Question

If you saw the italicized sentence in an essay, would it constitute plagiarism? () = is what italicized

( Baseball is surprisingly known as "America's Favorite Pastime." ) But don't worry because football is hot on its heels in the race for the title.

Yes. It uses the original author's words but does not include quotes or a citation.
No. It uses the author's original words but significantly changes their meaning.
It is actually an example of paraphrasing rather than plagiarizing.
It is actually an example of summarizing rather than plagiarizing