Another unpredictable MLB offseason is here and although the trades and signings haven’t started in earnest, we have seen some noteworthy transactions, including several teams exercising club options on potential free agents such as Alex Cobb (Giants), José Leclerc (Rangers) and Kyle Hendricks (Cubs). We’ve seen teams cut ties with the faces of their franchise, as the White Sox declined their option on Tim Anderson and the Reds did the same with Joey Votto. We’ve seen players such as Eduardo Rodriguez and Marcus Stroman opt out of contracts (with the Tigers and Cubs, respectively) and players like Josh Bell opt into contracts (with the Marlins). We’ve even seen a trade, as the Tigers acquired Mark Canha from the Brewers for a minor-league reliever. The Marlins have hired Peter Bendix to be their president of baseball operations and the Red Sox chose Craig Breslow to be their chief baseball officer. Got all that?
The big moves, the ones that will keep us on the edge of our seats for weeks, are still to come. So let’s try to guess how this could all play out. Here are 24 predictions for the 2023-24 offseason, what should be another fun and wild winter. Please share your own predictions in the comments section.
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1. None of the seven players who received the one-year, $20.325 million qualifying offer (Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Josh Hader, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola and Sonny Gray) will accept it, as they all will pursue longer-term deals in free agency.
2. Ohtani will surprise many by signing with the world champion Texas Rangers. The contract includes incentives, escalator clauses and award bonuses that will make him the highest-paid player in the history of the sport. The Dodgers and Mariners finish as the runner-ups in the Shohei sweepstakes.
3. Aaron Nola signs a five-year, $125 million deal with the Dodgers about 24 hours after they learn that they’ve lost out on Ohtani.
4. The Phillies, after falling short in their attempts to bring back Nola, quickly pivot and land lefty Jordan Montgomery on a five-year, $127 million contract.
Juan Soto will be a free agent after next season. Will the Padres trade him? (Brad Penner / USA Today)
5. The Yankees pull off a blockbuster trade with the Padres to land three-time All-Star Juan Soto. And then …
6. … New York turns around and inks Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a seven-year, $211 million deal that ultimately pushes the Yankees’ payroll to the highest it’s ever been under owner Hal Steinbrenner.
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7. The Giants sign outfielder Jung Hoo Lee to the largest contract of any position player in this year’s free-agent class outside of Ohtani, Bellinger and Chapman.
8. The Cubs bring back Bellinger on a six-year, $144 million deal to play first base.
9. The Astros hire Joe Espada to be their next manager, promoting him after six seasons as their bench coach.
10. Managers Lou Piniella and Jim Leyland are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in the vote during the Winter Meetings.
Coming off a 101-win season, will the Orioles extend any of their young core? (Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)
11. The Orioles shock the baseball world and sign both Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson to long-term deals that break franchise records. In response, O’s fans break the single-season record for season ticket sales during the Angelos family’s ownership tenure.
13. The Twins, coming off an AL Central-winning campaign, stand pat and make no truly significant moves during the offseason.
14. The Angels turn to one of their own, hiring Darin Erstad as their new manager to succeed Phil Nevin.
15. The Washington Nationals are finally sold and the new ownership group includes future Hall of Fame executive Theo Epstein, who will serve as CEO and president of the club.
16. Bruce Bochy of the Rangers and Skip Schumaker of the Marlins are named managers of the year for their respective leagues. Bochy’s GM, Chris Young, is named MLB Executive of the Year.
17. Joe Maddon and Buck Showalter aren’t hired as managers this offseason. Both of them, along with Dusty Baker, never manage again in the majors. Baker ultimately serves as a consultant with a team while waiting for the call from Cooperstown.
The Cardinals missed Yadier Molina in 2023. Could he return to the dugout in 2024? (Jeff Curry / USA Today)
18. Yadier Molina joins the Cardinals coaching staff and becomes the most prominent “manager in waiting” in the sport.
19. The Oakland A’s much-debated move to Las Vegas is approved by MLB. The A’s will play the 2024 season in the Coliseum and the next three years in Vegas in their Triple-A ballpark, which is upgraded to serve as their home until a new major-league stadium is built.
20. MLB begins more concrete discussions about expansion but specifies that it won’t happen for at least five to seven years. Nashville, Charlotte and Montreal become the early favorites to land new franchises. The league plans to have four divisions of four teams in each league.
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21. MLB approves the Automated Ball-Strike System with a challenge format for the 2024 season.
GO DEEPER
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22. Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. are named the MVPs of their respective leagues.
23.Gerrit Cole and Blake Snell are named Cy Young Award winners.
24. Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll take home Rookie of the Year honors.
GO DEEPER
Bowden: My early award predictions for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and more
(Top photo of Shohei Ohtani: John McCoy / Getty Images)
Of all the possible World Series matchups, a tussle of the 90-win Texas Rangers against the 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks wasn’t exactly at the top of our wish list. It’s being already decried as a battle of who could care less, and we get it.
But we also disagree.
Is this World Series custom-made for primetime? Of course not. But when asked to come up with a handful of reasons to watch, it took about two minutes for a small group of baseball writers to bat around more than a dozen storylines, personalities and raw talents that are going to be worth watching for the next however-long-this-lasts.
Give us another Game 7, we say, because this might not be the series we expected, it might not even be the series we deserve, but it’s going to be a series worth watching.
And here’s why.
These teams actually have star power …
If you were expecting Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, you must not have been paying attention for the past decade.
Speaking of All-Star Game starters, the Rangers had five of them this year, including three-quarters of their everyday infield. The Diamondbacks had three All-Star starters, plus their 23-year-old shortstop coming off the bench.
And you might not have noticed, but Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi has the track record of a postseason ace, and he’s on a mission to avenge his one World Series loss. Casual fans might not know their names, but the league knows these guys can play.
It’s a matchup of power versus …
Sure, it would have been interesting to see all those big boppers in the Phillies lineup, but the Rangers hit the third-most home runs in baseball this season, led by Adolis García, a guy who was twice designated for assignment before becoming a must-see offensive beast who went deep 39 times this season and then went berserk for five more home runs and an MVP award in the ALCS. Whatever you do, don’t hit this man with a pitch.
… speed.
The Diamondbacks don’t have the Rangers’ offensive thump, but they did steal 166 bases this season (second-most in the game) while leading the majors with 44 triples. These guys can and will run wild — they stole four bases in decisive NLCS Game 7 — and their second baseman, Ketel Marte, has quietly been one of the game’s best up-the-middle players of the past half-decade (top 40 in position player WAR since 2019) and is earning his place among the best players in franchise history. When the Diamondbacks do need a homer, they still have Christian Walker, who was claimed off waivers three times in his career but hit 69 longballs the past two years.
