For the first time in franchise history, the Chicago Cubs have three players named Gold Glove defensive award winners in a season.

Second baseman Nico Hoerner won his first National League Gold Glove award Sunday night while shortstop Dansby Swanson and left fielder Ian Happ both won the second of their career coming in back-to-back years.

He is the fourth Cubs shortstop to win the award after Javier Báez (2020), Don Kessinger (1969 and 1970) and Ernie Banks (1960).

Hoerner, a finalist in 2020, is the fourth Cubs second baseman to win the award, joining Darwin Barney (2012), Ryne Sandberg (nine times, last in 1991), Glenn Beckert (1968) and Ken Hubbs (1962). He teamed up with Swanson as one of the best middle infield duos in the majors, fittingly earning them both hardware.

“There’s no ball (Hoerner) feels like he can’t catch and make a play on,” Swanson told the Tribune. “And there will be times he dives and makes a play and can’t get the throw off and he’ll get (mad), but the fact (he) even got to the ball … that’s one thing that makes him a great defender.”

Swanson’s defensive wizardry was as advertised during Year 1 in Chicago, a big part of why the Cubs signed him to a seven-year, $177 million contract last offseason. His 20 Outs Above Average (OAA) led all players this year and his 18 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) were the most among MLB shortstops and also tied him for fifth among all positions.

More traditional stats favored Happ’s Gold Glove award candidacy. His 12 outfield assists topped all big-league outfielders and the 253 putouts he tallied were second-most for NL left fielders.

For the White Sox, center fielder Luis Robert Jr. was the team’s only Gold Glove finalist but it was the Toronto Blue Jays’ Kevin Kiermaier who won for the American League at that position.

Chicago native Alek Thomas was a National League finalist for center field for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but lost to Brenton Doyle of the Colorado Rockies.

Gold Glove finalists are determined by a combination of 75% voting among managers and coaches and 25% use of a proprietary metric known as the SABR Defensive Index (SDI).

Now that the winners have been announced, a combination of fan voting and SDI will determine the Platinum Glove winner from each league. Those winners will be revealed at the Gold Glove award ceremony on Nov. 10.

Also on Sunday, the Cubs announced they exercised the 2024 team options for starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks and catcher Yan Gomes. Hendricks remains the longest-tenured Cub on the roster.

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FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — Families across Minnesota came together Saturday to celebrate adoption while advocating the need for more people to get involved.

The Minnesota Department Of Human Services hosted its 26th annual “Circus Of The Heart” event at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

Hundreds of blended families participated in games and art activities. DHS also held a presentation for adults interested in learning more about the adoption and kinship care process.

“I’m just so proud of Minnesota; it’s a state that always embraced adoption and now kinship care and I think the state population is very open to that and has been really welcoming,” Commissioner Jodi Harpstead said. “And we’re just so proud of folks that step up to be forever families to the kids that really need them.”

Harpstead said 1,006 children were adopted from foster care in 2022 and another 637 children were placed in the care of a relative.

Becky Puchtel fostered and adopted two children. She said being at this event lets her family know that they’re not alone.

“We love coming, we love seeing all the different families,” Puchtel said. “I think it’s really good for them to see that they are not the only ones, so they see other kids and you know non-matching families and they get to be around other people that are experiencing the same things.”

DHS reports that there are more than 500 children waiting to be adopted. To learn more, visit www.fosteradoptmn.org.

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The missing ingredient has been found.

Well, maybe.

The Ravens needed a home run hitter at running back to complete this team for a playoff run and they might have found him in rookie Keaton Mitchell, an undrafted free agent out of East Carolina and a product of McDonough, Georgia.

The 5-foot-8, 191-pound speedster played a huge role in the Ravens’ 37-3 victory against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, making one of the NFL’s top teams even more complete.

The Ravens already had everything else. They have perhaps the league’s best defense, which held Seattle to 151 yards of total offense, including 87 in the first half and 50 on a pass to wide receiver DK Metcalf late in the second quarter.

They had an inside runner in Gus Edwards and a third-down weapon out of the backfield in passing situations in Justice Hill. They already had a quarterback who has gotten better passing inside the red zone and making quick decisions when facing blitzes.

