Sports News Roundup: Twins' Luis Arraez captures AL batting crown; Indonesia police say 6 facing criminal charges over soccer stampede and more

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

MLB roundup: Twins' Luis Arraez captures AL batting crown

Luis Arraez walked twice and doubled in his final at-bat while wrapping up his first American League batting title as the visiting Minnesota Twins cruised to a 10-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday on the final day of the regular season. Arraez finished with a .316 batting average, five points ahead of Aaron Judge. The New York Yankees slugger got the day off after hitting his 62nd home run a night earlier.

Athletics-Nageotte, Johnson-Thompson nominated for Fair Play Award

Olympic pole vault champion Katie Nageotte and Commonwealth Games heptathlon winner Katarina Johnson-Thompson have been named among the nominees for the International Fair Play Committee's Fair Play Award, World Athletics said on Thursday. American Nageotte drew praise for helping Holly Bradshaw after the Briton injured herself during this year's world championships in Eugene, later defending her fellow competitor on social media over her withdrawal from the event.

Soccer-England women to join U.S. in show of support for NWSL players

England and the United States will come together to show their support for the victims of the abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) when the countries meet in a friendly on Friday, Lionesses forward Beth Mead said. An independent investigation this week showed abuse and misconduct "had become systemic" in the American top-flight and that the league, teams and governing body U.S. Soccer failed to adequately protect players.

Motor racing-Hamilton plans to continue racing beyond end of current Mercedes deal

Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton on Thursday said he did not plan on retiring from Formula One any time soon.

The Briton, who races for Mercedes, signed a two-year contract with the Brackley-based team last year keeping him at the outfit until the end of 2023 at least.

Soccer-U.S. players 'angry, exhausted' after report on abuse, says Rapinoe

Megan Rapinoe said on Thursday she and her fellow U.S. women's national team members are angry and exhausted in the wake of a scathing report into allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The independent investigation released on Monday revealed player abuse within women's professional soccer in the United States was systemic and that the NWSL and governing U.S. Soccer body failed to adequately protect players.

Athletics-NYRR names former ESPN executive Simmelkjaer as CEO

New York Road Runners (NYRR) has named former ESPN executive Rob Simmelkjaer as its new CEO, as the organisation looks to steer its marquee New York City Marathon back to pre-pandemic levels. Simmelkjaer, a native New Yorker who anchored MSNBC's 2012 and 2016 Olympic coverage during his broadcast career, will take over after the five-borough marathon runs on Nov. 6 at full capacity for the first time since the pandemic began.

Indonesia police say 6 facing criminal charges over soccer stampede

Six people including police and match organisers are facing criminal charges in Indonesia over a stampede at a soccer game at the weekend that killed at least 131 people, the country's police chief said on Thursday. Saturday's stampede at in the Malang region of East Java was among the world's worst sporting disasters, as hundreds of soccer fans tried to flee a stadium riot and the firing of tear gas by police, leading to a crush worsened by several locked exits.

Soccer-Brazil extend lead in world rankings, Spain drop below Italy

In the last change to the FIFA World Rankings before the World Cup starts next month, Brazil increased their lead at the top and Spain dropped below Italy. Brazil, the only team to have competed in every World Cup finals, will go into next month's tournament in Qatar seeking a record-extending sixth crown.

LeBron James wants to own NBA expansion team in Las Vegas

LeBron James made his post-retirement goals clear: He wants to own an NBA team, and he wants it in Las Vegas. "I would love to bring a team here at some point," he told reporters after scoring 23 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to the Phoenix Suns in a preseason game played Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

Baseball-Dodgers, Astros on crash course for World Series rematch

The Los Angeles Dodgers enter Major League Baseball's new 12-team postseason as the betting favourites to win the World Series but a familiar foe in the equally deep and experienced Houston Astros could very well stand in their way. Should both clubs reach the final round it would offer the Dodgers a chance at vindication given they lost the 2017 World Series to an Astros team whose triumph that year was called into question over a sign-stealing scandal.

(With inputs from agencies.)