The Diamondbacks might have baseball’s most exciting young player …
Corbin Carroll mixes elite speed with legit power. (Nick Wosika / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Diamondbacks might not have many household names now, but give it a few years and their leadoff hitter, Corbin Carroll, might be the name you remember from this series. The 23-year-old is a shoo-in for National League Rookie of the Year and has a tremendous blend of speed (54 stolen bases) and power (25 home runs) that could make him one of the game’s great players for the next decade.
… but he’s not alone. There are young stars all over the place.
Carroll’s not the only one who’s just starting to make a name for himself. Rangers third baseman Josh Jung (he and Carroll were drafted within eight picks of one another in 2019) was an All-Star as a rookie this season, and Rangers left fielder Evan Carter (who turned 21 in August) reached the big leagues in September and was one of the game’s best hitters in the final month of the regular season. Carter currently ranks as Baseball America’s 10th-best prospect in the entire sport.
Diamondbacks infielder Jordan Lawler (a bench player for now) ranks ninth on that list, and his teammate Gabriel Moreno (one of the best young catchers in the sport) ranked 12th when the season began but has since accrued too much big-league time to qualify. Second-year center fielder Alek Thomas is still just 23 and already has an all-time postseason moment.
The Rangers went all-in at the deadline to get here …
This year’s trade deadline was a letdown for many teams, but not for the Rangers, who spent heavily the past two offseasons and still supplemented their rotation with deadline deals for both Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery. They also traded for Royals flamethrower Aroldis Chapman and Pirates backup catcher Austin Hedgers.
… while the Diamondbacks built from within.
The Diamondbacks made smaller deals at the deadline — closer Paul Sewald was their biggest addition — but mostly grew their team from within. All told, the Diamondbacks’ postseason roster includes four different players (Lawler plus pitchers Brandon Pfaadt, Andrew Saalfrank and Slade Cecconi) who made their big league debuts this season (and two of them weren’t in the majors until September). Saalfrank pitched just 10 times in the regular season, and he’s already made eight appearances in the playoffs.
In the other dugout is 38-year-old Evan Longoria. He hasn’t played in a World Series since his rookie year with the Rays in 2008, and these days he’s more of a complementary role player than the hot-corner superstar he was a decade ago, but he has a legitimate chance to finally win a ring in what could be his final season.
“Most of the time, when you hear about guys’ legacies, it’s about a ring,” Longoria said this month. “It’s about a World Series. It’s about the impact that they’ve made in the playoffs. That’s more of a legacy thing for me.”
The fantasy football fight guy is here …
There’s also 35-year-old Diamondbacks outfielder Tommy Pham, an intense veteran perhaps best known to casual fans for his role in a fantasy football-inspired fracas last season, in search of his first championship. He’s joined by 34-year-old Rangers reliever Will Smith, who is in pursuit of his third in a row title (all with different teams).
… while a certain big lefty with enormous postseason credentials isn’t.
The Diamondbacks front office is worth rooting for …
Seven years ago, the Diamondbacks cleaned house and brought in longtime Boston Red Sox executive Mike Hazen to run the show. He brought some Red Sox connections with him — including manager Torey Lovullo — and has many in the industry rooting for him after his wife, Nicole, died of a rare form of cancer in 2022.
“Such good, real people,” one longtime executive said of the top Diamondbacks decision makers.
… but believe it or not, the Rangers’ front office is fascinating too.
Chris Young has delivered in his first full year as Rangers GM. (Jim Cowsert / USA Today)
No one tunes in to see the general manager clapping in his suite, but Rangers general manager Chris Young should be in the mix for Rookie of the Year at 44 years old. Young is in his first full year on the job having moved into the top seat at the end of last season. He was still playing — he was a good big league pitcher — as recently as 2017, worked in the league office for two years, and has been a front office executive only three years, but Young was aggressive at the trade deadline to help push the Rangers over the top and into this position.
And if you can’t get into the man behind the curtain, there’s always Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, back in the dugout after three years of semi-retirement, trying to win his fourth World Series title and force another line onto his inevitable Hall of Fame plaque.
You could just watch because … it’s the World Series.
SEATTLE (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. topped off a Barbiecore ’fit with a jeweled chain of his own likeness. Adley Rutschman leaned more “Kenergy” in a leafy gold ensemble. Though there were some flashy standouts, many of the suits were safe and serious at Major League Baseball’s red carpet show on Tuesday.
The event came hours before the All-Star Game and featured baseball’s top players strutting through Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market with their spouses, kids and moms in tow, and giving their best looks to the hundreds of adoring fans gathered.
Yet what was really on display was MLB’s quest for the crown of cool.
Baseball’s All-Star Game drew a record low in viewers for the second straight year. The National League’s 3-2 win over the American League in Seattle on Tuesday night was seen by 7,006,000 viewers on Fox, down from 7.51 million last year.
Elias Díaz may be the most unlikely All-Star MVP. Just 3 1/2 years after Pittsburgh failed to offer a contract and allowed him to become a free agent, his go-ahead, two-run homer off Félix Bautista in the eighth inning lifted the National League over the American 3-2.
Across baseball, players are embracing practices like barefoot walking and breathing sessions to keep their minds as healthy as their bodies for the long haul of a pressure-packed baseball season.
Shohei Ohtani was the biggest star of the All-Star Game even if his appearance was rather uneventful.
The fan-friendly event is as much an homage to baseball’s iconic place in street style — from the game’s signature caps and jerseys to the classic tees — as it is an indication that MLB is increasingly staking its claim on fashion as an entry to new audiences and pop culture reverence.
“MLB gave me a stylist for this game,” said Corbin Carroll, a 22-year-old Seattle native turned Arizona Diamondbacks’ breakout rookie. “The outfit’s kind of cool. Definitely, it’s not something I would pick out for myself, but I’m kind of excited to show that off.”
Like a good many Gen Zer — which includes those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s — Carroll described his off-duty style as more casual than high fashion: “Athleisure, not too many logos, plain, a nice good fit.”
On the red carpet — which was actually a hot magenta pink — Carroll stuck with neutral colors, wearing a white blazer, black shirt and tan pants, styled with Nikes, sunglasses and a mullet.
But it’s no coincidence that MLB is tapping the young, mixed-race player as a style ambassador for its All-Star Red Carpet Show.
The league has for years suffered from the same audience problem. There is a perception that baseball is so steeped in American tradition that it may be a stodgy game targeted to old-timers — namely, white fans — who still track scores by hand in the stands.