They were just missing a breakaway threat who could possibly score on every play from anywhere on the field.

Enter Keaton Mitchell.

He finished with 138 yards on nine carries, including a long run of 60 yards and a 40-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left in the third quarter to push the Ravens’ lead to 30-3. His 60-yard scamper led to a 6-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Tyler Huntley to receiver Odell Beckham Jr. midway through the fourth.

“We’ve seen in the preseason where he was playing against the [Washington Commanders]. We saw how explosive he was, and we see it in practice, but today the offensive line just gave him a little room and he did the rest,” Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said of Mitchell. “He was hitting the hole. … Just making crazy runs [and] great cuts. It was great to see. Sometimes, I wasn’t carrying out my fake, because I wanted to see what he was going to do with the ball.”

It might be a one-game flash, but at least the Ravens have something to work with, another weapon to put into offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s arsenal.

Before Tuesday’s trade deadline, there was a clamor for the Ravens to make a last-minute deal for Titans running back Derrick Henry or the Raiders’ Josh Jacobs, moves that might have put the team over the top for a deep playoff run. The cost, however, was too much and there was no guarantee that player would put the Ravens into the AFC championship or Super Bowl.

There isn’t any guarantee with Mitchell, either, but at least the Ravens won’t mortgage away their future for one or two years of a veteran running back. They might have a threat now.

Maybe.

“That really never came into the conversation. [I’m] just being honest,” coach John Harbaugh about Mitchell’s status in any trade talks. “I think we knew what we had with him, and we also have. … I’m going to tell you, Melvin Gordon’s a really good back, too. We have four guys that we really like, but I think you look at value and what it costs and opportunity.

“It just didn’t work out, but yes, it’s probably a pretty good point. It turned out OK, right?” Harbaugh asked with a smile.

Mitchell might be the upgrade needed as long as he can stay healthy. He missed the first four games of the season with a shoulder injury and played only two offensive snaps before Sunday.

But the Ravens finally got all their receivers involved, including Beckham (five catches for 56 yards) and Rashod Bateman (three catches for 28 yards), to complement tight end Mark Andrews and rookie Zay Flowers.

Jackson is a dual threat, but opposing defenses only had to honor his speed on the outside. Well, not anymore.

Mitchell could be the missing element, even though he didn’t get his first carry until Sunday.

But how do you like this lineup: On the inside is Gus The Bus. On third down, there’s Hill, who has become so much better as a pass blocker through the years. Now, the Ravens might have a breakaway threat in Mitchell, something they haven’t had since J.K. Dobbins tore his Achilles tendon in the season opener against the Houston Texans.

Seattle had a hard time finding Mitchell. He showed quick acceleration to run through holes up the middle. He flashed the speed to get to the outside and then the cutback ability to outmaneuver the Seahawks in the open field.

So when you look at the Ravens’ offense now, you see a team that can hurt you in many ways. Combined with an overpowering defense, the Ravens are complete.

A better word is balanced, and certainly more explosive. It’s not often that a rookie can mean so much, but Mitchell could play a big part in this team’s success, especially late in the season.

He is also extremely humble and hungry, which makes him even more of a perfect fit for a team that already has established players such as Andrews, Beckham and Jackson.

“It means a lot. My dad was undrafted,” said Mitchell, whose dad, Anthony, was a reserve safety on the Ravens’ 2000 Super Bowl championship team. “He came here [to Baltimore]. He told me everything I needed to know. [He said] just stay humble, keep doing what you do, keep thanking God, and your time will come. And today, it came, so [I’ll] just keep going.”

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The Chicago Bears’ offensive unraveling started with about 11 minutes to play in the fourth quarter Sunday at the Caesars Superdome.

Trailing the New Orleans Saints by a touchdown, rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent sent a pass toward Darnell Mooney in the middle of the field, but safety Marcus Maye jumped in front of it for an interception.

Bagent hopped a few times and then dropped to the ground for a few seconds as he processed the turnover.

There were far too many of those moments in the Saints’ 24-17 win.

