Bayern Munich's early season form is ominous for Bundesliga rivals

BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich is purring in the Bundesliga after a perfect start to the season.

Eintracht Frankfurt – arguably the only side that looked capable of challenging the Bavarian powerhouse – lost at Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, leaving a far-from-perfect Borussia Dortmund team and overachieving Cologne and St. Pauli as Bayern’s closest rivals after three rounds.

Bayern saw off Chelsea’s challenge in the Champions League on Wednesday to stretch its winning start to five games across all competitions – six including the German Supercup. The defending champion already has 14 goals in three Bundesliga games. A visit to Hoffenheim is next on Saturday.

Bayern coach Vincent Kompany will be tempted to rotate his squad at Hoffenheim, where Tom Bischof might expect to feature after his summer switch between the sides. Former Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson might also see more playing time to give the in-form Harry Kane a rest.

Leverkusen hosts Borussia Mönchengladbach on Sunday for a Rhine derby between the only clubs to have fired their coaches after three rounds. Kasper Hjulmand, Erik ten Hag ’s replacement, made a winning start against Frankfurt last weekend, while Gladbach is still looking for a replacement for Gerardo Seoane, who was fired after the 4-0 loss at home to Werder Bremen, a result that extended the team’s goalless start.

Dortmund hosts Wolfsburg on Sunday, when Frankfurt welcomes Union Berlin.

Assuming Kompany gives him more playing time, Nicolas Jackson will be keen to show what he can do at Hoffenheim after doing his utmost to join Bayern from Chelsea.

Johan Bakayoko scored his first goal for Leipzig last weekend. He’s just one of a host of new arrivals at the club who get another chance to impress against Cologne on Saturday.

Victor Boniface made his Bremen debut last weekend. He didn’t score but could get off the mark against visiting Freiburg on Saturday.

Denmark playmaker Christian Eriksen could make his Wolfsburg debut against Dortmund.

Bayern has an issue at left back with Raphaël Guerreiro and Josip Stanišić both injured. Guerreiro has a stomach muscle injury from the 5-0 win over Hamburger SV last weekend, and Stanišić went off with a knee injury against Chelsea.

The team was already without long-term patients Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies and Hiroki Ito.

Konrad Laimer will likely switch to left back for Hoffenheim, with Sacha Boey filling in at right back.

A nine-year-old boy was seriously injured during an organized fireworks display off the floodlights after Hansa Rostock’s third-division match against 1860 Munich on Wednesday.

Broadcaster NDR reported a still-burning piece of pyrotechnics may have landed on the roof and burned through, landing in the away section below. Two other people were also injured, NDR said.

Police said the boy was taken to hospital and his injuries were not life-threatening.

The old floodlights had been in operation in Rostock since 1970. New lights are to be installed in time for Hansa’s match against Energie Cottbus on Sept. 30.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern's Dayot Upamecano after Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah scored an own goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Chelsea at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Bayern's Michael Olise after Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah scored an own goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Chelsea at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes, holding a Friday event aimed at addressing a rising concern among voters about the enormous amount of power used for artificial intelligence ahead of elections later this year.

The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants,

The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end Friday. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

“Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities, and this would deliver much-needed, long-term relief to the mid-Atlantic region," said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to be at the White House, a person familiar with Shapiro’s plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Shapiro, a Democrat, made his participation in Friday’s event contingent on including a provision to extend a limit on wholesale electricity price increases for the region’s consumers, the person said.

But the operator of the grid won't be there. “PJM was not invited. Therefore we would not attend,” said spokesperson Jeff Shields.

It was not immediately clear whether President Donald Trump would attend the event, which was not listed on his public schedule.

Trump and the governors are under pressure to insulate consumers and businesses alike from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. Meanwhile, more Americans are falling behind on their electricity bills.

Consumer advocates say ratepayers in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid — which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already paying billions of dollars in higher bills to underwrite the cost to supply power to data centers, some of them built, some not.

However, they also say that the billions of dollars that consumers are paying isn’t resulting in the construction of new power plants necessary to meet the rising demand.

Pivotal contests in November will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill for the data centers that underpin the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence. In parts of the country, data centers are coming online faster than power plants can be built and connected to the grid.

Electricity costs were a key issue in last year's elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission. Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue, as Democrats and Republicans gird for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.

Gas and electric utilities sought or won rate increases of more that $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, consumer advocacy organization PowerLines reported. That was more than double the same period a year earlier.

Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is seen Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, East of Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)