Max Verstappen learned he had sealed another Formula One world title only after winning a rain-shortened Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.

It had appeared Verstappen would be made to wait until Austin to confirm a second consecutive championship, as his hopes of getting the job done at Suzuka were rocked by heavy rain.

Even when Verstappen crossed the line in first place with just over half the race completed, title rival Charles Leclerc looked to have clung on to second to delay his title celebrations.

But Leclerc's late move to stay ahead of Sergio Perez landed him a five-second penalty, putting the Ferrari man in third and no longer within reach of Verstappen.

The victory for Verstappen moved him clear of Red Bull team-mate Perez, too, and the Dutchman was informed of his triumph only after his initial parc ferme interview.

It made for a bizarre conclusion to a long and controversial day, with initial attempts to start the race lasting mere minutes.

The safety car was out by the end of a first lap that had seen Leclerc briefly get ahead of pole-sitter Verstappen, only to trail again by Turn 1.

A series of incidents behind them in the awful conditions led to a yellow flag, and proceedings were red-flagged by the third lap.

The delay that followed lasted more than two hours, with Verstappen eventually resuming behind the safety car with only 45 minutes available in the race's three-hour window.

A sprint to the finish was without any drama at the front, though, and the title was instead decided by the battle for second as Leclerc left the track and then forced Perez wide.

Max Verstappen won the Formula One world title on Sunday with victory at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver claimed his second consecutive drivers' standings triumph when a penalty after the race confirmed his rival Charles Leclerc was demoted to third place.

The Toronto Blue Jays were still in shock as John Schneider and his players sought to reflect on a remarkable defeat to the Seattle Mariners that ended their season.

Toronto, the fourth seed in the American League, had lost their Wild Card opener at home to the Mariners on Friday but appeared on course to level the series the following day.

The Blue Jays led 8-1 at the end of the fifth inning, with Seattle needing to become just the third team to overturn a seven-run deficit in a postseason game.

But that was exactly what they did, with four runs in each of the sixth and eighth innings to win 10-9 and advance to the ALDS.

"Baseball sucks sometimes, and this group will be back in the exact same spot very, very soon," Schneider said. 

"Sometimes when you think you have an advantage, you don't win."

The interim Blue Jays manager gathered his thoughts more effectively than Teoscar Hernandez, whose two home runs proved in vain.

Hernandez is only the third Blue Jay to hit two homers in a single postseason game, although all three examples have now come in defeats that saw Toronto eliminated (also Jose Bautista vs the Kansas City Royals in the 2015 ALCS, Danny Jansen vs the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 Wild Card).

"Nothing goes through my mind," Hernandez said. "Every little thing that happened in the game, it's just incredible the way it happened.

"I mean, we were winning by seven runs. It sucks, but at the end, it's baseball, and we have to eat it, go home, think about it and get ready for next year."

While heartbreaking for the Blue Jays, the win continued the Mariners' Cinderella story, bringing playoff baseball back home to Seattle for the first time since 2001.

A 21-year postseason drought had been the longest such active run in any of the four major American sports.

"It's a credit to our players not quitting," said manager Scott Servais. "Just keep grinding through it.

"We've talked about doing the little things, just get on base, and that's what you saw. Nobody tried to hit a homer. It was just 'keep the line moving'. And all of a sudden, big things happen."

Pierre Gasly was furious as he suggested he was put in danger by a recovery tractor at the rain-disrupted Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.

The race at Suzuka lasted less than a lap under a downpour before a safety car was brought out, with a red flag soon following after a number of early incidents.

Among them, AlphaTauri's Gasly – who has just agreed a move to Alpine – made contact with an advertising board, which then became lodged in his front wing, further impacting his already reduced visibility.

But Gasly was still driving behind the safety car when he passed a tractor on the track recovering Carlos Sainz's car.

"I could have f***ing killed myself," Gasly fumed.

The most recent fatal accident in Formula One occurred at Suzuka in 2014 when Jules Bianchi collided with a recovery vehicle in wet conditions.

