There are some times of the year in the sports calendar that are expected to be packed with action.
But there are also the rare occasions where everything perfectly aligns to a span of days where there will be nothing but jam-packed excitement for days on end.
That’s what we have on hand this weekend, the last weekend in September, as the US prepares for an avalanche of intense sporting events.
From one of college football’s most action-packed weekends, to the intense race to the end of the baseball season, to an NFL weekend teeming with matchups between top teams, to golf’s ‘Super Bowl’, the next four days will be all-consuming.
It spans the breadth of the country too: from a golf course on Long Island, to the football fields of the Deep South and the Midwest, to the baseball diamonds of California.
Here, Daily Mail Sport previews a sports weekend to remember in the USA.
The stage is set for one of the greatest American sports weekends on the calendar
Ryder Cup
We’ll start with the grandest spectacle of the weekend: the 45th edition of the Ryder Cup.
Golf fans will descend upon Bethpage State Park on Long Island – and the infamous ‘Black Course’ – to watch Team Europe and Team USA face off against each other in the most intense team golf competition in the world.
Bethpage Black, which has hosted the US Open in 2002 and 2009 as well as the 2019 PGA Championship, has once again built massive grandstands on the A.W. Tillinghast masterpiece that consistently ranks among the best public courses in the country.
Controversy around the Americans being paid to take part in this tournament for the first time ever has only added to the fervor around this always-tense event that brings out the best in competitiveness among golfers and fans alike.
The Americans will look to win back the cup they’d lost at the Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome back in 2023 following a horrific first day that set them back.
Recent history sides with the hosts. An ‘away team’ hasn’t won the Ryder Cup on enemy soil since the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012, when the Europeans beat the Americans in Illinois by a single point.
Each side is bringing its absolute best. American captain Keegan Bradley declined pressure from the White House to include himself among the players. Instead, he selected Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, and Sam Burns to join automatic qualifiers Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English, and Bryson DeChambeau.
Meanwhile, European captain Luke Donald’s controversial selection was Ryder Cup veteran and LIV rebel Jon Rahm. Rahm was picked alongside Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, and Matt Fitzpatrick. They’ll join auto-qualifiers Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard, and Tyrrell Hatton.
Competition begins on Friday with morning foursome matches and an afternoon four-ball. Saturday includes a repeat of the same, before it all comes down to Sunday’s singles matches.
Throngs of fans will descend upon Long Island to watch the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black
Team USA will hope to take back the cup and keep their home victory streak alive and well
Meanwhile, Team Europe (led by Rory McIlroy) will hope to knock off the Americans once again
NFL
Storylines abound in Week 4 of the NFL season, with kickoff on Thursday night setting the stage.
The Seattle Seahawks travel to the Arizona Cardinals for Thursday Night Football in a matchup between two strong NFC West teams.
Sunday’s action starts early in the morning when the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers kick off from Croke Park in Dublin.
The early afternoon slate is highlighted by the defending-champion Philadelphia Eagles traveling to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While the Indianapolis Colts’ surprising start makes for a great matchup against the Los Angeles Rams in the 4:00 window, the biggest game of the week is when the Baltimore Ravens travel to Missouri to take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Both teams entered the season with high expectations as Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes looked to lead high-potential offenses.
But instead, both teams have struggled out of the gate. At the conclusion of this game, one of the two preseason Super Bowl favorites will be 1-3.
At night, it’s a return game for one of the NFL’s most feared pass rushers when Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons returns to the Dallas Cowboys team that traded him this offseason.
The tastiest matchup of this week’s NFL Sunday is between the Chiefs and the Ravens
Then, at night, Micah Parsons returns to Dallas after he was traded to the Green Bay Packers
College football
A Saturday to remember is on the cards for college football fans across the country as ranked matchups take center stage from the moment we hit noon.
No. 21 USC and No. 23 Illinois is a highlight of the afternoon slate, as is No. 22 Notre Dame’s road trip to take on Arkansas.
In the mid-afternoon, No. 1 ranked Ohio State travels out to Washington, No. 11 Indiana takes on Iowa, and Auburn hits the road to face No. 9 Texas A&M.
The afternoon’s most enticing matchup is a rivalry game when No. 4 LSU travels to Mississippi to take on No. 13 Ole Miss in the latest installment of the ‘Magnolia Bowl’.
But fans will need two televisions (or YouTube TV multi-view) once the sun goes down for two of the greatest visual spectacles in the sport which kick off at the exact same time.
Alabama will hope to repeat their miracle victory over Georgia from last season when the No. 17 Crimson Tide travel to Athens to take on the No. 5 Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, up in ‘Happy Valley’, it’s the annual ‘White-Out’ game at Beaver Stadium when the No. 6 Oregon Ducks travel to Pennsylvania to face over 109,000 fans cheering on the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions.
A mid-afternoon rivalry game between LSU and Ole Miss is the first highlight of a college football Saturday to remember
At night time, Alabama and Georgia renew their rivalry after last year’s storybook finish
Oregon travels to Penn State to face the Nittany Lions and 109,000 fans in the ‘White Out’
MLB
Finally, the final three-game stretch of the Major League Baseball season deserves plenty of attention.
The American League Wild Card race is down to six teams. Both the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays have locked up playoff spots, but the two will keep a close eye on each other to see who wins the division (and with it, the AL’s best record).
The Yankees currently are in the Wild Card spot and host the Baltimore Orioles for a final three-game homestand. Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays will host the Tampa Bay Rays.
Behind the Yankees are their hated rivals, the Boston Red Sox. Boston needs to win just one of its final four games to clinch the postseason.
If that happens, then four teams will be in the hunt for a final spot. First, in the AL Central, the Detroit Tigers have suffered a stunning collapse down the stretch of their season – losing ten of their final eleven games to give up the division lead to the Cleveland Guardians.
Currently, the Tigers hold the final Wild Card spot. But they have one more game against Cleveland before traveling to Boston.
If Detroit slips, that could open the door for the team just a game behind them: the Houston Astros. Houston’s final series is against the Los Angeles Angels.
(L-R) The Yankees, Blue Jays, and Red Sox highlight an American League Wild Card battle
Things don’t get much better in the National League. The NL East and NL Central divisions are already locked up, and out in the west, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the driver’s seat.
But the Wild Card? Chaos. While the Chicago Cubs have already locked-up one Wild Card spot and the San Diego Padres have another (but are still fighting the Dodgers for that NL West crown), there are five other teams still in contention for spot No. 3.
It’s currently held by the struggling New York Mets who, despite having the richest roster in baseball, are hanging on by a thread. They’ve lost three of their last four and are playing their final six games on the road.
The Mets’ final series is against the team with the longest shot to make the postseason, the Miami Marlins. The Marlins essentially need to win out their final four games (@ Philadelphia, then home for the Mets series) and hope the other three teams in contention all also lose.
The two top challengers for the Mets to face are the Cincinnati Reds and the Arizona Diamondbacks, both one game behind New York.
Cincinnati has one final afternoon game against Pittsburgh before closing their regular season against the Milwaukee Brewers, who’ve already won the division.
Meanwhile, Arizona may have the worst luck of everyone. The NL West team just so happens to face the two teams fighting for the division crown. They close their home season against the Dodgers on Thursday afternoon before traveling to San Diego.
Finally, there’s the St. Louis Cardinals. At three-and-a-half games back, the Cardinals need a miracle in the vein of Miami. They’d need to have the Mets, Reds, and Diamondbacks lose out while they sweep the rival Chicago Cubs on the road.
(L-R)T he Mets, Reds, and Diamondbacks are three of six teams fighting for a last spot in the NL