“Sometimes perception becomes reality, but it’s just never been accurate. Look at the young people — they’ve always been here,” said Noah Garden, MLB’s chief revenue officer. “We always want to attract younger fans. It’s the foundation of any business.”
So MLB has been trying to liven up its image for years, watching with wonder as the NBA’s cultural dominance grew alongside the basketball stars who have been cemented as style kings among celebrity athletes, along with their sneakers, suits and streetwear.
The NBA is the No. 1 brand preference for Gen Z across sports institutions, said Brandon Brown, a sports management professor at New York University, in part because the game and its savvy players are so heavily tied to urban hip-hop culture and self-representation — things this generation so identifies with.
Not since the Seattle Mariners’ own Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. — with his signature and very ‘90s backwards baseball cap — has there truly been an MLB player seen as a cross-cultural superstar who could make a splash with just his outfits, Brown said.
“He (was in) a bunch of different mediums to speak to a multitude of audiences,” Brown said. “MLB is probably still looking for their next superstar in modern culture.”
Today, baseball officials are keen to encourage their players to shine in the same way, too, knowing the ticket to loyal fans can be found off the field — perhaps at a much-hyped red carpet show built to pop on social media.
“It’s a really important event. The players really embrace it, too,” Garden said. “It’s to highlight our best players and bringing them closer to the fans.”
Among the league’s most fashion-forward players: Mariners star Julio Rodríguez, 22, whose red carpet outfit for Tuesday was handmade in Italy and paid tribute to Seattle. The reigning American League Rookie of the Year works with a personal shopper.
“What do you think about when you think about Seattle? You think a little bit about the trees, the lakes and all those things — the beautiful summer. So, it’s going to go towards that,” Rodríguez said.
The look, complete with a pair of exclusive Alexander McQueen sneakers, was crafted by Ethan Weisman, the founder of Pantheon Limited Custom Clothiers. Sports fans have certainly seen Weisman’s looks before. He’s the man behind Ezekiel Elliott’s head-turning crop-top tuxedo at the 2016 NFL draft.
Garden said MLB’s forays into fashion are not really about merchandising revenue, as its high-end collaborations with the likes of Gucci don’t sell for volume.
“There’s very limited quantities. It allows us to reach out to a very specific part of the fan base,” Garden said. “It’s a closer association with non-traditional brands.”
It’s such a coveted supply that some players have even called the front office asking for a piece of MLB’s limited edition Gucci collection, Garden said.
So lest you believe the unstylish rumors, there actually has been many short stops in baseball’s history with fashion.
There’s been official collaborations with brands ranging from preppy Ralph Lauren to niche streetwear label Supreme. Baseball’s long-established role as fashion inspiration is thanks in part to the league’s pioneering sale of replica jerseys. It was a socially-conscious decision to celebrate the league-wide No. 42 jersey on Jackie Robinson Day.
And the strategic licensing of the famous New York Yankees logo globally has arguably, to borrow the words of iconic rapper Jay-Z, “made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can.” In fact, MLB’s fashion efforts are a major part of their international marketing plan, lately leaning into France’s affinity for fashion to break into the wider European market.
“What they’re tapping into is a kind of a cultural capital that’s not financial. It’s about the fans. It’s about nostalgia,” said Erin Corrales-Diaz, a Toledo Museum of Art curator who wrote a book about the baseball jersey and the sport’s influence on fashion. “Fashion has always been a part of the sport, even if it hasn’t always been articulated.”
Even so, MLB may still have its work cut out for it as several All-Star players acknowledged they were less than fluent in fashion ahead of Tuesday’s show. Houston Astros’ Kyle Tucker and Los Angeles Dodger Clayton Kershaw were among the many ballplayers sporting the safest of suits and who said they weren’t big into fashion.
“It’s not my forte,” Kershaw said.
Carroll of the Diamondbacks also flashed a shy smile describing his first time working with a stylist and first time doing any red carpet event.
“I might be more nervous for that than the game,” Carroll said.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo’s grandparents are about to celebrate 64 years of marriage, John having recently turned 93 and Nancy 85.
They had plenty of reason to hold a family party a little bit earlier than their July 19th anniversary: Their grandson Bryan took the mound starting for Seattle in the interleague series opener at San Francisco on Monday night, right across the bay from where the rookie right-hander grew up and attended Alameda High.
“I usually just like the peanuts and Cracker Jacks,” a smiling John Woo said between innings in a large suite at Oracle Park filled with some 30 family members and a few dear friends — his first time at the waterfront ballpark. “It is (special). I am so impressed, this is the first time and with a grandson pitching, you can’t beat that.”
Bayer Leverkusen has brought Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka back to the Bundesliga from English Premier League side Arsenal.
Josiah Gray became the early face of the Washington Nationals’ rebuild when he was part of the return in the trade of Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Building off the success of last year’s games involving Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson, the G League is bringing more international talent into Las Vegas this fall.
Former Germany winger Bastian Schweinsteiger says Pep Guardiola shares blame for the national team’s decline.
Woo had a huge contingent of friends, coaches and old teammates scattered throughout the sellout crowd of 40,691, too, many of whom wore their high school jerseys and cheered more for the visiting team this time.
The pitcher’s father, Clayton, appreciated all the love from supporters in the East Bay and beyond and cherished the opportunity to watch his son live right here at home. Members of the family took video and photos from high above the diamond along the third-base line.
“It is a real special day. With all his trials and tribulations, he had to go through a lot of adversity as well,” Clayton Woo said. “But he kept to it and this is just payoff for all his hard work. It’s just a lot of love with family and friends who are at the game today, so you couldn’t ask for a better scenario. It’s just a special, special, special day for us.”
Woo admitted to some nerves pitching in front of a sellout crowd in a park he visited as a kid, saying, “I try not to look around the stadiums too much, but it was kind of hard not to do that tonight. I tried to take it in as much as I can.”
For John and Nancy, these are moments to remember always yet they also realize this is just a start for the family as Bryan begins his big league baseball career. It was their idea to gather everybody in a suite to enjoy this night.
The 23-year-old Woo made his sixth career start after being selected in the sixth round of the 2021 draft out of Cal Poly. He struck out seven with two walks, allowing two runs on three hits in six stellar innings but didn’t get a decision in Seattle’s 6-5 win.
“It is wonderful. I am so proud of him,” Nancy Woo said. “God gave him health and talent and I know that he’s going to use it well.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Another dreadful outing by Domingo Germán made things easy for touted rookie Bryan Woo on a breakthrough night for the Seattle Mariners.
Teoscar Hernández hit one of Seattle’s four early homers and the Mariners teed off against a suddenly inept Germán in blowing out the sloppy New York Yankees 10-2 on Thursday to prevent a three-game sweep.