Maye’s interception was one of five Saints takeaways, including four off Bagent. In what could be one of his last starts in place of injured starter Justin Fields — if not the last — Bagent threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. He committed three of those turnovers on the Bears’ final four drives of the fourth quarter — with the game within reach thanks to some big defensive stops.

“It really just all comes down to myself in that last quarter of being able to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Bagent said. “Coach talks about it every single day, how important it is to take care of the ball, and I didn’t do a good job of that.”

He added: “I thought our team played extremely well, which is why it’s so embarrassing. One-score game, to lose the turnover battle by that amount, it’s embarrassing.”

It’s unclear yet if that was Bagent’s last start in place of Fields.

Fields practiced Friday for the first time since dislocating his thumb Oct. 15. Bears general manager Ryan Poles said during the team’s pregame radio show on WMVP-AM 1000 there’s a possibility Fields will be ready to play Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers at Soldier Field.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus said he will know more Monday as the team begins its three days of preparation.

“It was really good to see (Fields) throw and go through a progression over the last few days,” Poles said. “To see him back out on the field with his teammates, throwing on air, throwing in seven on seven, working through some adjustments with a glove, without a glove. We’ll see what he feels comfortable with moving forward. We’ll also lean on our medical staff to make sure that we’re making the right decision as well.”

If Sunday was an end to Bagent’s three-game stint as a starting quarterback, it wasn’t a good one.

The day had started so well for the Bears, with Bagent finding tight end Cole Kmet for a highlight-reel 18-yard touchdown on their opening drive. A diving Kmet reached up over the hands of Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu to pull down the score.

Bagent threw an interception on his second drive to Paulson Adebo on a pass to Kmet, but he rebounded by leading another touchdown drive, hitting Kmet again with a 9-yard touchdown pass. With the game tied 14-14 at halftime, Bagent had thrown for 148 yards, two touchdowns an interception and had rushed for 60 yards.

Kmet didn’t place the blame for the first pick entirely on Bagent, saying he could have at least tried to break up Adebo’s catch.

“I don’t know if (Bagent) got fooled with the drop-eight a little bit, but I could do a better job of coming back to the football, and I think the other guys would say the same on theirs as well,” Kmet said. “I just told (Bagent) to keep ripping it because those are the right throws. We’ve got to be better as playmakers in terms of making him right and making those plays, friendly angles, and all those types of deals. I still thought he played a really good game, and we’ve got to be better around him, and we’ve got to shore up the penalties.”

Adebo also forced wide receiver DJ Moore to fumble following a 13-yard catch in the third quarter, and the Saints followed with a field goal. But the game was tied heading into the fourth quarter.

The Saints then started all five of their fourth-quarter drives in Bears territory, though they only scored once, on a 3-yard Taysom Hill pass to Juwan Johnson that put them ahead 24-17 with 11 minutes, 11 seconds to play.

That’s when Bagent’s string of late turnovers began.

“We came kind of to a screaming halt there,” Kmet said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it before where they’re on our side of the 50 for the better (part) of the fourth quarter. … That’s crazy. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. I’ve never seen that in my life.”

After the Maye interception, the Bears stopped Saints quarterback Derek Carr for no gain on fourth-and-1 on the next drive. But the Bears gave the ball back six plays later when Adebo got in front of a pass to Tyler Scott for his third takeaway of the day.

“I think it was good on their part, bad on my part,” Bagent said of the fourth-quarter interceptions. “Tight coverage, they made a couple really good plays. Hats off to them, but once again, I’ve got to probably just go somewhere else with the ball. So that’s on me.”

The Bears had one final chance to tie when Blake Grupe’s 47-yard field goal bounced off the left upright to keep it a one-score game. But Saints linebacker Demario Davis got between offensive linemen Larry Borom and Cody Whitehair for a strip-sack of Bagent that linebacker Pete Werner recovered.

Bagent and Eberflus both said the rookie’s main focus is now learning from the mistakes he made. Whether that’s on the field in one more start or in practice as the backup to Fields should be known soon.

“We’ve just got to let it soak in for him,” Moore said. “You can’t just jump on him right now. We all know we lost the game because of turnovers. He knows that. We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board.”

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