimstone day for the touring batsmen had looked briefly in the offing on a warm Perth afternoon, in scenes spookily reminiscent of Pakistan's home away from home for much of the past decade, the similarly cavernous and often uninhabited Dubai International Stadium.

Shan Masood was dropped in the slips by Marcus Harris off Neser in the day's third over, though the Queenslander did not have long to wait for a victim as the touring captain Azhar Ali shuffled across and was deemed lbw to a delivery that may have gone on to hit leg stump.

Meredith's entry to the match, having seen his cause aggressively pursued by Shane Warne among others, brought plenty of speed but not much control. The wild variety was enough to bewitch Haris Sohail into vague prod wide of the off stump for an edge through to the Australia A captain Alex Carey. Then, there was undoubted venom to the bouncer that trapped Masood on glove or bat handle from around the wicket for a gently lobbed catch to Abbott running in from point.

But Azam and Shafiq were more difficult to intimidate, cuffing no fewer than 37 boundaries between them in a partnership that endured all the way through to lunch, then tea, then stumps. Twenty-four of them raced from Babar's blade, in a demonstration of class that will not have been lost on Langer, the Test captain Tim Paine nor Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. As for Shafiq, this was an innings to remind all present and a few absent of his heroics at the Gabba four years ago - an encore now looks plausible.

Three weeks down, three different No. 1 teams.

In this edition, it's the Los Angeles Lakers who, despite seeing their seven-game win streak snap Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors, climb to the top, thanks to a 1-3 week by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Throughout the regular season, our panel (ESPN's Tim MacMahon, Andre' Snellings, Royce Young and Bobby Marks, and The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears) is ranking all 30 teams from top to bottom, taking stock of which teams are playing the best basketball and which teams are looking most like title contenders.

Previous rankings: Week 3 | 2 | 1 | Training camp | Free agency | Post-Finals

1. Los Angeles Lakers
Record: 7-2
Week 3 ranking: 2

Kyle Kuzma's play has been up and down since his return to action after he missed the start of the season because of a foot injury. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 9.0 points on 37.5% shooting from the field and 13% shooting from 3-point range entering Sunday's loss to Toronto. But he showed the makings of a breakthrough with 15 points -- his second game scoring in double digits -- five rebounds and three 3-pointers against the Raptors. The defeat was L.A.'s first since opening night against the Clippers. -- Spears

This week: @PHX, GS, SAC, ATL

2. LA Clippers
Record: 6-3
Week 3 ranking: 3

Load management dominated the conversation around the Clippers this week and prevented a real look at what a Bucks-Clippers Finals might look like, as Kawhi Leonard sat. He played a night later, scoring 18 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter to ice Portland. Blazers coach Terry Stotts had the appropriate response: "He looked well-rested." The expectation is that Paul George will return this week, which means that when the Clippers decide to rest Leonard again, there'll have an available star. It also means we'll finally see how this team looks when fully operational. -- Young

This week: TOR, @HOU, @NO, ATL

3. Milwaukee Bucks
Record: 7-3
Week 3 ranking: 4

The Bucks continue to play well but not flawlessly, beating a Kawhi-less Clippers team on the road but losing on a buzzer-beater to the Jazz in Salt Lake City. Their defense is rounding into form, though, allowing opponents to shoot only 41.8% from the field (fifth in the league). The defensive unit is led by Giannis Antetokounmpo (top three in defensive rebounds per game), as expected, with strong contributions from Brook Lopez (top 10 in blocks per game). -- Snellings

This week: CHI, @IND

4. Boston Celtics
Record: 7-1
Week 3 ranking: 5

The Celtics' seven-game win streak is a side note compared to Gordon Hayward's fracturing his hand in a win against San Antonio on Saturday. Heading into the Spurs game, Hayward was having an All-Star-type season, averaging 20.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists on 56.4% from the field and 44.4% from deep. With Hayward out, head coach Brad Stevens will likely insert Marcus Smart into the starting lineup and rely on 26-year-old Javonte Green coming off the bench. Green had six points in 13 minutes after Hayward left the game with his injury. -- Marks

This week: DAL, WSH, @GS, @SAC

5. Utah Jazz
Record: 6-3
Week 3 ranking: 6

Bojan Bogdanovic's four-year, $73 million contract looks like a bargain for the Jazz so far. He has averaged 21.8 points in his first eight games for Utah -- sitting out a loss to the Lakers because of a sore ankle -- in extremely efficient fashion. He's a field goal shy of the exclusive 50/40/90 territory. He's shooting 45.5% from 3-point range, including the buzzer-beater from the corner that beat the Bucks and put the exclamation point on his 33-point performance. -- MacMahon

