KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith plans to practice Wednesday despitechiefs logo spraining his troublesome throwing shoulder in last weekend’s victory over the St. Louis Rams.

Smith landed on his right shoulder shortly before halftime. He received treatment in the locker room and played the entire second half, complaining only later of a bit of soreness.

The Chiefs play the New York Jets on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

Smith has a history of shoulder trouble dating to his days with the San Francisco 49ers. He missed eight games and finished the 2007 season on injured reserve after separating it, requiring surgery that December. He also missed the entire 2008 season after breaking a bone in the shoulder a few days before the start of the season.

Smith also separated his non-throwing shoulder in 2010.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — After long waits to make their World Series debuts, Tim Hudson and Jeremy Guthrie will get another opportunity to pitch Wednesday night.

This time, everything is on the line.

“I’m no different than anybody else. As a kid, you think about it. As a big leaguer, you think about it,” said Hudson, set to become the oldest Game 7 starter in Series history. “You wonder if you’re going to have an opportunity to do it. Sixteen years in the big leagues, I’m finally getting that chance. I can’t wait to get out there and have some fun.”

The 35-year-old Guthrie helped pitch Royals to a 3-2 win last Friday night in San Francisco, giving them a 2-1 lead in the Series. But after the Giants rallied to win the next two at home, the teams returned to Kansas City with the Royals needing a victory to force Game 7.

They got it — a 10-0 rout — behind a resurgent offense that relentlessly peppered Giants starter Jake Peavy and reliever Yusmeiro Petit, and a brilliant start by rookie Yordano Ventura.

“A lot of guys had this weird feeling it would come to this,” Giants outfielder Hunter Pence said afterward, “and here we are.”

Guthrie allowed two runs over five innings in his World Series debut, and Hudson was nearly as sharp, allowing three runs on four hits while pitching into the sixth. But when the Giants were unable to score a tying run off the Kansas City bullpen, Hudson was stuck with the loss.

Now, he has a chance to bag the biggest win possible.

“I mean, obviously I’m going to go as deep as I can,” Hudson said. “Hopefully I can give a quality six, seven innings out there and turn it over to those guys in the ‘pen.”

That bullpen could be even stronger than normal with ace Madison Bumgarner, who won Game 1 and pitched a shutout in Game 5, available for a relief stint Wednesday night.

Bumgarner has allowed one run over 16 innings in his two starts against Kansas City.

“We’ll see where he’s at and how he’s doing out there,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “I can’t tell you exactly how far he could go or how many pitches he could go. I think you read him and see how he’s doing out there.”

Asked what his pitch limit might be Wednesday night, Bumgarner gave a predictably preposterous answer.

“I said maybe 200. No, I don’t know. I don’t even know if I’m going to be called on. But if you are, as long as you’re getting outs and you’re not hurting …,” he said.

First things first, though: Bumgarner is excited for his pal Hudson.

“There couldn’t be a better story for Huddy. I know he’s going to be ready,” Bumgarner said.

As for playing a Game 7, “if you want to be a baseball player, that’s what you think about.”

The Royals will also have a fresh bullpen after Ventura’s sublime start. Kansas City manager Ned Yost has even said his star trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and All-Star closer Greg Holland would be available to pitch two innings apiece if needed.

“That keeps all of our big guns fresh and ready to go,” Yost said.

The Royals also will have a bit of history on their side.

When they were last in the World Series in 1985, they also faced a 3-2 deficit returning home against St. Louis. They won Game 6, made famous by umpire Don Denkinger’s blown call at first base, and then took Game 7 in an 11-0 rout for their only championship.

The Giants, meanwhile, had a 3-2 lead this year for the third time in franchise history. Just like in 1924 and 2002, they lost Game 6. Both of those years, they lost Game 7 as well.

“We’ll take any win. Close, blowout, any win,” Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain said. “Guys stepped up and we definitely needed everyone in our lineup. We needed to swing the bats and have a good outing from our starter. We need that again. I hope the entire team gets hot.”

MICHAEL MAROT, AP Sports Writer

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — College athletes are graduating at better rates than non-athletes, according to new statistics released Tuesday by the NCAA.

The annual report shows 84 percent of freshmen players who entered school in 2007-08 earned degrees within six years. That’s a 2 percentage point increase over the previous one-year record high, set in 2006-07. The four-year average is 82 percent, also a record.

NCAA President Mark Emmert notes the one-year numbers improved in nearly every demographic, too. He calls it the best academic performance since the NCAA started tracking numbers with the 1995-96 freshmen.

Critics complain the numbers are skewed because athletes have more access to academic help than traditional students and scholarship athletes do not face the same financial burdens that force other students to drop out of school.

RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 2-foot-tall image of deer in multicolored neon with a bulls-eye on its tail is affixed to a wall in the Kansas City Royals locker room. It hangs between the stalls of Aaron Crow and Tim Collins, and has a “W” underneath a crown.

Pitcher James Shields ordered it custom made, and after wins veterans select a “King of the Game” to flip the switch that lights up the so-called “Texas Heart Shot” while a smoke machine perched atop a refrigerator fills the room with a fog more befitting a night club than a clubhouse.

Trailing 3-2 to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, the Royals hope to light up that sign two more times this week. But if they do come back to win their first title in 29 years, it’s unlikely there will be time for their usual clubhouse ceremony given the champagne-fueled chaos.

“I doubt it. It’s going to be crazy around here if we win both games,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said Monday.

Kansas City turns to a 23-year-old rookie to save its season, but not just any 23-year-old rookie: the hardest-throwing starting pitcher in the major leagues.

Yordano Ventura gets the ball Tuesday night with the Royals in the same position they were in in 1985 when they sent Charlie Leibrandt to the mound against St. Louis. Kansas City won 2-1 that night on pinch-hitter Dane Iorg’s two-run single in the ninth after a blown call by first base umpire Don Denkinger, and the Royals went on to blow out the Cardinals 11-0 a day later behind Bret Saberhagen for their only title.

In the 41 previous instances the World Series was 2-2 in the best-of-seven format, the Game 5 winner has taken the title 27 times. But eight of the last 10 teams to come home trailing 3-2 swept Games 6 and 7.

“We have a lot of confidence in Ventura. We have confidence that we will win every time he takes the mound,” Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “We know we can do it. We’re a confident group. But we can’t do anything without winning Game 6. We’re excited to get back home, where we feed off the fans and that energy.”

Kansas City hopes to light up Jake Peavy along with the deer in a rematch of Game 2 starters.

Ventura, whose fastball averaged 98 mph this season, didn’t get a decision in the second game, allowing two runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings before Royals manager Ned Yost went to his hard-throwing HDH relief trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland in the 7-2 victory.

“His confidence is just staggering,” Yost said. “You walk in that clubhouse, and he looks you square in the eye with that glint that says: ‘I’m ready for this.'”

The 33-year-old Peavy took the loss, giving up four runs and six hits in five innings-plus. He is seeking his first World Series win — he didn’t get a decision for Boston in Game 3 last year — and is well aware he could get the victory in the clincher.

“I can’t imagine anything being any sweeter than that,” he said. “This is the start that you play your whole career wanting.”

This is the first World Series in which four of the first five games were decided by five runs or more. The second all-wild card World Series has followed the pattern of the first in 2002. The Giants won the opener on the road, lost the next two games and won two in a row to take a 3-2 lead. San Francisco opened a 5-0 lead in Game 6 at Anaheim but lost 6-5, and the Angels won Game 7 the following night.

Yost hopes history repeats and Ventura is energized by the Kauffman Stadium crowd.

“Trust me, if we’re in this position, I would much rather be here than there with our fans. I think home-field advantage is huge,” he said after the team arrived back home at about 4:30 a.m. “It’s going to be a lot funner going into Game 6 here than it would be in San Francisco, that’s for sure.”

The Giants spent the night at home, chartered with player families on the flight and reached Kansas City about 12½ hour later. With the shift to the AL ballpark, designated hitters return: Billy Butler for the Royals and Michael Morse for the Giants.

San Francisco’s Tim Hudson and Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie would be the likely Game 7 starters if the Series is extended to Wednesday. And lurking is Madison Bumgarner, who pitched a four-hit shutout to win Game 5 on Sunday. Bumgarner, 4-0 in Series play with a record-low 0.29 ERA, could come out of the bullpen on two days’ rest for what would be his first relief appearance since throwing two scoreless innings in Game 6 of the 2010 NL Championship Series.

He wouldn’t estimate how long he could go.

“I’m not a big pitch-count guy,” he said. “So as long as you keep getting outs and you feel good, you should stay out there.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith played through a sprained throwing shoulder that he sustained just before halftime of Sunday’s 34-7 rout of the St. Louis Rams.

Smith never mentioned the injury in his postgame remarks, and it wasn’t until Chiefs coach Andy Reid brought it up Monday that anybody learned of it outside the Kansas City locker room.

Reid said that Smith landed on his shoulder but played through the pain. The game was still very much in the balance when the injury happened, the Chiefs leading just 10-7 at the break.

Smith went through a series of examinations Monday. Reid said the quarterback is “tender” and declined to say whether he will miss any practice time this week.

The Chiefs play the New York Jets on Sunday.