NYT Connections Sports Edition answers for August 28, 2026
Today's NYT Connections Sports Edition puzzle is #704, and the four groups are Stats for a Hitter (BATTING AVERAGE, HOME RUNS, RBIS, RUNS), Alabama Schools (ALABAMA, AUBURN, TROY, UAB), Associated with Erling Haaland (GOALS, MANCHESTER CITY, NORWAY, ZEN POSE), and Famous Number 8s (AIKMAN, BERRA, JACKSON, OVECHKIN). Baseball fans should find the yellow group easiest; purple is the trickiest.
Connections: Sports Edition is the New York Times' daily sports word puzzle, built with The Athletic. Like the original Connections and Wordle, it resets after midnight and gets tougher as the week goes on. If you are stuck on August 28, 2026, the hints and full answers below will get you across the finish line without spoiling more than you want.
Key Takeaways
- Puzzle #704 favors baseball knowledge in the yellow category, with hitter stats as the easiest group.
- Green, blue, and purple span college football geography, Erling Haaland trivia, and legendary athletes who wore number 8.
- Players get up to four wrong guesses before the game ends; shuffle the board if connections are not jumping out.
- Categories follow the standard color order: yellow (easiest), then green, blue, and purple (hardest).
- Tomorrow brings a fresh board—same rules, new words, new sports threads to untangle.
What is NYT Connections Sports Edition?
Connections: Sports Edition is a New York Times word game about finding common sports threads between words. It launched in association with The Athletic, the Times property that handles its sports coverage. You can play it in a web browser or on mobile.
Each puzzle presents 16 words split into four categories of four words each. Multiple words may look like they belong together, but only one grouping is correct. Get all four words in a set right and they disappear from the board. Guess wrong and you burn one of your four allowed mistakes.
The board can be rearranged and shuffled to help you spot patterns. Each solved group is color-coded: yellow is the easiest tier, followed by green, blue, and purple. When you finish, you can share your results on social media, just like Wordle.
That daily-reset rhythm is part of why these puzzles feel familiar. Decades ago, sports fans checked newspaper box scores and radio call-in shows for the same kind of quick trivia fix. Today's NYT Connections Sports Edition packs that instinct into a four-by-four grid you can finish in minutes—a neat example of how sports fandom meets the Then & Now shift from print-era habits to pocket-sized daily games.
What hints help without spoiling today's categories?
If you want a nudge without seeing the category names outright, Mashable's August 28 guide offers these clues:
- Yellow: Slugging
- Green: Schools in the heart of Dixie country
- Blue: The Terminator
- Purple: Legendary #8
Mashable also notes that today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you are a fan of baseball—the yellow hint points directly at hitter statistics. The green group rewards anyone who follows Southeastern college sports. Blue pulls together items linked to Erling Haaland; the category hint is "The Terminator." Purple asks you to think about iconic athletes who wore number 8 across different sports.
What are today's Connections Sports Edition categories?
Still stuck? Here are the four official category names for puzzle #704:
- Yellow: Stats for a Hitter
- Green: Alabama Schools
- Blue: Associated with Erling Haaland
- Purple: Famous Number 8s
Work yellow first if baseball is your sport—BATTING AVERAGE, HOME RUNS, RBIS, and RUNS are classic box-score columns. Green groups four Alabama universities: ALABAMA, AUBURN, TROY, and UAB. Blue mixes national-team identity, club affiliation, on-field production, and Haaland's signature celebration. Purple is the brain teaser: four last names tied to famous number 8s.
What are the full answers for August 28, 2026?
Spoiler alert: Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.
The solution to Connections: Sports Edition #704 is:
- Stats for a Hitter: BATTING AVERAGE, HOME RUNS, RBIS, RUNS
- Alabama Schools: ALABAMA, AUBURN, TROY, UAB
- Associated with Erling Haaland: GOALS, MANCHESTER CITY, NORWAY, ZEN POSE
- Famous Number 8s: AIKMAN, BERRA, JACKSON, OVECHKIN
The purple group ties four surnames to the number 8 jersey across different sports and eras—exactly the kind of cross-generational trivia the Sports Edition is built to reward.
How do you play if you missed a group?
Do not feel down if you did not get every category on the first try. Mashable's guide reminds players that a new sports Connections board arrives tomorrow, and the difficulty tends to climb through the week—similar to how the standard NYT Connections puzzle ramps up.
A few practical tips carry over from the regular game: scan for obvious pairs first, use the shuffle button when you are staring at the same false leads, and save purple for last when you have fewer words left on the board. If you are also playing other Times games on August 28, Pips and the standard Connections puzzle are running their own daily boards alongside this sports spin-off.
Whether you solved #704 cleanly or needed every hint above, you still exercised the same muscle sports fans have used for generations—spotting the thread that ties a handful of names, numbers, and places together before the clock runs out.