A widely reported FIA response sought to explain the incident with Gasly, saying the race had been red-flagged by the time he encountered the tractor.

"The safety car had been deployed and the race neutralised," the FIA said. "Car 10, which had collected damage and pitted behind the safety car, was then driving at high speed to catch up to the field.

"As conditions were deteriorating, the red flag was shown before Car 10 passed the location of the incident where it had been damaged the previous lap."

The incident was set to be reviewed again after the race, which still had not restarted an hour after the red flag.

The Seattle Mariners launched the biggest road comeback in playoff history to advance to the ALDS after completing a Wild Card sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays with a 10-9 win.

The Mariners, in their first postseason campaign since 2001, trailed 8-1 at the bottom of the fifth inning before four runs in each of the sixth and eighth.

Down 9-6 in the eighth, J.P. Crawford hit a blooper to center, landing between center-fielder George Springer and shortstop Bo Bichette, who collided, allowing three runners to score and tie the game up.

Adam Frazier came up with the game-winning RBI double in the ninth inning, hitting to right-field to drive in Cal Raleigh.

The comeback was the joint second biggest in MLB postseason history, and the largest rally to clinch a postseason series.

Seattle now progresses to the ALDS where they will face the Houston Astros.

"To go to the World Series, you have to go through Houston,'' Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "They're really good. We understand that. We're really good.''

Phillies floor Cards to end Pujols' career

Albert Pujols' decorated career ended as the St Louis Cardinals bowed out following a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies after Bryce Harper's second-inning home run.

Pujols went two-for-four, managing a hit with his final at-bat, but could not produce the heroics to lift the Cardinals, with their leading home-run hitter Paul Goldschmidt struggling throughout. Pujols ends his career with 703 home runs, the fourth most of all-time.

Aaron Nola was excellent for the Phillies on the mound, with six strikeouts across six-and-two-thirds scoreless innings, allowing only four hits.

The Cleveland Guardians completed a sweep over the Tampa Bay Rays with a 1-0 win after Oscar Gonzalez homered in the 15th inning.

Vintage deGrom helps Mets stay alive

The New York Mets stayed alive with a 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres to square up their Wild Card series.

Jacob deGrom starred with eight strikeouts across six innings, while Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso homered in the first and fifth innings respectively.

With the Mets leading 3-2 in the seventh, Jeff McNeil managed a two-run double. Brandon Nimmo was important too, going three-for-four with one RBI.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says defender Ben White can "make the step up" to be part of England's 2022 World Cup squad.

The 24-year-old centre-back was left out of Gareth Southgate's last England squad for the Nations League games against Italy and Germany.

Right-back Kyle Walker's groin injury has opened up the possibility of a World Cup recall for the versatile White, who has played that role with the Gunners this season.

"Ben would be very comfortable playing on the right side of a back three as well as in the middle or as a full-back," Arteta said.

"If you ask me if he is ready to make that step [to England], then the answer is yes because he is a very confident boy, he gives you absolutely everything, he is always available and he has the courage to play under real pressure."

White, who has four caps for England, was a replacement for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Euro 2020 squad after initially missing the cut.

Alexander-Arnold will be part of the Liverpool side to face Arsenal on Sunday and looms as one of the strongest contenders for the England right-back role.

"He is a very special talent," Arteta said about Alexander-Arnold. "What he adds offensively to the team every year is difficult to find in that position."

White, who was Brighton and Hove Albion's Player of the Season in 2020-21 before joining Arsenal, has made eight Premier League starts this term.

Patrick Cantlay carded a joint course record and career low 60 to move to grab a share of the lead with Tom Kim at the Shriners Children's Open with one day to go.

Cantlay, who had shot back-to-back 67s, tied the course record on the third day at Las Vegas' TPC at Summerlin with 11 birdies in his 11-under-par round.

The American world number four just fell shy of the elusive 59, missing with his birdie putt from just under 25 feet on the 18th hole.

Cantlay's 60 was his first on tour as a professional, having achieved the feat in 2011 as a 19-year-old amateur at the Travelers Championship.

