MONTEREY, Calif. – It’s the first time in 15 years since the NTT IndyCar Series has competed at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, which means everyone starts from scratch.

That worked to rookie driver Colton Herta’s benefit as the 19-year-old driver ran the fastest lap in Thursday’s six hours of testing at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile natural terrain road course.

Herta’s No. 88 Harding Steinbrenner Honda turned 63 laps with a fast time of 1:10.0720 for a speed of 114.979 mph.

“I think there are only a handful of drivers like Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tony Kanaan that have ever raced here in an Indy car,” Herta told SPEED SPORT. “It’s like COTA, it helps that we are starting from Ground Zero. The circuit has changed, and the cars have changed and that helps a lot and helps from setup as well.

“It’s a place where nobody knows what to expect.”

Team Penske driver Will Power was second quick at 1:10.5383 (114.219 mph) in his No. 12 Chevrolet. Another rookie driver, Felix Rosenqvist, was third at 1:10.5896 (114.136 mph) in the No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Josef Newgarden, the NTT IndyCar Series points leader, was fourth at 1:10.6406 (114.054 mph) in the No. 2 Chevrolet followed by Graham Rahal’s Honda at 1:10.7709 (113.843 mph).

There were 1,629 laps turned in the test session. The morning session saw Alexander Rossi turn five laps in Ryan Hunter-Reay’s No. 28 Honda with Hunter-Reay turning seven laps in the No. 27 Honda to compare setups at Andretti Autosport. That has become a common tactic for this team at test sessions.

Because Thursday was a test session, the speeds count for real beginning Friday with practice for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. There are four drivers still mathematically alive in the battle for the NTT IndyCar Series championship.

Newgarden leads Rossi by 41, Simon Pagenaud by 42 and Scott Dixon by 85. This is one of two races on the schedule that pays double points, so a victory is worth 100 points instead of the typical 50.

Australian Lukas Michel rallied to win the U.S. Mid-Amateur final, 2 and 1, to punch his ticket to next year's Masters and U.S. Open.

The 25-year-old from Melbourne trailed Joe Deraney for much of the 36-hole final at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo., and Deraney held a 1-up advantage with just nine holes to play. But from there Michel turned the table, closing with birdies on four of his final eight holes. That included a birdie on No. 15, which gave him his first lead in 29 holes, and another on No. 16 to push his opponent to the brink.

Deraney, a 36-year-old stay-at-home dad from Tupelo, Miss., was 3-up after 23 holes but won only one hole the rest of the way.

Michel becomes the first international champion in the 39-year-old history of the U.S. Mid-Amateur, and he joins U.S. Women's Amateur champ Gabi Ruffels as Australians to win USGA events this summer. Michel's victory means he'll play in two majors next year, with a likely invite to his first Masters along with a spot in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, and will be exempt into the Mid-Amateur for the next 10 years.

The U.S. Mid-Amateur is open to all amateurs ages 25 and older who have a USGA handicap index of 3.4 or lower. Past champions include Jay Sigel, David Eger, Trip Kuehne, Nathan Smith (four times) and Stewart Hagestad.

Tom Hoge is not wasting any time in getting to work during the PGA Tour's new wraparound season.

Hoge finished 159th last season in the FedExCup race, necessitating a return to Korn Ferry Tour Finals to regain his playing privileges. But with his Tour card now reinstated, he finished second last week at The Greenbrier in the season's opening event.

The 30-year-old isn't slowing down this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he shot an 8-under 64 to take an early one-shot lead before opening-round play was suspended because of inclement weather.

"There was so much pressure there for a few weeks to play well and get back out here on the PGA Tour, so many great events to play in," Hoge told reporters. "Once you got that done, it frees you up a little bit. At the same time, you know you played well, so just kind of keep it rolling."

Hoge leads by one shot over Robert Streb, Cameron Percy and Seamus Power, all of whom completed their rounds before weather halted play at 3:46 p.m. ET. Among those returning to the course at 8 a.m. Friday to complete their rounds are J.T. Poston (5 under through eight holes), Bill Haas (4 under through eight), and Sungjae Im (4 under through nine).

Last week's winner, Joaquin Niemann, opened with a 4-under 68 and trails by four, while defending champ Cameron Champ is 1 under through eight holes. Teen sensation Akshay Bhatia, who is making his pro debut this week at age 17, is even after completing just four holes.

With the event typically played opposite other high-profile Tour stops including the WGC-HSBC Champions, this week the Sanderson Farms winner will earn a Masters invite for the first time in the FedExCup era.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady tweeted Thursday night that "ridiculous penalties" in the first half of the Tennessee Titans-Jacksonville Jaguars game led him to turn it off.

