National Sports

CALGARY — Dillon Dube's choice of number drew a few comments from his Calgary Flames teammates. But he didn't care.

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks' decision not to name a captain this season was "pretty easy," says head coach Travis Green. The club announced Tuesday it had instead chosen to go with four alternates.

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays had the breath knocked out of them barely a month into the 2018 campaign. The final gasp essentially came halfway through the season.

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is opening October by blasting the game's so-called "unwritten rules." MLB released an advertisement ahead of Tuesday's post-season opener denouncing the anti-bat flip attitudes of many baseball traditionalists.

TORONTO — Michael Bradley will be back in his familiar defensive midfield role when Toronto FC hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday.

TORONTO — Mike Babcock says a lot of people thought he was crazy after signing on to become head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. There were times in the beginning when he felt the same way.

TORONTO — The Canadian men's soccer team continues to get younger under coach John Herdman. Herdman called up five teenagers for the 8-0 win over the U.S. Virgin Islands in Canada's CONCACAF Nations League debut last month.

MONTREAL — After an inauspicious start, the Montreal Canadiens are ready for part two of their Max Domi experiment.

SAPPORO, Japan — Canada fell to 0-3 at the women's volleyball world championship with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-13) loss against top-ranked China on Tuesday. It was the third straight three-set loss for No. 19-ranked Canada.

CALGARY — The Calgary Stampeders signed international receiver Chris Matthews on Tuesday. Matthews fills a need for Calgary, which has four receivers injured — Eric Rogers, DaVaris Daniels, Kamar Jorden and Reggie Begelton.