Looking for Connections: Sports Edition hints for October 23, 2026? Puzzle #760 is a baseball-heavy board where the era matters as much as the name. Watch for a familiar team identity that belongs in a different part of history, and check the spelling of tiles that seem out of place.
Begin with a gentle clue for each color, then use the stronger group hints if you need a narrower direction. Two-word reveals, complete answers and detailed explanations have their own closed panels, so you can uncover one level of help at a time.
Start with a gentle clue. Two-word hints, answers and explanations stay hidden until you open them.
Playing the regular word puzzle? Regular Connections guide — a different puzzle
Gentle Hints for Puzzle #760
Try one clue for the group you are working on. You do not need to read all four.
- Yellow
An October field of four, divided between two leagues.
- Green
Look at the lettering on older uniforms.
- Blue
Everyday words can turn into names on a roster.
- Purple
A famous name is one opening letter away.
Stronger Group Hints
These clues narrow the theme without listing the four words. Stop here if a theme clicks.
- Yellow
Find the clubs that reached baseball's two pennant-deciding series in 2026.
- Green
Think of earlier major-league club names, including identities used before a move to another city.
- Blue
Treat these as surnames of players who represented Milwaukee in the All-Star Game, across different eras.
- Purple
Replace only the first letter of each tile to recover the surname of a World Series MVP.
Two-Word Hints — Partial Answers
Still stuck on one color? Reveal two words that belong together in that group. This gives away part of the answer, so open only the color you need.
Yellow Reveal 2 words Hide words Spoiler
- RAYS
- BREWERS
These two belong together. Look for two more tiles that share their connection.
Green Reveal 2 words Hide words Spoiler
- PILOTS
- DEVIL RAYS
These two belong together. Look for two more tiles that share their connection.
Blue Reveal 2 words Hide words Spoiler
- FINGERS
- FIELDER
These two belong together. Look for two more tiles that share their connection.
Purple Reveal 2 words Hide words Spoiler
- MEAGER
- METER
These two belong together. Look for two more tiles that share their connection.
Connections Sports Answers for October 23, 2026
Ready to check your solution? Opening this panel reveals all four category names and all 16 words for #760.
Reveal all four answer groups for #760
Yellow
MLB TEAMS TO REACH THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES THIS YEAR
- RAYS
- BREWERS
- GUARDIANS
- DODGERS
Green
FORMER MLB TEAM NAMES
- PILOTS
- DEVIL RAYS
- EXPOS
- BROWNS
Blue
BREWERS ALL-STARS, HISTORICALLY
- FINGERS
- FIELDER
- SHEETS
- WEEKS
Purple
WORLD SERIES MVPS, WITH THE FIRST LETTER CHANGED
- MEAGER
- METER
- CAMELS
- EYE
Why These Groups Work
This section explains each word and a possible wrong turn. It contains spoilers even if the answer panel above is closed.
Reveal the explanations and possible traps
Yellow
MLB TEAMS TO REACH THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES THIS YEAR
The date restriction does the sorting here: these are the four clubs in the 2026 League Championship Series field. RAYS and GUARDIANS form the American League pair; BREWERS and DODGERS form the National League pair. Reaching that round is the shared requirement, so the group includes both winning and losing clubs.
How each word fits
- RAYS
-
Tampa Bay's current nickname identifies one of the American League Championship Series clubs in 2026. Keep this tile distinct from the older DEVIL RAYS name.
- BREWERS
-
Milwaukee supplies one of the two National League Championship Series clubs. Its franchise history also connects to a green tile, but yellow uses the 2026 identity.
- GUARDIANS
-
Cleveland is the other American League club in this four-team field. The category asks which teams reached the round, rather than which teams advanced from it.
- DODGERS
-
Los Angeles completes the National League pair. Use the edition's 2026 cutoff instead of grouping the tile with any other recognizable baseball team name.
Green
FORMER MLB TEAM NAMES
These tiles refer to former MLB identities. A club can change its nickname in the same market or move and take a new name. The common feature is an earlier team name, rather than a particular season, shared city or claim that the franchise ceased to exist.
How each word fits
- PILOTS
-
Seattle Pilots: the club played in Seattle in 1969 before becoming the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970. The tile supplies its earlier identity.
- DEVIL RAYS
-
Tampa Bay used this nickname before switching to Rays for the 2008 season. It is the former-name tile even though RAYS also appears on the board.
