HOUSTON — Adolis García homered twice and drove in five runs as the Texas Rangers reached the World Series with an 11-4 blowout of the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series on Monday night.

García went deep for the fourth straight game and set a record for RBIs in a postseason series with 15. Corey Seager got things started for the Rangers with a long home run in the first inning, and Nathaniel Lowe also went deep to give Texas — one of six major league teams without a World Series title — its first berth in the Fall Classic since consecutive trips in 2010 and 2011.

After winning their Lone Star State showdown with Houston, the wild-card Rangers open the World Series at home Friday night against Arizona or Philadelphia, who play the decisive Game 7 of their NLCS on Tuesday night.

Bruce Bochy, who came out of retirement this season to manage the Rangers, became the first skipper to win a League Championship Series with three different teams, after previously leading San Diego and San Francisco to NL pennants.

The defending World Series champion Astros were finally dethroned. It fittingly came at home, where they went 40-47 this year, including losing all four home games in this series. They won all three at Texas and came home a win shy of a third straight pennant, but their pitching staff got pounded for 20 runs in the final two games.

No club has won consecutive World Series since the New York Yankees took three straight from 1998-2000.

The Rangers improved to 8-0 on the road in the playoffs, joining the 1996 Yankees as the only teams to win their first eight road games in one postseason.

Texas starter Max Scherzer, acquired from the Mets in July, wasn’t great in this one, allowing four hits and two runs with two walks in 2 2/3 innings. But the Rangers took advantage of an early flop by Cristian Javier.

The Rangers jumped on Javier immediately and tagged him for three runs, highlighted by Seager’s second-deck shot, before he was lifted with just one out in the first. It was the first time Javier had lost a playoff start after entering the game 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA in four career postseason starts.

Seager, in his second season with Texas after signing a 10-year, $325 million contract, had three hits after starting the series 5 for 26.

García, who had four hits, slugged his sixth home run this postseason to make it 4-1 in the third before the Astros cut it to two on a home run by Alex Bregman in the bottom of the inning.

Texas broke things open with a four-run fourth that featured a two-run double by rookie Evan Carter and a two-run single by García.

After hitting a grand slam to punctuate a 9-2 win in Game 6, García led the charge Monday. He had 15 RBIs in this series to break the record set by Nelson Cruz with 13 for Texas in the 2011 ALCS.

The slugger was booed throughout the game for a second straight night after being at the center of a bench-clearing scuffle in Game 5 after being hit by a pitch from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu.

García seemed to delight in playing the road villain. When he opened the third inning with his shot to right field, he watched as the ball sailed over the fence before slowly taking a few steps toward first base. He then dropped his bat, turned around and skipped backward for a few feet while smiling broadly at his cheering dugout before trotting around the bases.

The Cuban slugger added a solo shot in the eighth to give him seven homers and 20 RBIs this postseason, passing Houston’s Yordan Alvarez (six) for the most home runs in the playoffs this year.

García’s home run streak is tied for fourth-longest in postseason history.

The road team won every game in this series, marking just the second time in baseball history the home team dropped each game of a best-of-seven series. The Astros were also on the wrong end of the other one, dropping four home games in a loss to the Nationals in the 2019 World Series, a series in which Scherzer also pitched Game 7 in Houston.

Texas and Houston had identical regular-season records (90-72), with the AL West title going to the Astros on a head-to-head tiebreaker. Tied once again entering this game, the Rangers came out on top when it mattered most.

Texas’ win guarantees a third all-wild card World Series, the first since Bochy’s Giants beat Kansas City in 2014.

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The deadline to sign a rookie contract extension passed Monday without Patrick Williams and the Chicago Bulls striking a deal. What does that mean as the former No. 4 draft pick enters the fourth and final year of his contract?

Williams has been a complicated figure for the Bulls since they selected him in the first round of the 2020 draft. After a promising rookie year, his growth was slowed by a season-ending wrist injury in his sophomore season.

There have been bright spots in Williams’ progression — a building role as a defensive leader, his 41.4% accuracy from behind the 3-point arc. But his relatively moderate production (averaging 10.2 points, four rebounds and 1.2 assists last season) has been a point of emphasis — and contention — for the Bulls.

Still, Williams remains a valuable piece of the puzzle for the Bulls — both as a key player in the starting lineup and as a potential trade asset if this season doesn’t shake the status quo.

Ahead of the deadline on Monday, Williams voiced his enthusiasm to secure a large deal for himself — whether at the deadline or next summer in free agency.