Kim and Cantlay are three strokes clear on the leaderboard at 19-under overall, with halfway leader Mito Pereira back with Matthew NeSmith on 16 under.

The South Korean managed six birdies on the back nine to score an impressive nine-under-par 62 on Saturday.

Kim landed his approach on the 18th two feet from the hole to close out his round with birdie and earn the joint lead.

Pereira could only manage four birdies to lose his grip on the lead, while NeSmith had a strong eight-under round fueled by three birdies on the final four holes.

South Korean pair Im Sung-jae and Kim Seong-hyeon are next best on the leaderboard at 15 under.

Behind them is a group of five tied at 14 under, including Kim Si-woo and Aaron Rai, who carded a nine-under 62 on Saturday, with four birdies on his final five holes.

The NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed to modify concussion protocols following an investigation of Tua Tagovailoa's recent injury, saying his return to a game against the Buffalo Bills was "not what was intended when the protocols were drafted".

Although the investigation found the Miami Dolphins to have followed existing protocols "as written", NFLPA president J.C. Tretter believes Tagovailoa's treatment was not a "meaningful application" of the rules.

The Dolphins came under heavy scrutiny for their decision to field Tagovailoa against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4, a game in which he sustained a concussion.

In Tagovailoa's previous outing against the Bills, he appeared unsteady on his feet after his head slammed against the turf following a heavy collision. 

The NFL and NFLPA launched an investigation into the handling of that injury after he returned to the field shortly thereafter, with head coach Mike McDaniel saying he suffered a back injury.

A joint NFL-NFLPA statement released on Saturday read: "The parties have completed their joint review of the application of the NFL's concussion protocol following the injury to Miami Dolphins Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa during their game on September 25, 2022.

"While the investigation determined that the team medical staff and unaffiliated medical professionals followed the steps of the protocol as written, the NFL and NFLPA agree that the outcome in this case is not what was intended when the protocols were drafted.

"As such, as has been done in previous cases, based on the advice of the parties' respective medical experts, the protocol will be modified to enhance the safety of the players.

"Specifically, the term 'ataxia' has been added to the mandatory 'no-go' symptoms. If a player is diagnosed with 'ataxia' by any club or neutral physician involved in the application of the concussion protocol, he will be prohibited from returning to the game.

"The parties remain committed to continuing to evaluate our protocol to ensure it reflects the intended conservative approach to evaluating player-patients for potential head injuries."

Tretter, however, has since taken to social media to criticise the Dolphins' handling of the incident, tweeting: "We do not believe this was a meaningful application of the protocols. 

"Nobody, including the NFL, believes he should have been put back in the game. It is problematic that he was cleared for a back injury for which the lead doctors never took the time to examine."

Tagovailoa has been ruled out of the Dolphins' Week 5 fixture against the New York Jets on Sunday.

Jurgen Klopp hopes Mohamed Salah is close to "exploding" into a rich vein of goalscoring form, but believes comparisons with Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland are unfair.

Salah shared the Premier League's Golden Boot with Son Heung-min after scoring 23 goals in the competition last term, but has only found the net twice in seven outings this season.

The Egyptian's diminishing returns have mirrored those of his team, with Liverpool sitting 13 points behind City – with a game in hand – ahead of Sunday's trip to Arsenal.

Haaland's arrival has taken City to new heights this campaign, with the Norwegian hitting 15 goals in his first nine Premier League games, and Klopp believes any comparisons with Salah would be unhelpful.

"With Mo, I hope it's like us, we are close to exploding," Klopp said. "Whose season was it yet? From our side, nobody.

"Mo is like this, even when his goalscoring numbers aren't crazy, often he's involved, it's just the problem that if you don't score around that, nobody appreciates that.

"Nobody in the world can cope with the [Erling] Haaland situation, it's crazy what he's doing. 

"He's an exceptional player in an exceptional team and I don't think we should compare anyone with that at the moment.

"Mo wants to score goals desperately, 100 per cent, that will never change. Call him in 20 years, it will be the same."

Liverpool approach their trip to the Emirates Stadium having recorded two draws and one defeat in their first three away outings of the Premier League campaign.