- EXPOS
-
The Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals for the 2005 season. Read the tile as the earlier team name; it needs no letter change.
- BROWNS
-
Read this as the St. Louis Browns, the American League club that became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. The historical MLB context resolves the nickname.
Blue
BREWERS ALL-STARS, HISTORICALLY
The tiles are player surnames with a Milwaukee All-Star connection. They do not have to describe the same position, appear together on one roster or retain their everyday meanings. The club and the All-Star distinction make the connection narrower than simply being baseball players.
How each word fits
- FINGERS
-
Rollie Fingers appears in Milwaukee's All-Star history, including 1982. His surname is the tile; its body-part meaning is a distraction.
- FIELDER
-
Prince Fielder represented the Brewers as an All-Star, including in 2011. The tile identifies a particular player rather than anyone playing defense.
- SHEETS
-
Ben Sheets is listed among Milwaukee's All-Stars, including in 2008. Reading SHEETS as his surname makes it fit the team's player-history set.
- WEEKS
-
Rickie Weeks was a Brewers All-Star in 2011. A unit of time becomes a player surname when read alongside the other three blue tiles.
Purple
WORLD SERIES MVPS, WITH THE FIRST LETTER CHANGED
Reverse a one-letter substitution at the start: MEAGER becomes SEAGER, METER becomes JETER, CAMELS becomes HAMELS and EYE becomes DYE. Each recovered surname belongs to a World Series MVP. Everything after the first character stays in exactly the same order; no insertion, deletion or rearrangement is needed.
How each word fits
- MEAGER
-
Change M to S: MEAGER becomes SEAGER, identifying Corey Seager, World Series MVP in 2020 and 2023. Preserve the EAGER ending.
- METER
-
Change M to J: METER becomes JETER, identifying Derek Jeter, the 2000 World Series MVP. The remaining ETER letters stay fixed.
- CAMELS
-
Change C to H: CAMELS becomes HAMELS, identifying Cole Hamels, the 2008 World Series MVP. This is a letter substitution, not a sound-alike clue.
- EYE
-
Change E to D at the start: EYE becomes DYE, identifying Jermaine Dye, the 2005 World Series MVP. The final YE stays unchanged.
Connections Sports Edition FAQ
Which date and puzzle number do these Sports Edition hints cover?
These hints and explanations cover Connections: Sports Edition #760 for October 23, 2026. Sports Edition has its own numbering, separate from the regular Connections puzzle.
How can I get a small hint before revealing the complete groups?
Read the gentle clues first, then the stronger group hints. Each color has an optional two-word reveal, while complete answers and explanations remain in separate closed panels until you open them.
Does the yellow category mean the four World Series teams?
No. It means the four clubs that reached the two League Championship Series in 2026, a round before the World Series. Both sides of each league's matchup belong.
Why are RAYS and DEVIL RAYS in different groups?
The board distinguishes a current nickname used for the 2026 postseason field from a former team name. Their franchise connection is real, but putting them together would mix the two sorting rules.
Which players are hidden by the purple tiles?
MEAGER changes to SEAGER, METER to JETER, CAMELS to HAMELS and EYE to DYE. The full names are Corey Seager, Derek Jeter, Cole Hamels and Jermaine Dye. Each change affects only the first character.
Why does FINGERS stay out of the changed-letter MVP group?
Rollie Fingers was the 1974 World Series MVP, but the tile already spells his surname unchanged. Purple requires a first-letter substitution. FINGERS instead joins the three other Milwaukee All-Star surnames.
Sources and Verification
Official puzzle data and references for this edition.
View the sources used for this edition
The October 23, 2026 date, official category titles and all 16 tiles were verified against The Athletic's puzzle data. MLB and official team records were used to check the 2026 championship-series field, former club names, Milwaukee All-Star identities and World Series MVP years. The hints, word explanations and ambiguity notes were written for this edition. Source and factual verification do not represent completion of the official game.
- The Athletic - official Connections: Sports Edition
- MLB - League Championship Series history and 2026 matchups
- Milwaukee Brewers - official All-Star history
- MLB - World Series MVP winners
- Milwaukee Brewers - how the Seattle Pilots became the Brewers
- MLB - Tampa Bay's change from Devil Rays to Rays
- MLB - Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals name history
- St. Louis Cardinals - franchise facts, including the Browns' move to Baltimore
Connections Solved is an independent guide and is not affiliated with The Athletic or The New York Times.