Wednesday’s “First Call” has news about a departing Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back. Lamar Jackson could be down for a while in Baltimore. The Atlantic 10’s commissioner wants a bigger NCAA Tournament.
And we check in on some former Pirates in the MLB playoffs.
Pillaging the practice squad
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers nabbed a member of the Steelers from the practice squad.
It’s safety Sebastian Castro. That news comes from Aaron Wilson at KPRC2-TV in Houston.
#Buccaneers place Rashad Wisdom on IR, sign Sebastian Castro off #Steelers practice squad
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) September 30, 2025
The rookie out of Iowa had five tackles against Tampa in the preseason.
Wilson also noted from the NFL transaction page that former Steeler Cam Johnston is back on injured reserve in Buffalo after another ugly injury last Sunday. This time it was to his plant leg and not to his punting leg, as was the case in Week 1 of last season.
Plus, former Pitt Panther and Central Catholic long snapper Cal Adomitis has signed with Philadelphia.
Losing Lamar
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is expected to miss Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans with a hamstring injury.
That’s according to Brian Wacker of The Baltimore Sun, who reports that Jackson could be out two to three weeks.
Jackson got hurt Sunday in Kansas City as the Ravens were losing to the Chiefs, 37-20. Cooper Rush relieved Jackson and completed 9 of 13 passes for 52 yards.
The Ravens are stuck at 1-3 on the season. This is the first of three home games in a row for Baltimore. After facing the 1-3 Texans, the Ravens welcome the Los Angeles Rams, then have a bye before taking on Chicago.
More sports
• After WR Calvin Austin’s shoulder injury, Steelers look to fill his absence from within
• Source: Pirates won’t renew contracts of pitching coach Oscar Marin, 3rd base coach Mike Rabelo
• Tight end Connor Heyward thrives running Steelers’ debut ‘tush push’
Bigger is better?
The Atlantic 10 held its basketball Media Day festivities Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena. The conference’s Men’s Basketball Tournament will be there in March.
A-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade joined me on Fox Sports Pittsburgh 970 during our broadcast from the arena. She has long been a supporter of expanding the NCAA Tournament beyond its 68-team bracket. That idea was discussed this summer, but it never came to fruition.
McGlade is expecting that will change soon.
“I’m optimistic that we could see expansion by 2026-27. I think that the timeline just got too tight over the course of the summer, trying to negotiate with the current media partners. But I’m confident that they’re going to work out whatever hiccups came in the way. I think we’ll probably see (expansion) if not within the year, I think absolutely within two years.”
OK. To what number?
“I think they’re going to land at 76. I would love to see it go higher. I don’t think they’re going to go higher. For the time, effort and energy it takes to put together an expansion of a tournament, to go to 72? It’s almost the same amount of time, effort and energy to get to 76,” McGlade said. “I’m thinking they’re probably going to go in a bucket of eight.”
The question becomes why would McGlade be in favor of such a plan if the Power 4 conferences just gobble up an additional seven or eight spots if the tournament expands.
She doesn’t think that’ll be the case and believes her conference could be one that benefits.
“People ask me that all the time,” McGlade said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily true, because I have a lot of confidence in the selection committee. I know the members of those committees well. I think they’re gonna put the next best eight teams into the bracket, and I’m willing to take my chances with the A-10 teams against whoever would fall into that category of the next eight. I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that they’re just going to go with six of the power of four conferences and then two others.”
VCU was the only conference member to get a bid last year, automatically qualifying as the A-10 Tournament champion. The A-10 hasn’t had a year with more than two bids since 2018, when Rhode Island, Davidson and St. Bonaventure made it.
Rough debut
Things didn’t go so well for David Bednar in his New York Yankees postseason debut.
The former Pirate gave up two hits and an earned run in the top of the ninth courtesy of an Alex Bregman RBI double for the Boston Red Sox.
Alex Bregman’s been here before ????
In his 100th #Postseason game, he delivers a huge insurance run! pic.twitter.com/be6WnlbaXN
— MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2025
Bednar pitched ⅔ of an inning in the 3-1 Yankees loss. Fellow reliever Luke Weaver absorbed the defeat. Both starters, Boston’s Garret Crochet and New York’s Max Fried, were excellent. Fried tossed 6⅓ innings of shutout ball. Crochet had 11 strikeouts and allowed just one run.
Boston looks to sweep the best-of-three series on Wednesday in New York.
Meanwhile, another ex-Pirate, Cincinnati’s Ke’Bryan Hayes, was 0-4 in the Reds’ 10-5 loss in Los Angeles as the Dodgers took Game 1 of that series Tuesday.
However, former Pirate Aroldis Chapman got the save for Boston in the Red Sox victory.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