Woo (1-1) breezed into the sixth inning with a no-hit bid to earn his first major league victory. Kolten Wong hit his first home run for the Mariners before Ty France and Cal Raleigh also went deep against Germán (4-5).
“We just kind of came in with a different attitude today,” Wong said. “Guys were aggressive, guys were excited to go out there and compete. That was the kind of game that we really needed to kind of jumpstart us back to the winning ways.”
Julio Rodríguez got Seattle started with a one-out single in a four-run first. Hernández had an RBI single, Eugenio Suárez delivered a two-run double and Mike Ford capped the quick outburst with a sacrifice fly.
Batting ninth and hitting .154, Wong led off the second with his first homer since smashing three in one game for Milwaukee last Sept. 22 at Cincinnati.
“It felt great. Obviously, everybody knows I’m putting in the work here. All the guys know, and I don’t want to make excuses man, but yeah, it’s been tough,” Wong said. “It’s nice to look up now and see one instead of zero.”
After rounding the bases, he received the silent treatment from teammates when he returned to the dugout.
“I haven’t had that since I hit my first homer in the big leagues,” Wong said, laughing. “That was funny, man. It was cool to come in and see that. … It was a good weight off my shoulders and a good laugh at the same time.”
France added a solo shot later in the inning off Germán — and then things really got ugly for the Yankees.
New York committed three errors in an embarrassing third inning as the Mariners, held to three runs in the first two games of the series, scored two more without getting a hit.
“Awful game for us,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s not fun to go through something like that, especially at home.”
Hernández and Raleigh hit back-to-back solo homers in the fourth to mercifully chase Germán, who gave up a career-high 10 runs — eight earned — and eight hits. He threw 93 pitches in 3 1/3 innings as his ERA soared to 5.10.
It was the second consecutive flop for the right-hander, who had a very respectable 3.49 ERA before giving up seven runs and seven hits in two innings last Friday at Boston.
This dud came against a Seattle team that was ranked 29th in the majors in batting average and 24th in OPS. Germán joined Bob Turley (1955) and Hall of Famer Whitey Ford (1966) as the only Yankees pitchers to give up at least 10 runs and four homers in a game.
“Sometimes it happens. It’s hard to figure out where the issue is, if it’s mechanical, if it’s the release point. Are they adjusting, are they seeing the pitch well?” Germán said through a translator. “You’ve got to keep working.”
Reserve utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa pitched a perfect ninth for New York, striking out Suárez with a 79 mph fastball, and then hit a two-run homer in the bottom half.
Making his fourth major league start, Woo was handed a 4-0 lead before throwing a pitch. With one out in the sixth, Gleyber Torres fisted a clean single to right field for New York’s first hit — drawing a sarcastic Bronx cheer from the crowd of 42,440.
“I was kind of disappointed just to see it fall,” Woo said.
Rizzo laced the next pitch off the top of the right-field fence for a single that ended the right-hander’s night.
“Credit to Woo, too. That heater’s real,” Boone said. “He was tough.”
TWO-WAY PLAYER
It was the third career pitching appearance (all this season) for Kiner-Falefa, who became the first Yankees player to homer as a pitcher since Lindy McDaniel in September 1972 at Detroit. The next year, the designated hitter was introduced in the American League.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: SS J.P. Crawford (bruised right shoulder) sat out for the second consecutive game but was feeling better, manager Scott Servais said. Crawford went through some pregame drills and the team hopes to have him available this weekend in Baltimore.
Yankees: DH/OF Willie Calhoun was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left quadriceps strain and New York recalled utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. … RHP Ian Hamilton (right groin strain) is scheduled to get at least four outs Saturday in another minor league rehab outing and then could rejoin the Yankees on their road trip next week.
UP NEXT
Mariners: RHP Logan Gilbert (4-4, 4.31 ERA) starts Friday night in Baltimore against RHP Kyle Gibson (8-4, 3.94). Gilbert, who has never faced the Orioles, is 16-4 with a 3.90 ERA in 37 career starts on the road.
Yankees: RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-6, 4.65 ERA) faces the highest-scoring team in the majors when New York hosts Texas. RHP Dane Dunning (6-1, 2.78) goes for the AL West leaders.
SEATTLE (AP) — Switching around the rotation gave Seattle rookie Bryce Miller an extra day of rest and more time to fret about his last start, when he failed to make it out of the third inning.
“I had eight days to think about the last one in Texas, so I felt like I haven’t thrown in a month,” Miller said. “But yeah, it was good getting back out there, getting back on track and feeling good.”
Miller and two relievers combined on a one-hitter, Ty France, Eugenio Suárez and Tom Murphy homered, and the Mariners opened an important six-game homestand with an 8-1 win over the Miami Marlins on Monday night.
Following a disappointing 2-6 trip that saw Seattle fall 10 games back in the AL West, the Mariners rediscovered a winning formula of strong starting pitching and a few big swings.
“The road trip was tough, but what can you do about it now?” France said. “Just got to keep moving forward and got just under 100 games left, so gotta make the most of them.”
Miller was superb, throwing six innings and allowing only Nick Fortes’ home run with two outs in the fifth. Ty Adcock pitched two innings of relief in his major league debut, and Gabe Speier worked the ninth to finish the one-hitter.
Miller (4-3) rebounded from his previous two starts in which the rookie was badly knocked around by the Yankees and Rangers to the tune of 19 hits and 15 earned runs. The 24-year-old right-hander again relied mostly on spotting his fastball, but mixed in just enough sliders to keep the Marlins off balance.
Miller struck out six and walked three and said one of the keys was adjustments made throwing his cutter at a higher velocity.
“That was kind of what I worked on this week. I had two bullpens and I felt really good with it going into the game, and all game it felt really good,” Miller said.
Miami’s Luis Arraez went hitless in four at-bats as his batting average dipped to .391. Arraez was hitless for the second time in his last 17 games, and for the 11th time this season.
“(Miller’s) got a good fastball. We knew that going in,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “But we just couldn’t get on top of the fastball and do any damage with it.”
Miller was provided support from the outset — and a chance to pitch with the lead. The Mariners scored six runs with two outs in the first two innings combined, highlighted by Teoscar Hernández’s RBI double in the first and France’s three-run homer in the second.
“Getting the runs early certainly helps. I’d love to see it here on a consistent basis,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “We’re capable of doing it. We’ve seen us do it before, but it takes a really disciplined approach every night.”
