Heat-Bulls with plenty of subplots, but desperation ultimately at Friday's forefront  —  MIAMI — As they waited to see if their season would continue, the Chicago Bulls received reaffirmation Tuesday night as they watched from Toronto: The Miami Heat are vulnerable.

Were 9-year-old Diar DeRozan's screams the Chicago Bulls' secret weapon as the Toronto Raptors missed 18 free throws?  —  TORONTO — As the tide turned in the favor of the Chicago Bulls during Wednesday's 109-105 play-in tournament win over the Toronto Raptors, one constant sound was like a metronome …

Salt Lake City group joins MLB expansion chase  —  A Salt Lake City consortium led by the former owner of the Utah Jazz plans to pursue a Major League Baseball franchise in the coming years, touting the area's population growth, strong economy and baseball history as draws for a coveted expansion slot …

Seiya Suzuki homers in Iowa Cubs game Wednesday.  Is this his last before jumping back to majors?  —  The first pitch Seiya Suzuki saw Wednesday afternoon was a 91.4 mile per hour four-seam fastball from Omaha Storm Chasers pitcher Austin Cox that drifted over the outer part of the plate.

Denver weather: High fire danger as wind buffets dry ground amid heat  —  Red flag warning issued for metro Denver  —  A third day in a row of summer-like heat with temperatures reaching 79 degrees and wind gusting at speeds up to 45 miles per hour, buffeting dry ground, is expected to create critical fire weather Thursday.

Fort Lauderdale airport closed until Friday, stranding hundreds of passengers  —  From a flooded Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to inundated streets of Broward County, a transportation nightmare was all but guaranteed Thursday after unprecedented rains pounded the area the day before.

Adley Rutschman blasts first career walk-off homer to give Orioles series-clinching 8-7 win over Athletics  —  The win wasn't pretty, but the last swing sure was.  —  Adley Rutschman came up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning with the chance to give the Orioles their ugliest win of the season …

Mets fail to get big hit, fall to Padres  —  Making the final out of the Mets' 4-2 loss to the Padres on Tuesday night was the unproductive prodigy, Francisco Alvarez, who in his second game of the year — seventh of his life in the majors — struck out against Josh Hader, San Diego's combustible closer.

Blue Jays fans now extremely close to visitors' bullpens.  What could go wrong?  —  In his days of managing high-stakes post-season games in stadiums jammed with emotional fans, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch has a good idea of how energy level can ratchet up from friendly fandom to something else.