OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Pinch hitter Tony Kemp had an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning, capping a spirited comeback that sent the Oakland Athletics to a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.
Major League Baseball’s postseason has a little more heft this season.
The playoffs are rapidly approaching, with the final regular season games set for Oct. 5. The postseason begins two days later with a field of 12 teams — up from last year’s 10 — and includes a best-of-three format for the opening wild-card round.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — All-Star pitcher Tony Gonsolin tossed two innings in his return from the injured list, an encouraging sign for the playoff-bound Los Angeles Dodgers in their 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Mariners will start their first playoff trip in two decades on the road after a costly 4-3 loss Monday night to the Detroit Tigers, who got a two-run homer from Javier Báez.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Albert Pujols hit his 703rd home run Monday night, breaking a tie with Babe Ruth for second place in career RBIs, but the St. Louis Cardinals lost to Pittsburgh 3-2 when the Pirates drew four consecutive walks in the ninth inning to force home the winning run.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Joe Musgrove pitched six shutout innings in a potential postseason tune-up and Wil Myers homered to cap a seven-run eighth that carried the San Diego Padres past the San Francisco Giants 7-4 on Monday night.
HOUSTON (AP) — When the Philadelphia Phillies fired manager Joe Girardi after a 22-29 start to the season, it was hard to imagine that Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and interim manager Rob Thomson would be dancing in a champagne shower come October.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 32nd homer and the Toronto Blue Jays earned the top seed for an American League wild card series with a 5-1 rain-shortened victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers' dramatic late-inning comeback could only keep their playoff hopes alive for another nine minutes.
Hunter Renfroe homered in a ninth-inning rally and singled home the winning run in the 10th, but the Brewers were eliminated from postseason contention on Monday night despite a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
MIAMI (AP) — Jesús Luzardo struck out 12 in six innings, Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-run homer and the Miami Marlins prevented Atlanta from clinching its fifth straight NL East title by beating the Braves 4-0 on Monday night.
CHICAGO (AP) — Tony La Russa stepped down as manager of the Chicago White Sox on Monday because of a pair of health issues, ending a disappointing two-year run in the same spot where the Hall of Famer got his first job as a big league skipper.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Move over, Babe. Prince Albert is the new No. 2 on a big baseball list.
Albert Pujols hit his 703rd home run Monday night, breaking a tie with Babe Ruth for second place in career RBIs.
CHICAGO (AP) — Asked about Tony La Russa, an emotional Miguel Cairo had to pause and take a drink of water to regain his composure.
It was that kind of day.
The Chicago White Sox watched La Russa step down as manager, and then beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Monday night behind Johnny Cueto's seven effective innings.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — While Aaron Judge is down to three more games to try to get his 62nd home run for the New York Yankees, Luis Severino was nearly perfect in a promising final start before the playoffs.
BOSTON (AP) — Tyler Glasnow gave playoff-bound Tampa Bay a short but strong start in his second outing since Tommy John surgery last year, but the Boston Red Sox rallied against the bullpen for a 4-3 victory on Monday night, extending the Rays' skid to four games.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Albert Pujols hit his 703rd home run Monday night, breaking a tie with Babe Ruth for second place in career RBIs, but the St. Louis Cardinals lost to Pittsburgh 3-2 when the Pirates drew four consecutive walks in the ninth inning to force home the winning run.
NEW YORK (AP) — Rain in New York and a Braves loss in Miami kept the Mets in the NL East race for at least another day.
The scheduled game between the Mets and Washington Nationals was postponed Monday night by daylong showers and will be made up as part of a single-admission doubleheader Tuesday at Citi Field.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Hunter Greene pitched six scoreless innings and the Cincinnati Reds remained at 99 losses, beating the Chicago Cubs 3-1 on Monday night.
The Reds (61-99) snapped a six-game skid and can avoid losing at least 100 games for the second time in franchise history if they sweep the three-game series against Chicago.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie Drew Waters belted a three-run homer off Kirk McCarty in the 10th inning, sending the Kansas City Royals to a 5-2 victory over the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.
HOUSTON (AP) — Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola allowed his first baserunner Monday night when Houston's Yordan Alvarez singled with two outs in the seventh inning.
Nola struck out Aledmys Diaz and retired Mauricio Dubon before Alvarez hit a liner to right field to break up the perfect game.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — New York Yankees right-hander Luis Severino pitched seven no-hit innings against the Texas on Monday night, and rookie Josh Jung got the Rangers' first hit with a one-out single in the eighth off Miguel Castro.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Reliever Giovanny Gallegos and the St. Louis Cardinals agreed Monday to an $11 million, two-year contract, a deal that includes a club option for 2025 and escalators that could make it worth $20.5 million over three seasons.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jim Palmer thought back to 1971, when Baltimore Orioles pitching coach George Bamberger kept scrawling marks on the underside of his cap’s brim.
“George, what is that?” the Hall of Fame pitcher recalled asking.
TORONTO (AP) — When Yankees manager Aaron Boone calls Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk “a pain in the neck,” he means it as a mark of respect.