Bryan De La Cruz’s error in left field later in the first inning allowed Hernández to score, and Julio Rodríguez’s RBI single in the second set the stage for France to hit his sixth homer of the season. Suárez hit a solo shot in the fifth, and Murphy added a solo homer in the eighth.
All of Seattle’s early offensive damage came off Miami starter Jesús Luzardo, who lasted just four innings in his shortest outing of the season. Luzardo (5-5) allowed five earned runs, six hits and struck out three.
ONE HIT
The one hit was a season low for the Marlins and just the second time in franchise history their only hit was a home run. The previous came on June 26, 2008, versus Tampa Bay in a 6-1 loss.
ROSTER MOVE
Seattle placed RHP Penn Murfee on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. Murfee was removed from Sunday’s game at the Los Angeles Angels after feeling discomfort in his pitching arm. Murfee missed 29 games in May and early June with the same issue. Seattle selected Adcock from Double-A Arkansas to take Murfee’s spot and transferred LHP Robbie Ray to the 60-day IL.
UP NEXT
Marlins: RHP Edward Cabrera (5-4, 4.29 ERA) won his second straight start in his last outing, allowing one run and two hits in five innings against Kansas City.
Mariners: RHP George Kirby (5-5, 3.50) looks to rebound after getting battered for 11 hits and five runs in 3 2/3 innings in his last start against San Diego.
Eight teams started Saturday still in the 2022 postseason. After today’s league division series games, that number shrank considerably.
The Philadelphia Phillies eliminated the Atlanta Braves with an 8-3 National League Division Series Game 4 victory that had Philly’s Citizens Bank Park rocking.
The American League Division Series matchup between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians was split after the first two games in the Bronx. But the Guardians pushed the 99-win Yankees to the brink of elimination with a walk-off win in Game 3.
The Padres have slayed the “dragon up the freeway,” to borrow a phrase from their owner, Peter Seidler. They won three consecutive NLDS games to eliminate a star-studded Dodgers team that dominated them throughout the regular season, and they seem to be operating at a completely different level at this juncture. They’re getting solid-to-great starting pitching and playing stellar defense behind it. The back end of their bullpen is dominating. And they’re stringing together timely hits, never more so than in the five-run seventh inning that produced an epic comeback on Saturday night.
Perhaps just as important — they’re playing with an extreme level of confidence. Eliminating the Mets and Dodgers, two teams that combined to win 212 games during the regular season, will do that. Now they’ll have the home-field advantage in an NLCS showdown against the similarly hot Phillies. And given the energy at Petco Park these last two nights, that could be a major lift. — Alden Gonzalez
It might seem impossible to win without going big on offense in the postseason, but don’t tell that to the plucky Cleveland Guardians. The New York Yankees hit three homers, including a 449-foot moon shot by formerly struggling slugger Aaron Judge. But the Guardians just keep blooping pitches into the outfield and looping little liners to the opposite field — and before you knew, it added up to some real offense. The Yankees tried to close it out with a combination of Wandy Peralta and Clarke Schmidt, but Cleveland kept blooping and looping until the bases were loaded for frequent postseason hero Oscar Gonzalez, who singled softly through the middle, scoring two runs for a walk-off win in the ninth inning as a sell-out crowd at Progressive Field set the grandstand shuddering. It turns out a slingshot offense actually can get it done in October, and when it does, it’s awfully fun to watch. — Bradford Doolittle
Aaron Judge‘s first hit of the postseason is a game-tying two-run homer. Prior to that, Judge had been 0-9, with eight strikeouts this postseason. According to ESPN Stats & Information, that was Judge’s 12th career postseason home run, which broke a tie with Bernie Williams for the third most by a Yankee through the age-30 season. Judge trails only Mickey Mantle (14 home runs in 54 games) and Derek Jeter (14 HRs in 110 games).
The game that felt like it might never end finally did, at 7:31 p.m. local time — 6 hours, 22 minutes after it started, 18 innings deep, on account of one bad pitch.
In a game that had as many pitchers as hits (18), with a postseason-record 42 strikeouts, no errors and incredibly clean baseball, the Astros advanced to their sixth consecutive AL Championship Series, sweeping their division rivals and illustrating again that whether it’s a slugfest or a pitching duel, they’re as equipped as any team to triumph. — Jeff Passan
Houston completes the sweep
FINAL in 18: Astros 1, Mariners 0
Jeremy Peña’s solo home run to lead off the top of the 18th sends Houston to its sixth straight ALCS.
Seattle’s first home playoff game in 21 years goes as long as any in postseason history. Amazing atmosphere. Wonderful season. Tough ending.
Astros-Mariners is going to the 16th inning. Here are the numbers so far.
– Hitters are 14 for 101 – Of those 14 hits, 12 were singles and two doubles – Pitchers have struck out 37 hitters and issued three walks – There have been 425 pitches thrown – Total runs scored: zero
Once again, Major League Baseball will not have a repeat World Series champion after the Phillies bounced the Braves from the postseason with a resounding 8-3 victory in Game 4 of their NLDS.
Just as they did in all three of their wins in the series, the Phillies jumped to an early lead that had Atlanta playing chase pretty much from the beginning. And for the second day in a row, it was a party from start to finish at a raucous Citizens Bank Park.
Instead of a bat-spike home run celebration providing the signature moment like it did in Game 3, the highlight on Saturday was a spring around the bases. In the third inning, J.T. Realmuto became the first catcher in postseason history to hit an inside-the-park home run, one inning after Brandon Marsh ignited the crowd with a three-run blast.
Two things are clear no matter who Philly faces in the NLCS: This team that found new life earlier in the season when manager Rob Thomson took over won’t be an easy out for anyone; and when the Phillies take the field at home in an NLCS for the first time since 2010 on Friday, it’s going to be quite a scene in Philadelphia. — Jesse Rogers
According to ESPN Stats & Information, that is the first inside-the-park home run by a catcher in the postseason and the first time any Phillies player has done it in the playoffs.
I think I’m appropriately dressed for today’s big day…..you PHEEL-EASE?!! 🤣🤣🤣 Philly we ready?!! Then let’s goooooo @Phillies! Our time! pic.twitter.com/8ceNVTiaNU
Playoff baseball returns to the Pacific Northwest on Saturday.
The Seattle Mariners are hoping it’s more than a one-day cameo.
Julio Rodríguez and company host Yordan Alvarez and the Houston Astros for Game 3 of their AL Division Series. The Mariners are hoping to extend their October stay after dropping the first two games of the best-of-five series in Houston.
Matt Olson and Atlanta look to stay alive against Bryce Harper and Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles Dodgers take on Manny Machado and San Diego in Game 4 of their NLDS on Saturday night. The New York Yankees face the Cleveland Guardians in the other ALDS matchup.