This week: @GS, BKN, @MEM

6. Denver Nuggets
Record: 7-2
Week 3 ranking: 7

Despite a solid start to the season as expected, the Nuggets aren't exactly acing the eye test. They won in overtime but went scoreless in the final 6:23 of the fourth quarter on Sunday, blowing a 16-point lead. Nikola Jokic hasn't consistently played like himself (despite his hitting a couple of game winners this week), and as a team, the Nuggets are struggling to make shots (27th in true shooting percentage). All that aside, they're 7-2, and they put away wins against Miami, Philly and Minnesota this week. If this is "bad," then the Nuggets are very good. -- Young

This week: ATL, BKN, @MEM

7. Toronto Raptors
Record: 7-2
Week 3 ranking: 10

The Raptors remain one of the best teams in the NBA this season, even with Kawhi Leonard playing for the Clippers, with their only losses coming on the road against the Celtics and Bucks. The Raptors have arguably the best defense in the NBA, and with Pascal Siakam continuing to flirt with averages of 30 and 10 through three weeks, they still have an MVP candidate as their foundation. Their depth will be tested in upcoming weeks, though, with Kyle Lowry dealing with a fractured thumb. -- Snellings

This week: @LAC, @POR, @DAL

8. Philadelphia 76ers
Record: 6-3
Week 3 ranking: 1

After starting the season 5-0, Philadelphia dropped three straight -- to Phoenix, Utah and Denver -- before getting back in the win column against Charlotte. Although we can point to the Joel Embiid suspension in the loss to the Suns and the Ben Simmons shoulder injury suffered in the Utah game (that caused him to miss the Denver game as well), there are many reasons for the mini slide. In the loss to the Nuggets, the 76ers' offense became stagnant, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter and getting outscored by 22. Much of that failure was a result of the 76ers' relying on the 3-ball instead of attacking the basket. The past week also reiterated the question heading into the season: Who is the closer? Embiid and Tobias Harris went a combined 1-for-8 in the fourth quarter against Denver. -- Marks

This week: CLE, @ORL, @OKC, @CLE

9. Miami Heat
Record: 6-3
Week 3 ranking: 8

The Heat got reality checks in Denver and L.A. this week, but the bizarre situation with Dion Waiters is what people are paying attention to. The optics of those kinds of situations can swing based on if a team is winning or losing, and fortunately for the Heat, the week ahead is a favorable one: Pistons, Cavs, Pelicans. -- Young

This week: DET, @CLE, NO

10. Houston Rockets
Record: 6-3
Week 3 ranking: 11

A sore right shoulder was a factor in big man Clint Capela's slow start, hampering his ability to dunk hard with one hand and snatch rebounds. Capela told ESPN that he injured the shoulder playing for the Swiss national team over the summer and has been working to strengthen the muscles around it. "Getting better slowly," he said. He was much better the past two games, averaging 17.5 points, 18.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks in a pair of wins. -- MacMahon

This week: @NO, LAC, IND, @MIN

11. Dallas Mavericks
Record: 6-3
Week 3 ranking: 13

Luka Doncic has consistently played at an All-Star level so far this season. Kristaps Porzingis has been frustrated that he hasn't and admits that he has pressed at times. As disappointed as he was to lose to his former team, Porzingis was encouraged by his 28-point performance against the Knicks. "I just tried to relax out there," he said. "Be aggressive but be relaxed at the same time. I've been kind of overthinking a little bit, and that's when you don't make the best decisions." Porzingis will get another shot at his former team on Thursday when the Mavs visit MSG. -- MacMahon

This week: @BOS, @NY, TOR

12. Phoenix Suns
Record: 6-3
Week 3 ranking: 17

Suns head coach Monty Williams' 6-3 start matches the best start by a first-year coach in franchise history. Alvin Gentry, Terry Porter and Paul Westphal accomplished the same feat. The Suns were 2-7 through their first nine games last season. -- Spears