I'm turning off this game I can't watch these ridiculous penalties anymore #TENvsJAC

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) September 20, 2019

Too many penalties. Just let us play!!!! #TENvsJAC

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) September 20, 2019

There were 15 penalties in the first half called by referee Shawn Hochuli's crew, eight of which were for holding. There were 20 penalties in total for the game, including declined penalties. There were no flags thrown in the third quarter.

The Titans, who lost 20-7 to the Jaguars, were flagged 12 times, with 9 penalties being accepted. The 12 total penalties were their most since Week 5 of the 2017 season.

The NFL has had an increased emphasis on offensive holding this season. Entering Thursday night, the highest total of holding penalties in a game was 11, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

In Weeks 1-2, there were 178 flags for offensive holding, a 66% increase from the same time period last season. That spike powered a 16.2% increase in total penalties compared to Weeks 1-2 of last season, as well as a slight drop in scoring from 21.97 offensive points per game in 2018 to 20.9 in 2019.

Brady seldom makes waves on league issues and is often complimentary of officiating. His tweets were noted on the television broadcast, with analyst Troy Aikman saying: "Tom Brady is one of the least controversial people we have in our game. He is league loyalty. When he makes a statement like that, that should get somebody's attention."

Brady wasn't the only NFL player noting the officiating on social media, with New York Jets safety Jamal Adams among those referencing Brady's tweet.

Mood. https://t.co/ULDm8tUB8V

— Jamal Adams (@TheAdamsEra) September 20, 2019

Coincidentally, the Patriots and Jets play each other on Sunday.

Hochuli's crew threw more flags (306), including 79 for offensive holding, than any other crew in the 2018 season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

ESPN's Kevin Seifert contributed to this report.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Not only is Gardner Minshew II capably filling in for the injured Nick Foles, the rookie sixth-round pick is beginning to show that he might be able to carry the Jacksonville Jaguars' offense.

The Jaguars' run game was essentially nonexistent Thursday night against the Tennessee Titans, so it was all on Minshew, and he delivered with two touchdown passes and two other scoring drives to lead the Jaguars to a 20-7 victory at TIAA Bank Field.

Minshew completed 20 of 30 passes for 204 yards and wasn't intercepted. His only interception this season came when one of his passes bounced off Leonard Fournette's face mask in the season opener against Kansas City.

It was his first victory as a starting quarterback and the Jaguars' first victory of the season. And it came on a short week and with a massive distraction when cornerback Jalen Ramsey asked the team to trade him.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Titans, who embarrassed the Jaguars on national television last season.

Minshew threw both of his TD passes in the first quarter, making him just the second rookie to throw two TD passes in the first 10 minutes of a game in the past 10 seasons. The only other to do so was Tennessee's Marcus Mariota, who did it in his NFL debut in 2015.

Minshew has five touchdown passes to his one interception in three games. He's the second quarterback in franchise history to throw a TD pass in each of his first three games (Byron Leftwich did it in 2003).

Don Mattingly and the rebuilding Miami Marlins have agreed to a contract extension, a source told ESPN, confirming an El Extrabase report.

Mattingly will receive a two-year deal from the team, a source told ESPN's Jeff Passan, confirming an MLB Network report. An official announcement is expected Friday, when Miami opens a three-game series against the visiting Nationals before finishing the season on a seven-game road trip.

Mattingly initially signed a four-year contract with the Marlins prior to the 2016 season. He is a career 272-364 with the team.

The 58-year-old Mattingly will be the first to manage the Marlins for more than four seasons.

Under new part-owner/CEO Derek Jeter, the Marlins have been in rebuilding mode, trading away key pieces in recent seasons such as Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, J.T. Realmuto and Marcell Ozuna. They are an NL-worst 53-99 this season.

NEW YORK -- The resilient New York Yankees powered their way to the club's first American League East title since 2012, routing the Los Angeles Angels 9-1 on Thursday night behind three RBIs each from old mainstay Brett Gardner and newcomer DJ LeMahieu.

A day after wasting a chance to clinch first place, the homer-happy Yankees went ahead when LeMahieu hit a three-run drive in the second inning and breezed to their 100th win.

Gardner, among just two holdovers from their most recent World Series championship team in 2009, added a solo shot in the fourth and then hit a two-run double in the sixth. Cameron Maybin and Clint Frazier homered for good measure in the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman struck out Albert Pujols to end it as fans' cellphones flashed to record the moment.

Players lined up for handshakes and hugs, more exuberantly than usual, but there was no wild celebration on the field.

"We got a lot bigger fish to fry, but this is the first step along the way," manager Aaron Boone said. "Nothing has got in their way. Whatever has come adversity-wise, they faced it and powered right through it."

Despite putting 30 players on the injured list this season, New York (100-54) wrapped up first place with eight games to spare and made Aaron Boone the first manager to win 100 games in each of his first two major league seasons.