In a loaded offensive lineup led by George Springer, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Kirk gives the wild-card Blue Jays yet another All-Star caliber offensive talent, creating all kinds of painful decisions for opposing managers.
TOKYO (AP) — In a season of home run milestones in American baseball by Albert Pujols and Aaron Judge, 22-year-old Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami has also gotten into the act.
Murakami, playing for the Tokyo-based Yakult Swallows, hit his 56th home run of the season on Monday, pushing him alone into second place on the single-season list.
If baseball's new tiebreaker rules had been in place years ago, Bucky Dent and Bobby Thomson probably wouldn't be household names.
With the postseason expanding to 12 teams this year, if two teams end up deadlocked for a division title or playoff spot, there will no longer be a one-game playoff to break those ties.
SAN DIEGO (AP) —
The San Diego Padres are going back to the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2006, a spot that they clinched during the seventh inning of a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
ATLANTA (AP) — Matt Olson knew the Atlanta Braves were too talented to stay in a season-long slump.
That's why no one panicked when the New York Mets' division lead swelled to double digits in May.
A look at Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees as he approaches major home run milestones:
Season HR Total: 61
Sunday's Game: Struck out three times while going 0 for 3 with a walk in a 3-1 loss to Baltimore in the final home game of the season at Yankee Stadium.
NEW YORK (AP) — Fans filled Yankee Stadium hoping for The Moment that never came.
Aaron Judge must go on the road to break the American League home run record, remaining tied with Roger Maris at 61 after going homerless in a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles that ended with New York's 3-1 loss Sunday.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres haven't partied this hard at Petco Park in 17 years.
The Padres clinched a playoff spot while batting in the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, drawing a roar from the sellout crowd of 41,407 after the Miami Marlins beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in 12 innings.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Rookie David Villar hit a two-run, bases-loaded single with nobody out in the 10th inning to give the San Francisco Giants a 4-3 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, a dramatic finish to the final game of the season at Oracle Park.
SEATTLE (AP) — While the Seattle Mariners' top task all along was just getting into the postseason, playing home games in the wild-card round was a very close second.
Accomplishing that will now take some significant help from others following Seattle's 10-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels wrapped up the home portion of their seventh consecutive losing season by hitting superbly, pitching more than adequately and extending their longest winning streak in nearly five years.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Germán Márquez gave up one hit over six innings to help the Colorado Rockies end a seven-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.
Brendan Rodgers hit a home run for the Rockies, who were victorious for just the second time since Sept.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Miguel Rojas knocked in the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th inning to give the Miami Marlins a 4-3 win over the Brewers on Sunday, deflating Milwaukee’s playoff hopes in the race for the final National League wild-card spot.
CHICAGO (AP) — Willson Contreras got several standing ovations in what could be his final home game at Wrigley Field, Marcus Stroman threw six scoreless innings and the surging Chicago Cubs won their seventh straight, beating the Cincinnati Reds 8-1 on Sunday.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Albert Pujols hit his 702nd career home run and tied Babe Ruth for second on the all-time RBI on Sunday, but the Pittsburgh Pirates took the game from the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5.
WASHINGTON (AP) — J.T. Realmuto's Phillies now need just one more victory — or one more loss by the Milwaukee Brewers — to end Philadelphia's 11-year postseason drought.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres clinched their first playoff berth in a full season since 2006 on Sunday when the Milwaukee Brewers lost 4-3 to the Miami Marlins in 12 innings.
The Marlins-Brewers game ended with the Padres batting in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox.
HOUSTON (AP) — Jeremy Pena hit an early two-run homer and drove in an insurance run late, lifting the Houston Astros to a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
One pitch after Jose Altuve’s leadoff bunt single, Pena belted a cutter by Rays starter Corey Kluber (10-10) over the right-field fence and into the home bullpen.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Shane Bieber allowed two runs over five innings in his final start before the postseason, Josh Naylor and rookie Will Brennan hit three-run homers and the Cleveland Guardians defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-5 on Sunday.
TORONTO (AP) — Teoscar Hernández hit two home runs, Whit Merrifield also connected and the Toronto Blue Jays edged closer to clinching home-field advantage in the wild-card round by beating the Boston Red Sox 6-3 Sunday.
DETROIT (AP) — Eric Haase and Victor Reyes homered and the Detroit Tigers took advantage of Minnesota’s sloppy play, beating touted pitching prospect Simeon Woods Richardson and the Twins 5-2 Sunday.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols hit his 702nd career homer in the third inning of Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pujols drove a 0-1 pitch from Roansy Contreras deep to center for a solo shot.
CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians' lineup had a family look on Sunday.
Manager Terry Francona's batting order against Kansas City featured the Naylor brothers hitting back-to-back. Josh hit cleanup and played first base and Bo, who was called up from the minors Saturday, hit fifth as the designated hitter.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — José Suarez fell short in his bid for a perfect game, but Livan Soto made sure that he would still get a win.
The Angels left-hander lost his chance at perfection and the lead in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers, but Soto drove in the tying run and scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame as Los Angeles rallied for a 3-2 victory Saturday night.