This week: LAL, ATL

13. San Antonio Spurs
Record: 5-4
Week 3 ranking: 9

LaMarcus Aldridge's inconsistency is an issue for the Spurs, who need him to perform like the All-Star he has been in seven of the past eight seasons. Aldridge has scored at least 20 points in four of San Antonio's five wins, including a 39-point performance Thursday against the Thunder. He has been held to single digits in three of the Spurs' four losses, including Saturday against the Celtics. Last season, the Spurs were 37-10 when Aldridge scored at least 20 and 11-24 in the rest of their games. -- MacMahon

This week: MEM, @MIN, @ORL, POR

14. Indiana Pacers
Record: 6-4
Week 3 ranking: 16

The Pacers have found their stride after a slow start, despite a spate of injuries that have Myles Turner, Jeremy Lamb and Goga Bitadze joining All-Star Victor Oladipo on the bench. Domantas Sabonis has been a catalyst for the strong play of late -- despite also missing two contests because of injury -- averaging 19.6 points, 14.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists in his past five games. -- Snellings

This week: OKC, @HOU, MIL

15. Brooklyn Nets
Record: 4-5
Week 3 ranking: 15

We are only three weeks into the season, and the identity of the Nets' offense has been established: high-percentage shots at the rim or beyond the 3-point arc. In Brooklyn's two wins this week, against New Orleans and Portland, 143 of the 191 field goal attempts were either within 5 feet or from long range. The Nets' offense that finished last season ranked 19th in offensive rating now ranks seventh. Much of that of course has to do with the play of Kyrie Irving, who is No. 3 in points per game (30.0), including a career high of 6.4 free throw attempts. -- Marks

This week: @UTAH, @DEN, @CHI

16. Minnesota Timberwolves
Record: 5-4
Week 3 ranking: 12

The Timberwolves were thumped by the Bucks in the second game of Karl-Anthony Towns' suspension and were ambushed by the Grizzlies in his first game back. They came back to win an overtime thriller over the Warriors on Friday, led by 40 points from the quietly streaking Andrew Wiggins, but failed to complete a late comeback against the Nuggets on Sunday. Wiggins is averaging 24.6 points through the first nine games of the season, which is on pace for a career high and huge bounce back after his disappointing efforts the past two seasons. -- Snellings

This week: @DET, SA, WSH, HOU

17. Portland Trail Blazers
Record: 4-6
Week 3 ranking: 14

It might be justifiable because of injuries, but the Blazers have been in a rut (not even 60 from Damian Lillard could cement a win Friday). Although it's November and only game No. 10, their Sunday night overtime win against the Hawks felt significant. It snapped a four-game losing streak, which is key in the hyper-competitive West in which falling too far behind means falling out altogether. The Blazers are a team ripe to make a move, and they might need it sooner than later. -- Young

This week: @SAC, TOR, @SA

18. Oklahoma City Thunder
Record: 4-6
Week 3 ranking: 21

Before the season, there was strong belief within the Thunder organization that this team might be better than some thought. Through 10 games, their record might be about what was expected, but it's an extremely competitive group. A few bounces here, a few breaks there, and the Thunder would be on the other side of .500. They've lost five of their six games by five points or fewer and have had a chance to win all of them in the final minutes. With one of the tougher opening schedules in the league, if the Thunder can hang in there, they might start winning some of the close ones. -- Young

This week: @IND, PHI

19. Atlanta Hawks
Record: 3-6
Week 3 ranking: 18

Newcomer Jabari Parker has helped ease the loss of forward John Collins following his 25-game suspension for a positive drug test. Parker had season highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds in an overtime loss to Portland on Sunday. The journeyman has averaged 23.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in his past three games. -- Spears

This week: @DEN, @PHX, @LAC, @LAL

20. Detroit Pistons
Record: 4-6
Week 3 ranking: 20

The Pistons have split their past four games, winning both home contests but losing twice on the road. They have been treading water with Blake Griffin injured, but the All-Star forward is expected to make his season debut on Monday against the Timberwolves and should give the entire team a boost. Derrick Rose has also missed the past four games after starting the season strong, but the former MVP returned to practice Sunday and could be rejoining the team this week as well. -- Snellings

This week: MIN, @MIA, @CHA

21. Orlando Magic
Record: 3-7
Week 3 ranking: 19

The Magic have dropped five of six, with their lone win coming as a home blowout of the Grizzlies on Friday. Orlando's bright spot during this stretch was third-year forward Jonathan Isaac, who is starting to live up to his sixth overall pick status from two years ago. Since the calendar flipped to November, no player has more blocks per game than Isaac's 3.2. -- Snellings