The Yankees open the playoffs on Oct. 4, likely against Minnesota, which leads the AL Central, or the wild-card winner.

Masahiro Tanaka (11-8), in line to start the opener, allowed Kole Calhoun's homer leading off the fourth. The Angels had just four hits in seven innings off Tanaka, who struck out six and walked one.

The win came hours after Domingo German, their top-winning pitcher at 18-4, was placed on administrative leave under Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy. His status for the postseason is uncertain.

New York's 19th AL East title was its first following a run of 13 in 17 years that started in Derek Jeter's rookie season. The Yankees, led by young stars Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres, will be making their 21st postseason appearance in 25 years and 55th overall -- 22 more than any other team.

And they will head to the October following their 21st 100-win season, their first in back-to-back years since 2002-04.

New York moved into sole possession of the lead for good on June 15 with the start of an eight-game winning streak, beginning a spurt of 13 victories in 14 games that ended the month. The Yankees led by 6½ games at the All-Star Game, won seven of their first nine after the break and have led by seven to 11½ games since. And they achieved their success despite so many players landing on the injured list, the most in the major leagues since at least 2004.

"Everybody's done a great job of stepping up when they're needed," Gardner said.

After Wednesday's 3-2 loss, the Yankees waited in their clubhouse for three hours until just before 1 a.m., hoping second-place Tampa Bay would lose at Los Angeles and ensure the division title for New York. But the Rays rallied in the ninth and defeated the Dodgers in 11 innings.

"It was probably actually a good little team building, bonding, one of those times you enjoy being together," Boone said,

Protective plastic remained overnight wrapping the six large-screen televisions in the Yankees' clubhouse, a sign that the bubbly and beer celebration was not too far off. Moments after the final out, the spraying started.

A few minutes later, many players headed back to the field for team pictures.

LeMahieu's homer, which followed a rare infield hit by slow-legged catcher Austin Romine with two outs, landed about three rows over the scoreboard in right-center, giving him career bests of 25 homers and 97 RBIs in his first season with the Yankees. Gardner also set career highs for homers (26) and RBIs (69), and New York extended its team record with 292 long balls.

LeMahieu was the fourth Yankee to reach the 25-homer mark this season, joining Gardner, Gleyber Torres (38) and Gary Sanchez (34). It's the fifth season in franchise history, and second straight, that at least four players hit 25.

In his second game back from an injury layoff of nearly three months, Giancarlo Stanton was 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts as a designated hitter.

Andrew Heaney (4-6) gave up six runs and five hits in five-plus innings pitched for the Angels.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Let's be direct here: This shouldn't happen at the major league level. One team should not go 18-1 against another. It feels almost impossible in a sport where the spread between the best winning percentages and worst winning percentages is not as large as in the NBA or the NFL. Bad teams beat good teams all the time. It's the nature of baseball.

But it happened. The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers 7-0 on Thursday, finishing the season series with an 18-1 record against Detroit. That had never happened before. Since the majors split into divisions in 1969, no team had defeated an opponent 18 times. Since the format of 19 games against division opponents began in 2001, the best record had been 17-2 (including the Yankees against the Orioles this season).

Of course, the Tigers aren't exactly the 1998 Yankees:

The 1998 Yankees, perhaps the best team ever, had a run differential of +309.
The 2019 Tigers have a run differential of -306.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) September 20, 2019

Still, how does a team go 18-1? Let's find out with a quick game-by-game recap!

April 9 at Detroit: Indians 8, Tigers 2

It seems so long ago when Leonys Martin and Brad Miller were on the Indians. It's OK if you don't recall those halcyon days of April and May. Indians fans probably don't remember them either. They hit two of the club's four home runs.

April 10 at Detroit: Tigers 4, Indians 1

This was it. The victory. Matthew Boyd allowed one run in six inning, Niko Goodrum and John Hicks homered off Trevor Bauer, the Tigers made no errors and the Tigers were 8-4 and in first place, half a game ahead of the Indians.

April 11 at Detroit: Indians 4, Tigers 0

Shane Bieber won his first game of the season, tossing seven shutout frames and allowing three hits. Martin doubled and homered - on his way to a .199 average for Cleveland.

June 14 at Detroit: Indians 13, Tigers 4

The Tigers allowed 17 hits, walked five batters, allowed six unearned runs and struck out 10 times. Not a good night at the ballyard.

June 15 at Detroit: Indians 4, Tigers 2

Too much Bieber again. He fanned 12 in 7.2 innings.

June 16 at Detroit: Indians 8, Tigers 0

Bauer throws the four-hit shutout. Tigers pitchers surrender 14 hits and six walks. Are you getting the idea Detroit's offense may be on the weak side?

