With a victory in Game 6 in Toronto on Friday night, the Blue Jays can wrap up a third World Series title. The first two were back-to-back wins in 1992 and 1993, and neither would have happened without an injection of St. Paul DNA.

North St. Paul’s Louie Varland is a key part of this year’s Jays bullpen, but those first Toronto winners featured Hall of Famers Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and Jack Morris, all of whom grew up within a few miles of one another west of downtown.

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Jack Morris pitches against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning of the World Series, Oct. 17, 1992 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Swart)

All of them played for the home town Twins, as well, but only Morris won a World Series with Minnesota. Winfield and Molitor each reached another Series — with the Yankees and Brewers, respectively — but their championship rings are from Toronto.

Winfield hit .280 with 62 extra-base hits — 26 of them home runs and, perhaps most impressive, three triples at age 40. He drove in 108 runs for a Blue Jays team that won 96 regular-season games and beat Atlanta, 4-2 in the 1992 World Series.

“That was my favorite year,” he said.

For Winfield, 74, it remains the high point of a remarkable athletic career that started at Central High School, included standout baseball and basketball careers at the University of Minnesota and ended with 3,110 major league hits, 465 of them home runs.

“I had a lot of hits, played for a lot of teams — a lot of things like that,” Winfield said from his home in Southern California last week. “But to win as a team, that’s what baseball is all about. That goes down in history.”

Morris, the ride-or-die right-hander from Highland Park, won a league-high 21 games and became the Blue Jays’ first 20-game winner in 1992 — no mean feat, he added, considering some of the pitchers Toronto had put on the mound: Dave Steib, Mike Flannagan and Jim Clancy among them.

Morris, 70, pitched for World Series winners in Detroit (1984), Minnesota (1991) and Toronto (1992). Asked if he were rooting for the Blue Jays this week, he said, “Oh, you bet I am.”

“Each was a unique joy for me,” he said. “Detroit because it was the first, and because of all the guys who had worked together to get to that point. Coming home was, I think, the dream of every young kid. And then the two teams I played for in Toronto were the most talented teams. I mean, they were all-star teams.”

Morris pitched a team-high 240⅔ innings for that 1992 team that also included star position players Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter and John Olerud — with Winfield as the designated hitter.

“It was a fun time and a fun team, everybody got along,” Winfield said. “We drew over 4 million fans, something the Dodgers did this year; we did it 30-plus years ago. It’s really something to win for an entire country that had never won before. That makes a permanent imprint.”

Morris suffered an elbow injury late in 1993 and couldn’t pitch in the postseason, but an influx of all-star talent the previous winter had already made that team the most talented he ever played on. That included former Cy Young winner Dave Stewart and Rickey Henderson, still baseball’s best leadoff hitter.

But no addition was bigger than Molitor, who replaced Winfield as DH and hit .332 with a .402 on-base percentage, league-high 211 hits and 121 runs scored.

“That team was even better, and it was hard for me because I couldn’t play,” Morris said. “But I really did appreciate what those guys did, and I had the best seat in the house, got to hear all the conversations after guys got off the mound and or out of the batter’s box.”

Morris will have good seats for Game 6 on Friday, as well. He was getting ready to travel to Toronto to be at the Rogers Centre — known as SkyDome during those first World Series runs — to watch the game in person.

Winfield will continue watching from So Cal, where he has a rooting interest in each team. But he only played for one and looked back fondly on his one year in Toronto, where he remains a beloved figure.

Toronto Blue Jays third base coach Nick Leyva, left, puts his arm around Paul Molitor after Molitor was advanced to third in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the World Series, Oct. 19, 1993 in Philadelphia. Molitor scored in the seventh as the Blue Jays defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 10-3 to take a 2-1 lead. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)

He gets back to Canada once or twice a year, he said, “And they always recognize me and are very generous, happy to meet me. It’s always a pleasure.”

Morris doesn’t expect he’ll be recognized as much on Friday.

“If they have brown or black hair, they won’t see me,” he said. “You have to be at least 60 now to recognize me.”

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By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Hip-hop producer Sean “Diddy” Combs wants a federal appeals court to quickly consider the legality of his conviction on prostitution-related charges and his more than four-year prison sentence.

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His lawyers filed papers with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, asking that oral arguments in his appeal occur in April.

The lawyers noted that Combs has already served 14 months of his 50-month sentence and that he may earn reductions in time behind bars because of his participation in a substance abuse treatment program and a program established by the First Step Act to improve an inmate’s return to society.

Combs wants his appeal to be considered soon enough that he can benefit from a reduction of time spent in prison if the appeals court reverses his conviction, his lawyers said.

Combs, 55, was convicted in July of flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters in multiple places over many years. However, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life.

