KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants zipped through the playoffs, Lorenzo Cain and the Kansas City Royals zoomed along.

And then, they all got some time off. Almost an eternity, by October standards.

When the World Series begins Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, both teams will deal with a familiar issue this deep in the postseason: Does an extended layoff translate into rest or rust?

The Royals went 8-0 in the playoffs, giving them five off days before James Shields starts in Game 1. The Giants went 8-2 and had four days to relax before Madison Bumgarner pitches the opener.

The clubs held workouts, studied video and checked out scouting reports. But as several teams that stumbled in the World Series after long breaks discovered, nothing can duplicate playing a real game.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Big 12 has been as entertaining as any league in the country.

All that fun might come with a price.

Upsets like West Virginia beating Baylor and Kansas State surprising Oklahoma have again made the conference impossible to ignore during the regular season. But they could also leave the league out of the inaugural College Football Playoff.

Kansas State, TCU and Baylor are the only one-loss teams left, and each has plenty of challenges ahead.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants zipped through the playoffs, Lorenzo Cain and the Kansas City Royals zoomed along.

And then, they all got some time off. Almost an eternity, by October standards.

When the World Series begins Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, both teams will deal with a familiar issue this deep in the postseason: Does an extended layoff translate into rest or rust?

The Royals went 8-0 in the playoffs, giving them five off days before James Shields starts in Game 1. The Giants went 8-2 and had four days to relax before Madison Bumgarner pitches the opener.

The clubs held workouts, studied video and checked out scouting reports. But as several teams that stumbled in the World Series after long breaks discovered, nothing can duplicate playing a real game.

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Trisha Yearwood and Carlos Santana are among the musicians set to perform the national anthem during the World Series.

Major League Baseball says Yearwood will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Game 1 on Tuesday when the San Francisco Giants play the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Santana will perform an instrumental rendition of the national anthem with his son before Game 4 on Saturday at the AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Country quartet Little Big Town will sing before Game 2 on Wednesday. Former “American Idol” winner Phillip Phillips will sing before Game 3 on Friday.

The games will air on Fox at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Sophomore forward Jack Karapetyan has voluntarily withdrawn from the Kansas State men’s basketball team, head coach Bruce Weber announced on Monday.

“Jack has decided he wants to transfer from K-State,” said Weber. “We appreciate his contributions and wish him the best in the future as he continues his college basketball career.”

Karapetyan will remain in school at Kansas State through the Fall and will consider transfer options upon completion of the semester. In June, he received a medical hardship waiver for the 2013-14 season after playing in just six games due to a foot injury. With the waiver, he has the full allotment of five years to complete his eligibility.

The native of Los Angeles, California, Karapetyan signed with K-State in July 2013 after one season at Cathedral Prep. He saw time in just six games as a true freshman in 2013-14 for a total of 20 minutes, scoring his first points on a field goal against Central Arkansas in four minutes of action on Dec. 1, 2013.

K-State continues preparations for the 2014-15 season and will host its annual Media Day on Wednesday.

Release by Tom Gilbert, K-State Associate Director/Athletics Communications – Photo from K-State Sports

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Cairo Santos kicked a 48-yard field goal field goal with 21 seconds left and the Kansas City Chiefs beat San Diego 23-20 Sunday, snapping the Chargers’ five-game winning streak.

The Chiefs moved into field goal range thanks to Alex Smith, who completed three straight passes on the drive for 43 yards, including a 29-yarder to Dwayne Bowe.

Smith was playing on the same field where he led Helix High to consecutive San Diego Section championships.

Coming off their bye, the Chiefs made the AFC West a three-team race, pulling within 1 1/2 games of San Diego. The Denver Broncos hosted San Francisco on Sunday night.

The Chargers flunked their sternest test in a month and lost for the first time since a defeat at Arizona in the season opener.

The Kansas State Wildcats moved up three notches in the weekly Associated Press and Amway Coaches college football polls after their 31-30 win over Oklahoma to No.11.

Mississippi State is ranked first in both polls.

