BASEBALL

The National League champion Philadelphia Phillies gave team President Dave Dombrowski a three-year contract extension that takes him through the 2027 season.

“This is a great organization and I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by such tremendous personnel. We have made significant strides in many areas of baseball operations over the last couple of years, and I am committed to building upon them to form a championship organization for the city and our incredible fan base,” Dombrowski said Tuesday.

Dombrowski made the pivotal decision to fire Manager Joe Girardi with the team scuffling in June and replace him with bench coach Rob Thomson. Behind sluggers Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins, Thomson helped lead the Phillies to their first playoff appearance since 2011 and their eighth NL pennant.

Dombrowski, 66, was hired in December 2020 following stints in the front office with Montreal, the Florida Marlins, Boston and Detroit. His clubs have won five pennants and two World Series titles. He is the only head of a baseball operations department to lead four different franchises to the World Series and only one of five general managers to have won a World Series title with two different teams.

AWARDS: Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols won baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year awards.

Verlander, the American League recipient, returned from Tommy John surgery to lead Houston to its second World Series championship. He had the lowest ERA in the majors and was a unanimous winner of his third Cy Young Award — becoming the first player to earn the prize after not pitching in the previous season.

Pujols, honored in the National League, came back to St. Louis for his farewell season and posted his biggest numbers in years at age 42. The three-time MVP compiled an .895 OPS for the NL Central champions and became the fourth major leaguer to reach 700 career home runs.

The winners were chosen in voting by the 30 team beat reporters at MLB.com.

HIGH SCHOOLS

FOOTBALL: Eli Soehren of Oxford Hills was named the 2022 MaxPreps Maine High School Football Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior quarterback helped the Vikings go 11-0 and capture their first Class A state championship.

Soehren completed 110 of 167 passes for 1,776 yards and 24 touchdowns with just five interceptions this season. He added 349 yards and six touchdowns on 61 carries and also played defense and handled punting duties.

Each state’s MaxPreps Player of the Year will be considered for inclusion in the MaxPreps All-America Team, which will be released Jan. 10.

HOCKEY

ECHL: The Boston Bruins and Providence Bruins assigned three players to the Maine Mariners, who begin a busy stretch of home games beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Reading.

Forwards Alex-Olivier Voyer and Curtis Hall and goaltender Michael DiPietro were sent to Maine from Providence.

Voyer, 23, returns after playing two games for the Mariners on the prior homestand. Hall was a fourth-round selection by Boston in the 2018 draft. DiPietro was acquired by the Bruins from the Vancouver Canucks on October 27. In the deal, the Bruins sent forward Jack Studnicka to Vancouver in exchange for DiPietro and the rights to defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg.

In corresponding moves, the Mariners released goaltenders Josh Boyko and Peter Thome. Goaltender Francois Brassard was reassigned to Maine from Providence on Saturday.

OLYMPICS

PARIS 2024:  The operating budget for the 2024 Paris Olympics is expected to go up by 10%, in part because of high inflation, organizers said.

The organizing committee, known as COJO, had an original operating budget of around 4 billion euros ($4.1 billion) but will present a revised figure at a board meeting next month that is expected to reach 4.4 billion euros ($4.5 billion).

GOLF

BONUS: Tiger Woods was rewarded with a $15 million bonus from the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program.

Woods won the award for the second straight year while playing slightly more often.

He was recovering from a car crash in 2021 and played only two rounds of the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie. This year, he played in three majors, making it to the weekend in two of them, finishing 72 holes only in the Masters.

Woods still ranked No. 1 in four of the five PIP categories. The exception was “TV Sponsor Exposure,” which is the length of time a player’s sponsor logos appear on the screen during weekend rounds. He played only three of those.

Rory McIlroy finished second and received a $12 million bonus. Jordan Spieth narrowly beat out Justin Thomas for third place – Spieth got $9 million, Thomas $7.5 million – with Jon Rahm ($6 million) in fifth.

RYDER CUP: European captain Luke Donald appointed Nicolas Colsaerts as his third vice captain for next year’s event in Rome.

The Belgian golfer, who turned 40 last week, joins Thomas Bjorn of Denmark and Edoardo Molinari of Italy as vice captains for the European team.

The 2023 Ryder Cup will be played at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome from Sept. 26-Oct. 1.

SOCCER

ENGLAND: Forward Beth Mead sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament while playing for Arsenal, raising questions about her availability for the women’s World Cup next summer.

The 27-year-old Mead, who helped England win the European Championship, was injured Saturday during Arsenal’s 3-2 loss to Manchester United in the Women’s Super League.

MLS: Former Seattle Sounders executive Garth Lagerwey was named to succeed Darren Eales as Atlanta United’s president and chief executive officer.

Lagerwey, 49, had been general manager and president for Seattle since 2015. Seattle won this year’s Concacaf Champions League title and MLS Cup championships in 2019 and 2016. Seattle reached two additional MLS Cup finals under Lagerwey’s leadership.

Eales announced on July 15 he was leaving Atlanta United to become the chief executive officer of Newcastle United in the Premier League in England. .

TENNIS

DAVIS CUP: Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson won their singles matches to help Australia qualify for the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time since 2017 at the expense of the Netherlands.

De Minaur beat Botic van de Zandschulp 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to clinch the series 2-0 and set up a semifinal tie against either Spain or Croatia.

Australia is the second most successful nation in the team competition with 28 titles but the last triumph dates to 2003.
De Minaur completed his rally with a break in the 10th game of the final set by building a 40-0 lead and converting the first match point on an indoor hardcourt in the southern Spanish city of Malaga.

Earlier, Thompson also came from a set down to defeat Tallon Griekspoor 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.