The San Francisco 49ers are scheduled to begin their 2026 season in Melbourne, Australia, against the Los Angeles Rams. While that may be exciting for growing the NFL’s international footprint, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t enthusiastic about having to travel so far for his team’s opening game.

“I don't see any pro,” Shanahan told reporters at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix on Monday.

“It's cool for the league to play globally. I think that's awesome,” he added. “But as far as the team doing it, no, there's not much benefit to it. Sometimes it's nice to get a bye week after, but doesn't happen in Week 1."

[Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season]

The 49ers-Rams matchup is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 11, in Melbourne, which is 15 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone in the United States. Thus, kickoff for the game will be at 10:35 a.m local time. But it’s ideally scheduled for prime time in the U.S., 8:35 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 10.

Shanahan referenced the significant time difference in a sarcastic response to questions about playing in Australia.

“Oh, so fired up,” Shanahan said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “So we’re going back in time or into the future? I think we gain a day or lose a day? Not sure which one yet, but it is what it is. We’ll deal with it.”

Though the game is scheduled for Thursday night, a network has not yet been announced for the broadcast, according to Pro Football Talk. Over 100,000 fans are expected to attend the matchup played at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

General manager John Lynch said the team is planning to travel to Australia a few days before the game to get accustomed to the setting and circumstances.

The 49ers will also play a game in Mexico City in December. The opponent for that matchup has not been determined and will be revealed with the release of the 2026 NFL schedule in May. With that, San Francisco will become the first team to play international games in different countries in non-consecutive weeks on the schedule.

“I think there’s eight international games [this season],” Shanahan said. “We got two of them. So we’re fired up about that.”

The difference between a great team and an elite one can be a star performance coming from an unexpected source. UConn benefited from Blanca Quiñonez producing off the bench for a xx-xx win over Notre Dame on Sunday to advance to the Final Four for the sixth consecutive year.

The Huskies are a regular presence in the women’s Final Four, advancing to the national semifinals for the 17th time in the past 18 seasons.

Quiñonez was the Huskies’ third-leading scorer during the regular season, so her performance shouldn’t have been unexpected. However, on a team with stars like Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, she can be overlooked. That may have been the case for Notre Dame’s defense in its Elite Eight matchup on Sunday.

The freshman forward scored 14 points in the first half while Strong and Fudd struggled with their shooting early on, lifting the Huskies to a 32-25 halftime lead. Quiñonez finished with 20 points, shooting 4-for-7 on 3-pointers, adding 7 rebounds.

Notre Dame’s star guard Hannah Hidalgo began quietly, going scoreless in the first quarter as UConn sent two and three defenders at her every time she touched the ball.

But the Fighting Irish adjusted, moving her around the court to free her up. Hidalgo responded by scoring 14 points in the second quarter to keep Notre Dame in the game with much-needed offense.

UConn awaits the winner between South Carolina and TCU in Sunday’s second Elite Eight matchup.

This story will be updated.

The Toronto Blue Jays made one of the most eyebrow-raising signings of the offseason, adding pitcher Dylan Cease to a team that took the Los Angeles Dodgers to the 11th inning of Game 7 in the World Series.

Making his first start for Toronto on Saturday, Cease demonstrated why he received a $210 million contract in free agency. The veteran right-hander set a record for a Blue Jays pitching debut with 12 strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings in an 8-7, 11-inning win over the Athletics. He also allowed one run and three hits.

David Price held the previous strikeout record for a Toronto pitcher, whiffing 11 batters in his first appearance for the Blue Jays in 2015 after being acquired from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline. Price eventually went 9-1 with a 2.10 ERA in 11 starts, the kind of success that the Blue Jays would love to see from Cease as they pursue another American League pennant.

[Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season]

However, the Blue Jays’ lineup could only score one run for Cease while he was the pitcher of record, preventing him from earning a win in front of the home crowd at the Rogers Centre.

After walking Nick Kurtz to lead off the sixth inning, Cease gave up an RBI double to Tyler Soderstrom to tie the score at 1-1. Brent Rooker then reached base on a fielder’s choice and Braydon Fisher came in to relieve Cease, who had thrown 90 pitches by that point.

Toronto took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Daulton Varsho, but the Athletics rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh. Mason Fluharty relieved Fisher and was hit by two consecutive singles up the middle. The second one caused him to leave the game.

Brendon Little took over for the Blue Jays and struck out Andy Ibáñez before giving up a run-scoring single to Denzel Clarke. Little then walked Kurtz on five pitches before leaving a curveball low, but in the middle of the plate to Shea Langeliers. The Athletics catcher launched the pitch to straight-away center field for a grand slam and 6-2 lead.

Toronto chipped away at its deficit with a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RBI single in the seventh and run-scoring singles by Jesús Sánchez and Andrés Giménez in the eighth. Tyler Rogers then pitched a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning, giving the Blue Jays an opportunity to tie the game. Alejandro Kirk then obliged with a solo homer off Michael Kelly, Toronto’s first long ball of the year.

Both teams scored in the 10th. But in the 11th with pinch-runner Nathan Lukes on second base, Athletics reliever Luis Medina intentionally walked Varsho to face Ernie Clement. The Blue Jays second baseman worked the count to three balls and two strikes before getting a fastball down the low middle of the zone that he hit to left field, scoring Lukes for Toronto’s second walkoff win in its first two games of the season.