There are four Southeastern Conference teams in the top five in both polls. Ole Miss is ranked third, Alabama fourth, and Auburn fifth. Florida State of the ACC is ranked second.

From the Big 12, TCU holds down the No. 10 spot in both polls. Baylor is ranked 12th in the AP poll and 13th by the coaches. Oklahoma is 17th in the Associated Press rankings, and 18th in the coaches poll.

The Texas Longhorns, ranked second in the nation, swept No. 25 Kansas State Saturday night at Ahearn Fieldhouse 25-19, 25-22, 25-12.

The Wildcats fell to 17-3, 4-2 Big 12 .

Texas improved to 14-0, 6-0 in the Big 12.

The loss was the 22nd straight by the Wildcats to the Longhorns.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) – Michael Hunnicutt missed a 19-yard field goal late as No. 14 Kansas State held off No. 11 Oklahoma 31-30 on Saturday afternoon.

Oklahoma, trailing by a point in the fourth quarter, drove to the Kansas State 1-yard line, but couldn’t punch the ball in. Hunnicutt then missed the short field goal that would have put the Sooners ahead with 3:53 remaining. Kansas State (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) took possession and ran out the clock.

Hunnicutt, touted as an All-America candidate before the season, missed a total of two short field goals and had an extra point blocked.

Jake Waters passed for 225 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats. Oklahoma’s Sterling Shepard tied a school record with 15 catches for 197 yards and Trevor Knight passed for 318 yards and three touchdowns for Oklahoma (5-2, 2-2).

Knight headed to the locker room with 8:44 left in the first quarter after taking a hit to the back. Backup quarterback Cody Thomas stepped in for the rest of the drive and led the Sooners to a touchdown. Samaje Perine’s 2-yard scoring run gave the Sooners a 7-0 lead.

Kansas State answered quickly when Glenn Gronkowski caught a 62-yard touchdown pass from Waters.

Knight returned to the game. He threw out of his end zone, and Kansas State’s Danzel McDaniel stepped in front of Durron Neal and returned the interception 5 yards for a touchdown to put Kansas State ahead a minute into the second quarter.

Knight came right back and found Blake Bell over the middle for 22 yards, then found Shepard deep for a 47-yard touchdown that tied the score at 14.

Waters connected with Tyler Lockett in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard score that gave Kansas State a 21-14 lead.

Hunnicutt made a 38-yard field goal to cut Kansas State’s lead to 21-17. He could have cut the Wildcats’ lead again, a 32-yard field goal attempt went wide left as time expired in the first half.

A 28-yard catch by Shepard helped set up Bell’s 4-yard touchdown catch that tied the score at 24.

Waters’ 3-yard touchdown run gave Kansas State a 31-24 lead.

Oklahoma reached the Kansas State 17, but Neal, a receiver, threw an interception to Morgan Burns late in the third quarter to end the threat.

Neal made up for it with his first career touchdown catch, a 9-yarder that cut Kansas State’s lead to 31-30, but Kansas State’s Travis Britz blocked the extra point, and that turned out to be the difference.

The Junction City Lady Jays and Blue Jays cross country teams finished third in their brackets of competition at the Centennial League meet at Lake Shawnee, Topeka on Saturday.

Coach Becky Steiger reported that in girls competition Brianna Pace of Junction City finished fourth in 16:13. Her teammates Myrissa Humphreys and Briona Jenson finished fifth and 13th, respectively with times of 16:14 and 16:38.

In the boys varsity competition Stephen Deveau was the seventh place finisher in 17:02 followed by Anthony Deltufo 12th 17:20, Daniel Rivera 16th 17:29, and Nick Arneson 18th in 7:34.

Junior varsity medalists for Junction City were Nesha Rand with a fifth place finish in the jv race in 18:28, and Raul Ramirez 10th in 19:05.

Manhattan won the varsity team title for the girls with the low score of 23 points followed by Seaman with 59, and Junction City 86. In the varsity boys race Manhattan won the championship with the low score of 34 points followed by Washburn Rural with 75, and Junction City 77 points.