June 21 at Cleveland: Indians 7, Tigers 6

Game tied in the bottom of the eighth, Jose Ramirez singled on a dribbler down the line to start the winning rally. Jason Kipnis hit what the umpires ruled was a home run, but replay overturned the call and Kipnis instead had a triple. He scored anyway on a sac fly. In the top of the ninth, JaCoby Jones doubled to lead off and Christin Stewart singled him home. Then this happened:

Tigers lose 7-6.

June 22 at Cleveland: Indians 2, Tigers 0

If you're going to make your major league debut, the 2019 Tigers were a pretty good team to make it against. Aaron Civale allows two hits in six scoreless innings.

June 23 at Cleveland: Indians 8, Tigers 3

The Indians tag Daniel Norris for six hits and five runs in the second inning and Zach Plesac allows one run in seven innings

July 15 at Cleveland: Indians 8, Tigers 6

The Tigers hit four home runs! But the Indians bang out 14 hits - including two home runs by Oscar Mercado, the second one breaking a 5-5 tie after a rain delay:

July 16 at Cleveland: Indians 8, Tigers 0

If you're counting, this is four shutouts in 11 games. Four pitchers combined for the one-hitter.

July 17 at Cleveland: Indians 7, Tigers 2

Mike Clevinger fans 12 in six innings as the Indians staff combines for 17.

July 18 at Cleveland: Indians 6, Tigers 3

This would turn out to be Bauer's final home game in an Indians uniform. He fans 10 and Brad Hand strikes out as the Indians get 14 K's - that's 31 over two games. If you're counting.

August 27 at Detroit: Indians 10, Tigers 1

Adam Plutko and three relievers allow three hits and record 15 strikeouts. The Tigers allow 13 hits, five walks, six unearned run, throw a wild pitch, hit a batter and give up three home runs.

August 28 at Detroit: Indians 4, Tigers 2

It's tied 2-2 in the top of the eight when Francisco Lindor hits one just far enough:

August 29 at Detroit: Indians 2, Tigers 0

Yep, another shutout. Clevinger goes eight innings, Hand closes out the four-hitter.

September 17 at Cleveland: Indians 7, Tigers 2

The Indians rip out eight extra-base hits. The Tigers do not.

September 18 at Cleveland: Indians 2, Tigers 1 (10 innings)

Civale goes 7.2 innings, but the game goes extra innings. How does the winning run score? Roberto Perez led off the innings reaching on an error. After a bunt, an intentional walk, a groundout and another intentional walk - that's two more intentional walks than the Astros have issued all season, by the way - Yasiel Puig just misses a walk-off grand slam:

September 19 at Cleveland: Indians 7, Tigers 0

That's 17 straight wins over the Tigers and six shutouts for Cleveland in the season series. Not only did the Indians outscore the Tigers in 18 of 19 games, the Tigers had more hits than the Indians in just one game (they one won). The season stats against each other:

Indians batting: .302/.367/.524, 29 home runs, 6.11 runs per game

Tigers batting: .200/.239/.331, 16 home runs, 2.0 runs per game

The Indians ended up outscoring the Tigers 116 to 38, a plus-78 run differential (4.11 per game). Where does this season destruction rank on the all-time list? Some others that I found (not comprehensive):

Division era shutouts (10 or more wins)

1993 Braves vs. Rockies: 13-0, +56 runs (4.31 per game)

1996 Indians vs. Tigers: 12-0, +51 runs (4.25 per game)

1998 Yankees vs. Royals: 10-0, +56 runs (5.6 per game)

Division era domination

2019 Yankees vs. Orioles: 17-2, +68 (3.58 per game

2006 A's vs. Mariners: 17-2, +60 runs (3.16 per game)

1986 Mets vs. Pirates: 17-1, +55 runs (3.06 per game)

1975 Reds vs. Cubs: 11-1, +48 runs (4.0 per game)

1974 Braves vs. Padres: 17-1, +62 runs (3.44 per game)

1974 Dodgers vs. Padres: 16-2, +82 runs (4.56 per game)

Dominant teams of the past

1954 Indians vs Red Sox: 20-2, +58 (2.64 per game)

1953 Dodgers vs. Pirates: 20-2, +63 runs (2.86 per game)

1939 Yankees vs. Browns: 19-3, +85 runs (3.86 per game) 1927 Yankees vs. Browns: 21-1, +85 runs (3.86 per game)

Fun note: The Dodgers went 16-2 against the Mets in 1962 and 1963.

As you can see, Cleveland's dominance over Detroit is one of the most impressive we've seen. But get this: the Astros may match that 18-1 record. Houston is 16-1 against Seattle with two games remaining. Their run differential per game, however, is a mere 3.24.