England August 18 – Asafa Powell runs the 100 m in a record-equalling 9.77 seconds for a third time, this time in Zürich August – 2006 European Championships in Athletics held in Gothenburg, Swedeno Baseball March 20 – Japan wins the first World Baseball Classic, defeating Cuba 10–6 in the championship game. May 28 – Barry Bonds hits his 715th career home run in a 6–3 home loss to the Colorado Rockies, passing Babe Ruth for second place on the career list and setting a new record for left-handed hitters. July 11 – American League wins the MLB All–Star Game by a score of 3–2 on Michael Young's game-winning 2-run triple in the 9th inning. October 14 – Detroit Tigers sweep the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series and advance to their first World Series since 1984. October 27 – St. Louis Cardinals win the 2006 World Series 4–1 in Game 5. The St. Louis Cardinals (10 wins) advance to 2nd place for most World Series wins after the New York Yankees (27). Basketball Miami Heat defeat the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games in the NBA Finals series for Miami's first-ever NBA World Championship. Finals MVP Dwyane Wade rallied four consecutive 35-point games to come back from a two games to none deficit and win four straight. University of Florida wins its first ever NCAA title, defeating UCLA 73–57. George Mason, an 11 seed, makes it to the final four University of Maryland wins its first ever NCAA women's title, defeating Duke 77–75 in overtime. January 22 – Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a win over the Toronto Raptors, becoming only the second player in league history to score at least 80 points in one game. It was the second highest individual point total in NBA history (Second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point performance). Chinese Basketball Association – Guangdong Southern Tigers defeat Bayi Rockets (4–1) in finals. National Basketball League (Australia) – Melbourne Tigers defeat the Sydney Kings 3–0 in best-of-five final series Euroleague – Russian power CSKA Moscow dethrones the two-time defending Euroleague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 73–69 at Sazka Arena in Prague. This is CSKA's fifth title in the competition, but first since 1971. Third place goes to TAU Cerámica, which defeated FC Barcelona 87–82 in an all-Spanish affair. The Detroit Shock stunned the 2005 WNBA Champion Sacramento Monarchs