It’s the first playoff game in Seattle since the Mariners were eliminated by the New York Yankees in the 2001 AL Championship Series.
“The factor that I don’t think is getting talked about enough and I think it’s going to show up tomorrow on the first inning is when there’s 45,000 Mariner fans in the stands pumped and ready to go, and all behind us. Because we certainly need it,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “I talked about it when we clinched, ended the drought, how valuable our fan base has been to this team. This team really, somehow, we get wired, we get going when it’s loud here.”
Seattle snapped the longest playoff drought in the four major North American sports when it clinched one of the AL wild cards on Sept. 30 thanks to Cal Raleigh’s home run.
Even the starting pitcher for Houston — trying to end Seattle’s season on Saturday — has appreciation for seeing the Mariners back in the postseason.
“Moments like these where the fans get to come back out and watch postseason baseball for an organization that hasn’t been there in a while I think is really cool,” Houston right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. said.
Here’s what else to know about the MLB playoffs Saturday:
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE (All times ET)
NLDS Game 4: Atlanta at Philadelphia, 2:07 p.m., FS1
ALDS Game 3: Houston at Seattle, 4:07 p.m., TBS
ALDS Game 3: New York Yankees at Cleveland, 7:37 p.m., TBS
NLDS Game 4: Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego, 9:37 p.m., FS1
ALL RISE?
Maybe a change of scenery will help Aaron Judge as he looks to find his timing at the plate. Judge and the Yankees visit the Guardians for Game 3 of their AL Division Series on Saturday.
Judge went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts in Friday’s 4-2 loss in Game 2. He is 0 for 8 with seven strikeouts in the deadlocked best-of-five series.
“Just a little late,” Judge said. “When you’re a little late, you’re missing pitches that you’re usually doing some damage on. You’re swinging at stuff that you usually don’t. So it’s truly all about timing.”
The 30-year-old Judge hit .311 with 62 homers and 131 RBIs this season, leading New York to the AL East title and setting himself up for a big payday. The 6-foot-7 outfielder is eligible for free agency after breaking Roger Maris’ AL home run record.
ON THE EDGE
Atlanta is on the brink of elimination heading into Game 4 at Philadelphia. The Braves won the World Series last year, and then rallied past the Mets for their fifth consecutive NL East title this season.
Charlie Morton starts for Atlanta, and Noah Syndergaard takes the mound for Philly. Morton, who turns 39 on Nov. 12, is 7-4 with a 3.35 ERA in 17 career postseason appearances. Syndergaard is 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA in six postseason games, including a scoreless eighth inning in Game 2 at Atlanta.
Morton was in the mix for Friday’s Game 3, but the Braves went with Spencer Strider instead. The rookie right-hander was tagged for five runs in 2 1/3 innings in a 9-1 loss.
“It’s the postseason. You’ve just got to be ready to throw when they call on you,” Morton said.
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We’re down to eight teams in the 2022 postseason after four were eliminated this past weekend in MLB’s first-ever wild-card series weekend. Now it’s on to the league division series: four series, best-of-five, first team to win three advances.
The Dodgers have continually talked up the depth and talent of their bullpen, regardless of the uncertainty at the back end — and that confidence was validated in their postseason opener. The Padres trimmed a five-run deficit to two with a big fifth inning against Julio Urias, but then four Dodgers relievers — Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Brusdar Graterol and Chris Martin — kept the Padres scoreless over the last four innings for a Game 1 victory.
The usage offered an early peek at the Dodgers’ bullpen strategy. Manager Dave Roberts used Phillips, their most effective reliever this season, in the sixth inning because the best part of the Padres’ lineup was due up. Vesia, a lefty, came back out to face the left-handed-hitting Juan Soto. And for the final four outs, it was Graterol and Martin. The order will undoubtedly change throughout the postseason, with Tommy Kahnle and, perhaps eventually, Blake Treinen pitching in high leverage situations. But the Dodgers clearly feel good enough about their depth. — Alden Gonzalez
Out of a jam
With the Padres on a roll in the sixth inning, Phillips got Wil Myers to ground into a double play, ending the threat.
Myers’ 376-foot home run just made it over the wall to give the Padres their first run of the night. Runs by Jake Cronenworth and Ha-Seong Kim cut the Dodgers’ lead to two.
In the bottom of the third, Will Smith hit a ball deep into left field for a double that brought home Trea Turner home and extended the Dodgers’ lead to three. After a Max Muncy single, L.A. added another run courtesy of a Gavin Lux double that brought Smith home.
A walk with the bases loaded along and a Padres error helped bring in two more runs and increased the lead to 5-0 for Los Angeles.
The Yankees needed Gerrit Cole to be on top of his game and he delivered. Over the course of 6 1/3 innings, Cole allowed just one run on four hits — a home run to Steven Kwan — while walking one and striking out eight. The game nearly fell apart on Cole in the third inning after Cleveland loaded the bases with one out following Kwan’s home run, but Cole managed to get out of the inning unscathed.
Meanwhile, at the plate, the Yankees relied on a solo homer from Harrison Bader to tie the game, a Jose Trevino sacrifice fly to take the lead and an Anthony Rizzo two-run shot into the second deck of right field to extend the lead to 4-1. That provided a cushion for the bullpen, which was held together on the backs of Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes. — Joon Lee
Rizzo rips one
It wouldn’t be a game at Yankee Stadium without a lot of home runs. Speaking of that, Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run dinger to add to New York’s lead.
Josh Donaldson thought he had a go-ahead home run … and was caught out between first and second base when it turned out that the ball had instead bounced off the top of the wall. Replay confirmed it, and the Yankee faithful were less than enthused. Fortunately for the Bronx Bombers, an Oscar Gonzalez misplay off the right-field wall led to a sacrifice fly, and a tenuous lead.
The Mariners were on their way to stealing home-field advantage in their ALDS, and then the Astros did what the Astros always seem to do in October. Bottom nine. Two on. Two out. Yordan Alvarez at the plate. And in came Robbie Ray, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, the $115 million free agent prize of Seattle’s offseason, to get the lefty-on-lefty matchup. Alvarez fouled off a fastball. He didn’t miss the next one. And 439 feet later, a 117-mph rocket landed in the right-field bleachers and propelled the Astros to an 8-7 victory in Game 1. Down 7-3 after Justin Verlander‘s worst-ever playoff start, Houston looked done until it wasn’t. And it continued a trend that has proven awfully fruitful in years past: Six straight postseasons, six straight victories in Game 1 of the ALDS. — Jeff Passan
Postgame trolling
The Astros used the most brutal weapon possible in trolling the Mariners: math.