Not since 2010-11, under Roy Hodgson, have Liverpool failed to win any of their first four away league games in a single season.

Meanwhile, Saturday represented the seventh anniversary of Klopp's appointment at Liverpool, and the German left each of his two previous posts – at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund – before bringing up an eighth year at the helm.

Klopp, however, insisted Liverpool's struggles have nothing in common with those of his former clubs, saying: "The situation in the clubs was very different. 

"A seven-year spell was not planned or because I lost energy or these things. I was manager at Mainz and after three years, we got promoted to the Bundesliga then three years later we got relegated.

"We tried one more year and the club needed a change. Players left us for the Bundesliga, so they needed a fresh start, definitely.

"I was full of energy. I went directly to Dortmund and it was all fine. [It was] seven years and it was just a situation that players constantly got bought by other clubs.

"It was a really hard job to do, instead of developing a team, constantly making two steps back. It was really intense and really exhausting.  

"I can understand that I left after seven years, and now we are in a difficult situation, but, if you think twice about it, you realise the situation is completely different.

"Being here for seven years is intense, no doubt about it. But it's nice as well, I got so many things back. If there's one club that has a chance to go through it together, it's us."

Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier confirmed a common Spanish insult was the cause of Sergio Ramos' bizarre red card against Reims, as he claimed referee Pierre Gaillouste failed to control the contest.

Ligue 1 leaders PSG dropped points for just the second time this season on Saturday after a 0-0 draw at Reims, failing to make the breakthrough against their struggling hosts after Ramos' red card.

Ramos received two yellow cards in less than a minute shortly before the break, having remonstrated strongly with the referee after tripping Marshall Munetsi.

The Spaniard's dismissal was the 21st of his league career (in LaLiga and Ligue 1) – at least seven more than any other defender in Europe's top five leagues has received this century.

Speaking after the draw, which leaves PSG three points clear of Marseille at the summit, Galtier stressed his belief that Ramos did not mean to offend Gaillouste.

"I know Sergio Ramos very well, I'm not sure that the insult that came out was directed at the referee," Galtier said. 

"It's an insult that you hear all the time on a training ground, that you hear a lot in Spain. The referee took it from him and kicked him out, I'm not going back [to speak] on that."

PSG faced 24 shots against Reims, the most they have had to contend with in a Ligue 1 match since December 2011 (against Saint Etienne), and Galtier was unhappy with their performance.

"There was a lot of nervousness that I can't explain, on both sides," Galtier added. "There were a lot of duels, clashes, neither of the two teams mastered the events. 

"None of the three parties, the teams and the referee, did control this game and there was a lot of nervousness."

Gaillouste has handed out six red cards in the six Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches he has refereed this season (four in Metz v Guingamp, one in Nantes v PSG, and one in this match).

Although Galtier disagreed with the decision to send Ramos off, he was equally irritated by the "stupid" nature of his red card, particularly given Ramos will now miss a meeting with Marseille next week.

"I will talk about it with them because there are sequences of matches. We need the maximum number of players," Galtier added. "Missing matches because we took stupid cards… obviously we have to fix that. I will talk about it with them."

PSG have only lost one of their last nine Ligue 1 games in which they received a red card and finished against 11 men (W4 D4), a 5-1 loss at Lille in April 2019. 

Carlo Ancelotti considered a "solid" defensive display cause for celebration as Real Madrid beat Getafe 1-0 to move above Barcelona at the LaLiga summit.

Los Blancos were far from their fluid best at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez, but Eder Militao's third-minute header was enough to see them return to winning ways in the league after last weekend's 1-1 draw with Osasuna.

It was the first time Madrid had kept a clean sheet in eight LaLiga games this season, so Ancelotti was pleased in that regard, hailing his central defenders.

He was less enthused by Madrid in an attacking sense as they failed to add to their early opener.

"We were very solid and both Militao and [Antonio] Rudiger played a great game," he said. "We could have scored more goals, but at this point in the season that doesn't matter.