“That’s more the business of basketball,” Williams said. “That’s why I have an agent. I’ve never been good at the business of basketball. Obviously this is how I feed my family. Obviously I want a big contract. That’s what I work for.”

Across the league, 13 players signed rookie contract extensions over the summer. Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton and Desmond Bane each signed maximum deals worth $260 million. That left 14 players eligible for extensions before Monday’s deadline.

Several players agreed to extensions in the final hours before the deadline. Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels agreed to a five-year, $136 million contract extension, pushing the team into the luxury tax, according to a report by The Athletic. Josh Green signed a more cost-effective three-year, $41 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks, according to ESPN.

Each extension set the table for Williams and his side to demand a higher price tag for a long-term extension of his contract.

This is a familiar position for the Bulls, who also let Coby White pass the rookie extension deadline last season without inking a new deal. The end result was a net positive — White made major strides throughout his fourth NBA season, the Bulls re-signed him to a three-year, $40 million contract in June and now he’s set to start at point guard on opening day.

The same path exists for Williams, who will hit the market next summer as a restricted free agent, which will allow the Bulls to match any offer the forward receives.

For Williams, the most important step in contract negotiation ahead of next summer is simple — make the best case for himself on the court.

“Anything personal in my life that I’ve been going through, any time I step in between those four lines it’s gone,” Williams said. “For me, it’s going to be easy to just go out and play.”

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Jordan Addison provided the offense, while Cam Bynum provided the defense.

Together they helped the Vikings pull off a 22-17 upset win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.

That helped the Vikings move to 3-4 heading into a huge matchup against the rival Green Bay Packers next week at Lambeau Field.

It was a complete effort from the Vikings on both sides the ball, as Addison posted 7 catches for 124 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Bynum had a forced fumble and a pair of interceptions. Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins performed at a high level as well, finishing 35 of 45 for 378 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The vibes were bad early on when Cousins threw an interception before many fans had even found their seats. If the Vikings wanted to pull off the upset against the 49ers in primetime, they knew they were going to have to take care of the ball. You feel the nervous energy reverberating throughout U.S. Bank Stadium in the immediate aftermath of the turnover.

Then the Vikings did something they haven’t been able to do much this season. They stopped the bleeding.

Thanks to a perfectly executed tackle Bynum, the Vikings forced a fumble to get the ball back. On the following drive, Cousins found T.J. Hockenson for big gains of 16 yards and 22 yards, capping things off with a touchdown pass Addison to make it 7-0 in favor of the Vikings.

After a missed field goal on the other end, the Vikings took over with a chance to take complete control. The offense stalled out near the goal line, and while he could’ve gone for it on fourth down, O’Connell opted to kick a 21-yard field goal instead to stretch the lead to 10-0.

Naturally, the 49ers made the Vikings pay with a 12-play, 75-yard drive to cut the deficit to 10-7 right before halftime. The score came from running back Christian McCaffrey, extending his streak to 16 games with a touchdown.

The only issue? That left too much time for the Vikings.

They got the ball back with about a minute left and Cousins unleashed a 50-50 ball to Addison in the face of a blitz. He wrestled the ball away from cornerback Charvarius Ward, then broke a tackle and raced toward the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown to make it 16-7 because of a missed extra point.

Not long after halftime, the Vikings got another chance to take complete control. The offense once again stalled out near the goal line, and while he could’ve gone for it on fourth down, O’Connell settled for a 20-yard field goal instead to extended the lead to 19-7.

It felt like a missed opportunity for the Vikings in real time, and sure enough, the 49ers took advantage roughly a minute later. A simple swing pass to McCaffrey turned into an explosive play as he broke a tackle in the open field and went 35 yards to the house to cut the deficit to to 19-14.

After both teams traded field goals to pull the score to 22-17, Bynum made his mark, intercepting quarterback Brock Purdy twice to put the finishing touches on a big win.

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A Burnsville elementary school was evacuated Monday afternoon after an arson fire in a bathroom, officials said.

Firefighters responded to a smoke alarm at Edward Neill Elementary just before 1 p.m. A small bathroom fire was extinguished by sprinklers, the fire department said in a statement. No one was injured.

Staff and students were evacuated due to water and smoke in the building, which is at 13409 Upton Ave S. north of Burnsville Parkway.

“At this time, it is determined to be an arson fire and the fire remains under investigation,” the statement read.

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