The Astros’ first score came in the third inning, courtesy of a Yordan Alvarez double that drove Jose Altuve and Chas McCormick home. Yuli Gurriel mashed a 373-foot home run for their third run of the game, cutting Seattle’s lead tp three.
Julio Rodriguez drew a leadoff walk from Justin Verlander to begin the game. Ty France’s hit sent him to third, and Cal Raleigh‘s RBI single allowed Rodriguez to score the game’s first run.
The Phillies’ offense has emerged during the playoffs with a different feel than the long ball-or-bust version we saw most of the season. In Tuesday’s NLDS Game 1 win, they peppered Braves pitching with 10 hits — Nick Castellanos had three of them — and seven runs in the first five innings without hitting a home run.
When they weren’t filling the bases via singles and doubles, Philadelphia played small ball, attempting three sacrifice bunts, including one each from sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. Two of those bunt attempts were successful, leading to two more small-ball moments: sacrifice flies by Alec Bohm in the third inning and Matt Vierling in the fifth. And it all added up to just enough for the Phillies to hang on for a 7-6 victory after the Braves made it interesting with a three-run ninth inning.
It’s not something you can find in the box score, but the Phillies’ fast start — coupled with the Mariners getting to Astros ace Justin Verlander early in their own division series opener — makes it worth wondering if there’s a rest-vs.-rust advantage to coming in hot off a wild-card-round win against a team that hasn’t played for nearly a week. — Jesse Rogers
Lockdown defense
Nick Castellanos makes a diving catch for the second out of the ninth inning en route to a Philly victory.
Matt Olson hits a three-run blast with one out in the ninth, cutting the Phillies’ deficit to just one run — and giving the Braves some late-game hope.
Travis D’Arnaud earned his second and third RBIs of the game with a double that drove home William Contreras and Olson — making him responsible for all of Atlanta’s first three runs.
Eight teams remain in the Major League Baseball playoffs after the Wild Card series wrapped up this weekend. John Dickerson speaks with Matt Snyder, who covers all things baseball for CBS Sports.
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After an action-packed Wild Card to get the 2022 MLB playoffs going, there are eight teams left battling for World Series glory entering the division series round.
With an extra round to begin the postseason and the possibility that this year’s Fall Classic extends to a Game 7 on Nov. 5, it was a very short October stay for some — and we could ultimately see the latest championship celebration in MLB history for the last squad standing.
Will the favored Los Angeles Dodgers rule the National League or will the repeat-minded Braves make another deep run? Can anyone in the American League keep the New York Yankees and Houston Astros from squaring off in the ALCS?
MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield get you ready for it all with everything from odds for every matchup and a predicted date of each team’s last game to the best- and worst-case scenario for all eight remaining World Series hopefuls.
Note: World Series and matchup odds come from Doolittle’s formula using power ratings as the basis for 10,000 simulations to determine the most likely outcomes.
How they could stay around longer: Refuse to Lose. Anything Can Happen. True to the Blue. Believe. Hey, after Cal Raleigh clinched Seattle’s playoff spot and ended the franchise’s 21-year-old playoff drought with a dramatic pinch-hit, two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth, 3-2 count, walk-off home run — and then Seattle pulled off the comeback of all postseason road comebacks to eliminate Toronto on Saturday. Maybe destiny really is on the Mariners’ side. If you want a baseball reason, the bullpen is deep and built for October. But they’ll need to score some runs and to do that, how about a dream scenario: Rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez returns from the sore back that sidelined him at the end of September and has a postseason for the ages. — Schoenfield
What could send them home soon: The pitching will need to carry them, but it also looked a little fatigued at times down the stretch. Luis Castillo had three rough September starts when he suddenly lost it in the middle innings. Rookie George Kirby had been a model of consistency until a recent bad outing (and is well beyond his innings total from 2021). Robbie Ray had two scoreless starts in September mixed in with three mediocre ones. The bullpen was pushed hard throughout the season and closer Paul Sewald has been homer-prone of late. The Mariners don’t score enough runs to leave much margin for error, so the entire staff will need to bring it. — Schoenfield
One thing they do that could take down the Astros: The Astros won 12 of 19 games against the Mariners, but they outscored Seattle by only eight runs. In the six games started by Justin Verlander, however, the Astros outscored their division rivals 30-11. Houston won five of those starts. In his past three outings against Seattle, Verlander allowed three runs in 21⅔ innings. In other words — it’s going to be crucial for Seattle to take advantage on the days Verlander doesn’t pitch. Jose Urquidy, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier have a 5.40 ERA in 48⅓ innings against the M’s this year. — Gonzalez
Wild-card opponent: Yankees (37.7% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 2.9% | Caesars odds: +3500
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 17
How they could stay around longer: The Guardians have drawn comparisons to the 2014-15 Royals for their style of play: Contact hitting, speed, defense … and a dominant bullpen. Emmanuel Clase is as good as any closer this side of Edwin Diaz and the top three setup relievers in front of him — James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan and lefty Sam Hentges — have all been outstanding. They’re hard to hit, they strike batters out and all four are stingy with the home run. The pen has been even better since the beginning of July, with the second-best ERA in the majors behind the Dodgers. Get a lead through five or six and the Guardians almost always hold it. October baseball has become more and more about the bullpens and Cleveland can match up with any team. — Schoenfield
What could send them home soon: Lack of power. The Guardians have the fewest home runs of the playoff teams and you win in the playoffs by hitting home runs. Don’t buy that? In last year’s postseason, the team that hit more home runs went 25-2-10 — that’s 25 wins, two losses and 10 games where the teams hit the same number. No, the Royals didn’t hit a lot of home runs in 2014 or 2015, but they did hit them in the playoffs (and that was an era with fewer home runs in general). It certainly would be fun to see the Guardians scratch and claw their way to the World Series, but more likely they’ll have to power up. — Schoenfield
One thing they do that could take down the Astros: The only AL team that put the ball in play more often than the Astros was the Guardians — by a pretty sizable margin. Cleveland also stole the third-most bases in the majors and led the sport in going first to third on a single. Putting the ball in play and running the bases both effectively and aggressively is the Guardians’ recipe for success in October, not just against the Astros but against everyone. The Astros are the second-best defensive team in the postseason field, according to outs above average. But Martin Maldonado was below league average in caught-stealing percentage this season. The Guardians need to get on base and they need to run — and just hope the series doesn’t turn into a slugfest. — Gonzalez
ALDS opponent: Guardians (62.3% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 15.6% | Caesars odds: +500
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 25
