Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — Patrick Mahomes put on a scintillating show while outperforming Lamar Jackson, and the Kansas City Chiefs deftly played the role of defending Super Bowl champions in a 34-20 thumping of the Baltimore Ravens. Just about everything Mahomes did worked against an overmatched Baltimore defense that had allowed only two touchdowns in its first two games. Mahomes threw four touchdown passes to help the Chiefs emphatically ended the Ravens’ 14-game regular season winning streak while extending their own run to 12 games, including playoffs. Jackson is 21-4 as the Ravens’ starting quarterback, with three of those losses to Mahomes and the Chiefs.

UNDATED (AP) — It took one week for the Big 12 to bring just a little more strangeness to the year 2020. Five-time defending conference champion Oklahoma opened league play with a shocking home loss to Kansas State, perhaps opening the door for another program to finally to step in and claim the title. Iowa State can put Oklahoma’s season on the ropes Saturday when the Cyclones host the Sooners. Iowa State beat the Sooners in 2017 and lost to them by a point in 2019.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals spent the 60-game season in 2020 saying farewell to longtime outfielder Alex Gordon, one of the linchpins of their back-to-back World Series runs, and welcome to the young core they hope will take them back there. Brady Singer nearly threw a no-hitter in his abbreviated rookie year. Fellow right-hander Kris Bubic made 10 starts and began to figure things out by the end of September. And their young bullpen, which was an abject failure last season, took massive strides from summer camp to the final out of the season Sunday with an eye toward the future.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins were determined to defend their division title and start this unusual postseason at home, even if the audience at Target Field this week will be confined to family members and cardboard cutouts. The ease and predictability of playing in their own ballpark during this virus-altered year clearly made a difference to the Twins. They had a 24-7 record at home, the best such mark in baseball. Minnesota hosts Houston in a best-of-three American League wild card series that starts on Tuesday. The Astros were 9-23 on the road, the third-worst record in the major leagues.

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Patrick Maroon has joined elite company by winning the Stanley Cup in consecutive seasons with different teams. Maroon is the only member of the champion Tampa Bay Lightning to win it last year with the St. Louis Blues. He’s the eighth player to do it in NHL history and first since Claude Lemieux in the 1990s to get his name on the Cup in consecutive years. Corey Stillman went back to back in 2004 and 2006 after the lockout prevented the trophy from being awarded in 2005. Maroon is one of several additions to the Lightning that helped them finally win it all.