This week: PHI, SA, WSH

22. Charlotte Hornets
Record: 4-6
Week 3 ranking: 22

It's a three-week sample, but backup guard Devonte' Graham has already put his name near the top of the list for the Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved awards. In four games last week, Graham averaged 23.3 points, including a career-high 35 in a comeback win against Indiana. -- Marks

This week: MEM, DET, @NY

23. Cleveland Cavaliers
Record: 4-5
Week 3 ranking: 25

After losing three straight games, Cleveland recorded back-to-back double-digit road wins against the Wizards and Knicks. One sign of growth has been the team's ability to take care of the ball. In three games this week, Cleveland's young backcourt of Collin Sexton and Darius Garland combined for only 10 turnovers. This season, the Cavaliers are fourth in fewest turnovers per game. -- Marks

This week: @PHI, MIA, PHI

24. Sacramento Kings
Record: 3-6
Week 3 ranking: 28

The Kings are finally shaking off their slow start to the season by winning three of their past four games, including two on the road. What's the difference? Sacramento allowed only 101 in three recent wins, including 92 at New York. Big man Harry Giles also made his season debut on Saturday at Atlanta, scoring four points after being sidelined by a sore left knee. -- Spears

This week: POR, @LAL, BOS

25. Chicago Bulls
Record: 3-7
Week 3 ranking: 23

The Bulls have made 31% of their 3-pointers so far this season to rank fifth-worst in the league. Chicago also missed 28 of 32 3-point attempts in a loss to Houston on Saturday. Head coach Jim Boylen, however, wants his Bulls to keep shooting from deep. -- Spears

This week: NY, @MIL, BKN

26. New Orleans Pelicans
Record: 2-7
Week 3 ranking: 24

Brandon Ingram is having a breakout offensive season, averaging 25.9 points per game while shooting 53.7% from the floor and 46.9% from 3-point range. The Pelicans, who rank second-to-last in the league in defensive rating, have bled points with Ingram on the floor. The Pelicans have allowed 117.6 points per 100 possessions in Ingram's 289 minutes, compared to 100.6 points per 100 possessions in 148 minutes without him. -- MacMahon

This week: HOU, LAC, @MIA, GS

27. Washington Wizards
Record: 2-6
Week 3 ranking: 26

There were positives early, with the Wizards looking to be a scrappy, semi-enjoyable, hard-playing group, but they have lost five of six, including the past two by double digits to the Pacers and Cavs. They are an absolute defensive apparition, 28th in the league in points allowed per 100 possessions. They were never expected to be good, but after last season, they need to at least be competitive while developing some young players. These are the season objectives: Get Rui Hachimura good, and keep Bradley Beal happy. -- Young

This week: @BOS, @MIN, @ORL

28. Golden State Warriors
Record: 2-8
Week 3 ranking: 27

The injury-plagued Warriors have used eight starting lineups this season -- Glenn Robinson III is the only player to start every game. There is some hope that Draymond Green (finger sprain) could be back soon. -- Spears

This week: UTAH, @LAL, BOS, @NO

29. Memphis Grizzlies
Record: 2-7
Week 3 ranking: 29

The Grizzlies are going to great lengths to protect prized rookie point guard Ja Morant. The 20-year-old sat out Saturday's loss to the Mavericks because the team opted to rest him on the second night of a back-to-back. Morant has played more than 30 minutes in a game only once, logging 32 minutes during his 30-point, nine-assist night in an overtime win over the Nets. -- MacMahon

This week: @SA, @CHA, UTAH, DEN

30. New York Knicks
Record: 2-8
Week 3 ranking: 30

The win Friday at Dallas was thought to be the turning point of the season. Instead, the one-game winning streak led to an embarrassing 21-point loss to Cleveland two nights later. After the loss to the Cavaliers, president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry took the rare step of addressing the media after the game. New York's 2-8 record comes with the league's second-worst point differential. -- Marks

This week: @CHI, DAL, CHA

Britain’s world trail champion takes on the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships at the end of a busy year

Most of the competitors in Saturday’s World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships will be running on relatively fresh legs powered by months of specific training. That certainly won’t be the case for Britain’s world trail running champion, Jonathan Albon.

The Norway-based runner has just completed a season of skyrunning, the last race of which was followed by three world-class obstacle course races (OCR) on the previous two weekends.