Apologetic at his sentencing for what he described as his “disgusting, shameful” behavior, the Bad Boy Records founder was sentenced to four years and two months in prison by a judge who praised the courage of the women who testified against him.

Combs is scheduled to be released from prison on May 8, 2028, assuming he gets credit for good behavior behind bars. He has been incarcerated since his arrest in September 2024, when he was taken into custody at a Manhattan hotel.

In a letter to the judge before he was sentenced, Combs said he has gone through a “spiritual reset” in jail and was “committed to the journey of remaining a drug free, non-violent and peaceful person.”

His lawyers told the judge that Combs’ arrest and conviction have destroyed his businesses, forcing the layoffs of more than 100 employees who struggled to find new jobs because of their past association with the music mogul.

He also still faces dozens of lawsuits filed against him since his arrest.

By JOSH FUNK, AP Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — American farmers welcomed China’s promise to buy some of their soybeans, but they cautioned this won’t solve all their problems as they continue to deal with soaring prices for fertilizer, tractors, repair parts and seeds.

The Chinese promise to buy at least 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for next three years will bring their purchases back in line with where they were at before President Donald Trump launched his trade war with China in the spring. But the 12 million metric tons that China plans to buy between now and January is only about half the typical annual volume.

“This is a very good thing. I’m very grateful,” said Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt, who is a director with the United Soybean Board. “I don’t want to sound like a ungrateful farmer, but it doesn’t cure everything in the short term.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China also agreed to remove all its retaliatory tariffs on American ag products, which should open the door for sales of other crops and beef. Plus, China promised to resume buying U.S. sorghum, which is another crop largely used for animal feed that depends on that market. More than half the sorghum and soybean crops are exported every year with much of that going to China.

Having these promises from China should make it easier for farmers to get the loans they need heading into next year, but Ewoldt said “I hope the administration doesn’t think that this solves everything in the next 6 to 8 months or ten months.”

Trump had promised to offer farmers a significant aid package this fall to help them survive the trade war with China, but it’s been put on hold because of the ongoing government shutdown. Rollins said that aid package is still in the works, but she promised the administration is ready to “step in the gap” and address any sort of harm the trade war has caused farmers.

“We’ll see what the market does and we will be ready to continue to step in if in fact, we believe it’s necessary,” Rollins said.

China is the world’s largest buyer of soybeans. It had been consistently buying about one quarter of the American crop in recent years. China bought more than $12.5 billion worth of the nearly $24.5 billion worth of U.S. soybeans that were exported last year.

China quit buying American soybeans this year after Trump imposed his tariffs. Yet it had been steadily shifting more of its purchases over to Brazil and other South American nations ever since Trump’s initial trade war with China in his first term.

Last year, Brazilian beans accounted for more than 70% of China’s imports, while the U.S. share fell to 21%, World Bank data shows. Argentina and other South American countries also are selling more to China, which has diversified to boost food security.

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Farmer Caleb Ragland, who is president of the American Soybean Association trade group, said this agreement lays the foundation for restoring China’s traditional purchases of 25 million to 30 million metric tons of American soybeans.

“This is a meaningful step forward to reestablishing a stable, long-term trading relationship that delivers results for farm families and future generations,” said Ragland, who farms near Magnolia, Kentucky.

Indiana farmer Brent Bible said this deal with China sounds good— as long as they actually do what they promised, unlike what happened with the trade agreement China signed with the United States in 2020 after Trump’s initial trade war. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade between the two nations just as the agreement went into effect. In 2022, U.S. farm exports to China hit a record, but then fell.

“If we see actionable purchases and follow through by China, then it’s great,” Bible said.

A former dance instructor from Lakeville who repeatedly sexually assaulted a teen student has been given two months in the Dakota County jail and seven years of probation.

Timothy Mark Olson Jr. (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Timothy Mark Olson Jr., 36, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in August to the sole count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for acts that authorities say took place with a teenage girl at his home from June 2022 through the end of that year.

The victim went to Lakeville police in November 2023 and reported Olson sexually assaulted her at his home approximately five to eight times in the summer and fall of 2022, while she was under the age of 18.

She said Olson was her instructor at a dance studio beginning when she was in ninth grade and that her parents began paying him to teach her individual lessons when she was an 11th-grader. Olson started contacting the girl through Instagram messages, which “started out innocuous but progressed to asking Victim to come to his residence in Lakeville,” the criminal complaint said.

Olson made a straight plea to the charge — meaning no agreement was in place with the prosecution — and faced a presumptive three-year stayed sentence under state guidelines.

Olson’s attorney asked Judge Krista Marks for no additional time beyond the one day he had served after his arrest, or, in the alternative, 180 days on house arrest.

His 60-day jail sentence will begin Feb. 16, court records show. His sentence includes a stay of imposition, which means the felony conviction will be considered a misdemeanor if he successfully completes probation.

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