"Scoring early did not force us to be in a hurry, and we did not force our plays that much. We created many opportunities, but we did not score enough.

"The team has played very well, and we are satisfied. Last season here we were beaten, and today the team has been more solid.

"I asked the players not to risk passing late on and to ensure their passing was accurate because the score was very tight."

Madrid face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday, before a mouth-watering Clasico clash against Barcelona next weekend.

Ancelotti rested Karim Benzema and Ferland Mendy for the short trip to Getafe, and the Italian head coach suggested he is likely to rotate his side for the midweek match in Warsaw against their opponents from Ukraine.

He is trying to avoid talking about the Barcelona game for now, but that fixture is taking on major significance given both teams have started strongly.

"I think the Clasico is still a long way off," Ancelotti said. "I've rested Benzema and Mendy, and it may be that on Tuesday I can rotate a little more."

Eden Hazard was an unused substitute against Getafe and has been limited to just 98 minutes of league action so far this season.

Ancelotti, however, said the former Chelsea winger will be called upon in the coming matches.

"Hazard is training well and will have his chance very soon," the Madrid head coach added.

Edin Terzic applauded his Borussia Dortmund players for their "wild" comeback which brought about a dramatic 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in Saturday's Klassiker.

Head coach Terzic saw his side fall two goals behind after Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane both struck from long range.

He later suggested other teams would have folded at that point and crumpled to a heavy defeat, so Dortmund's resilience and refusal to buckle brought cause for celebration.

Youssoufa Moukoko narrowed the deficit in the 74th minute, and Anthony Modeste equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time when he headed in Nico Schlotterbeck's cross.

The scenes of delirium inside Signal Iduna Park told their own story, with Dortmund halting a run of eight consecutive defeats to their great rivals.

"It was a very intense match," Terzic said. "In the first half in particular, we defended very well and kept it compact in the middle.

"The ball was in front of us. We gave away only that one shot at goal which made it 1-0. 

"At that point, it's not so easy to keep your discipline when the emotions and the desire to take risks are being transmitted to the team from the stands.

"You then need to be careful that you don't open up too early and that the gaps don't become too big."

Terzic responded to Sane's 53rd-minute strike by bringing on substitutes Karim Adeyemi, Modeste and Thorgan Hazard in an effort to save the game.

"It got wild towards the end; that was also the aim of the substitutions," Terzic said. "It was end to end.

"What was very positive was that we believed up until the last moment that something was still possible, even though we'd missed a huge opportunity to equalise in the 82nd minute."

Modeste scuffed his shot from Adeyemi's cross on that occasion, but after Bayern went down to 10 men, losing Kingsley Coman for a second bookable offence when he tugged at Adeyemi, there was a final twist to come.

"It was a very deserved point because we created many chances at the end," Terzic said. "When you're 2-0 down against Bayern, the match normally ends 4-0 or 5-0.

"That didn't happen today. We were able to put an exclamation mark behind the mentality question for today."

Filippo Ganna made cycling history by beating the UCI hour world record by over a kilometre with his attempt in Switzerland on Saturday.

The INEOS Grenadiers rider was trying to beat the previous mark of 55.548km set by his team-mate Dan Brigham in August.

Ganna achieved it in style as he finished with a distance of 56.792km, a full 1.244km ahead, achieving his feat at the Tissot Velodrome in Grenchen.

The double world time trial champion, who signed a four-year extension with INEOS in August, said: "To arrive at this amazing goal is fantastic for me, and all the INEOS Grenadiers staff who worked for a long time to arrive at this result. This result is amazing. 56.792 kilometres is not bad!

"Next time maybe I'll try in another part of the season with fresher legs and we can go higher again.

"This result is amazing. Now I'm thinking about recovery and trying to celebrate together with everyone here."

Brigham also congratulated Ganna on taking his record, saying: "A massive kudos to Filippo for that historic ride. I know the commitment, determination and work that's needed to put in a performance like that.

"It's fantastic that this ambitious project came together on the night. Having my record beaten by Filippo was always part of the plan and it's great to have such a deserving team-mate as the new record holder."