Recently Albon placed fourth in the Skymasters event in Limone, Italy, and finished third overall in the Migu Run Skyrunner World Series rankings. Doing so involved running, scrambling and climbing his way around 233km of the toughest terrain on the planet in five races over a six-month period.

“For the last five years my legs have always been a bit screwed … I’m always a bit tired,” said the runner who had won the OCR World Championships Short-Course the week before Limone. “With obstacle racing, it’s that pounding on your body. It’s really harsh.”

He added of the world mountain championships: “I’m sure most of the athletes would have trained all summer and autumn for that race and I’m coming off the back of a pretty hefty running season.”

Yet the man who only came into running when he entered an OCR at the age of 20 would have it no other way. He believes the variety boosts his running not only physically but also mentally.

“In the sense of race nerves, last weekend I was having to think about a set of obstacles, hypothermia, swimming, all this stuff that can go wrong,” said the 30-year-old, who last year was one race away from winning a $1million bonus in Spartan OCR.

“In skyrunning there is a lot more to think about with this in terms of a road marathon, but this is like one foot in front of the other, eat some gels, run as hard as I can, I’m going to finish. It’s a lot less to think about, so in that sense I’m more relaxed.”

When he doesn’t have monkey bars and mountains in his way, Albon is respectable on the roads too, with a 2:26 marathon in Bergen – with plenty of twists and turns and more than 500m of ascent – to his name.

He is intrigued to see if he could beat 2:20 on a good course but said: “I don’t think I could put myself through that restrictive training because I love to be out running and if [a coach] said, ‘you’re not allowed to run today because you have to run these intervals on the track tomorrow’, I don’t think I’d enjoy that.”

However, he admitted: “I’m not the absolute best in the world at any type of running, but I think I can do all types of running pretty good. So I think in a sport like skyrunning or obstacle racing I can get by and perform well because you need a wide range of skills.”

Talking of that road marathon, he will be on much more familiar ground when it comes to the global mountain event over 42km in Villa La Angostura, Argentina, on November 16. The course is a similar distance to that on which he took the world trail win in Portugal this year.

“I’ve heard it’s pretty runnable, especially at the beginning and it turns a bit more mountainous in the second half,” he said. “It’s
a really similar course to the trail world champs, I think. I went well there and let’s hope I can go well again.”

Under-fire Saracens have been dealt a new blow with the loss of injured Ralph Adams-Hale for the rest of the season.

The 22-year-old prop left the field on a stretcher after suffering an ankle injury in Saturday's win at Gloucester.

After undergoing initial surgery on Sunday, he will have a second operation "in the next couple of days".

Sarries' next match is this Sunday's trip to France to play Paris-based Racing 92 in the first group game of this season's European Champions Cup.

Saracens, who are in the midst of appealing against their 35-point deduction for Premiership salary cap offences, were still without most of their England Rugby World Cup contingent for Saturday's trip to Kingsholm.

But prop Mako Vunipola, as well as Owen Farrell, Jamie George, Maro Itoje, Elliot Daly, George Kruis and Billy Vunipola, may all be back in contention in Paris.

Jose Mourinho knows what it takes to win a Premier League title and believes Liverpool are as good as champions unless they suffer an injury curse later in the season.

The Portuguese was at Anfield on Sunday watching Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-1 to open up an eight-point gap over Leicester City and Chelsea and nine over reigning champions City.

"From my position, I think it's done unless something, something dramatic happens in terms of an injury situation that breaks the team," Mourinho, a three-times Premier League title winner with Chelsea, told Sky Sports on Sunday.

"I think this Liverpool team... it's adapted to the quality of the players and the puzzle is complete. City are capable of winning seven, eight, nine in a row, but I can't see how Liverpool can lose this advantage."

Former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany, part of the team that claimed back-to-back titles over the past two seasons, said there is a great deal to admire in Liverpool.

He added, however, that the Premier League is "geared for drama" and said it is not a done deal yet.

He believes Liverpool's schedule over the next five weeks could cause problems. They face 12 games in five weeks including the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.

"They have games all over the world," Kompany said. "City will be there until the end in my opinion."

Former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness said Liverpool are "odds on" to win their first title since 1990.

"What could go wrong? Injuries to key players," he told Sky Sports. "To be at their best they all have to be high energy. Injuries would hurt them. When you don't get much rest between matches you can get muscle injuries.

"This period is vital for them. I would suggest that might be an issue going forward."