How they could stay around longer: Maybe it’s unfair, but it feels like so much is riding on Gerrit Cole’s performance, especially since Frankie Montas wasn’t the big rotation addition the Yankees expected. When Cole bombed out early in the wild-card game against the Red Sox last season, the Yankees went home. He’s still striking out a ton of batters, but he also led the American League with 33 home runs allowed — 16 of them off his four-seam fastball. Cole was especially homer-prone in September with 10 in 36 innings and in his four career postseason starts with the Yankees he has allowed six in just 20⅓ innings. He has to figure out how to keep the ball in the park. — Schoenfield
What could send them home early: Opponents pitch around Aaron Judge and the rest of the lineup fails to knock him in. When the Yankees struggled with a 10-18 record in August, they averaged just 3.61 runs per game — even as Judge hit nine home runs and drove in 22 runs. But as he continued mashing throughout the season, teams started walking him more often: 13 times in May, 15 in June, 17 in July, 25 in August and 30 in September. The Yankees led the AL in runs, but they can’t expect one man to carry them for an entire postseason. It’s worth noting that in seven games against the Astros they hit just .151. — Schoenfield
One thing they do that could take down the Astros: The Astros famously got the best of the Yankees during the regular season, winning five of seven. The encouraging news if you’re a Yankees fan: All seven games were decided by three runs or fewer. The not-so-encouraging news: The Yankees didn’t throw a single pitch with a lead. Both of their victories came as a result of come-from-behind rallies followed by walk-off hits from Judge. But the Astros were one of few teams that were actually able to keep Judge mostly in check, holding him to a .148/.258/.370 slash line. Needless to say, Judge’s bat needs to come alive in this potential heavyweight matchup. And the Yankees will have to play a clean, mistake-free brand of baseball. — Gonzalez
ALDS opponent: Mariners (63.8% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 18.2% | Caesars odds: +380
Predicted date of their last game: Nov. 2
Why they are the AL’s team to beat:Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, the two veteran holdovers from the 2017 World Series champions who continue to get booed around the league, do serious damage at the plate. Altuve quietly had one of his best seasons, with an OPS+ that matched his MVP season in 2017. Bregman, meanwhile, had a big second half, the best he’s hit since 2019. Altuve has been outstanding in his postseason career (.286/.361/.567, 23 home runs in 79 games) while Bregman less so (.226/.339/.400, 12 home runs in 73 games), but if they’re getting on base in front of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, good things can happen. — Schoenfield
What could send them home early: The bottom of the lineup fails to contribute. The Astros don’t get much from their catchers, Martin Maldonado and Christian Vazquez (who hasn’t homered for Houston since coming over from Boston at the trade deadline). Yuli Gurriel had a rough season. Trey Mancini, the other trade acquisition, has hit under .200 for the Astros. Rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena has seen his numbers drop in the second half. This lineup simply lacks the depth of some other Houston teams of recent vintage. If the big four don’t click, it could be a quick exit — no matter how dominant Justin Verlander and the rest of the rotation is. — Schoenfield
Their biggest advantage if MLB’s two best teams meet in November: Most of the Dodgers’ postseason pitching plan remains a mystery, but one thing has already been declared by manager Dave Roberts: Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Anderson will make up three-fourths of their postseason rotation. What do they all have in common? They’re all lefties. And the Astros — with a right-handed-heavy lineup headlined by Bregman and Altuve — feasted on left-handed pitching this season. Their best hitter, the left-handed-hitting Alvarez, was elite against lefties, too. In a matchup of two teams that are pretty closely matched, it could make the difference. If the Astros can make a habit out of scoring early, they could claim their second World Series title against the Dodgers — and their first without a cheating scandal. — Gonzalez
How they could stay around longer: The bullpen falls into place. Philadelphia has a 5.04 bullpen ERA since the beginning of September, a big contributor to Philly’s near-collapse down the stretch. Injuries have included Corey Knebel (done for the season) and Brad Hand (question mark for the playoffs). David Robertson will be a part of the high-leverage mix. Other solutions have emerged: converted starter Zach Eflin has flourished out of the bullpen, and Jose Alvarado has been as hot as any reliever. Struggling Seranthony Dominguez regaining the dominant form he flashed before an August injury might be enough to push the Phillies over the hump. — Doolittle
What could send them home soon: .The Phillies own MLB’s third-highest homer rate and while they aren’t the most longball-dependent offense in the postseason, they aren’t far off. Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins & Co. need to combine for two or three bombs per game or the Phillies will have a hard time turning the scoreboard. — Doolittle
One thing they do that could take down the Dodgers: The 2019 Washington Nationals proved you don’t need to be incredibly deep or even well-rounded to defeat the Dodgers in a short series. Sometimes, if the top of your roster is elite, you just need your best players to perform to their capabilities. Harper and Schwarber combined for a 1.315 OPS in 54 plate appearances against the Dodgers this season, but Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler combined to allow nine runs in 17⅔ innings. In those four — and catcher J.T. Realmuto — the Phillies boast upper-echelon talent. They’ll need them to do most of the heavy lifting to defeat L.A. — Gonzalez
NLDS opponent: Dodgers (24.8% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 3.5% | Caesars odds: +2800
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 16
How they could stay around longer:Juan Soto goes off. Soto went into a funk not long after the monumental midseason trade that sent him to San Diego. While his overall San Diego numbers are down even from his subpar pre-trade numbers in Washington, Soto has quietly been trending up over the past couple of weeks. And let’s not forget that when the Nationals won the World Series in 2019, Soto’s huge postseason as a 20-year-old had a lot to do with it. All the hand-wringing over Soto’s post-trade play would be forgotten if he has a big October. — Doolittle
What could send them home soon: The Padres’ rotation, especially Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove, carried them into the playoffs down the stretch. That success needs to continue, but it wouldn’t have mattered had closer Josh Hader not straightened himself out. After a catastrophic start to his Padres career, Hader finished strong — making his midseason slump all the more bewildering. What happens if the bizarro Hader returns? San Diego will be done, that’s what will happen. Sure, you can say the same thing about every team that leans on a primary closer — but not every team saw its relief ace pitch like Hader did in August. — Doolittle
One thing they do that could take down the Dodgers: The Padres struggled mightily against their Southern California rivals this season, losing 14 of 19 and getting outscored by a combined62 runs. To beat L.A., they’ll need to make sure Yu Darvish pitches as often as possible and Sean Manaea doesn’t pitch against the Dodgers at all. They’ll need Soto and Manny Machado to be at their best. They’ll need Hader to be the lockdown closer they thought they were getting at the start of August. And they’ll need contributions from several others. Most of all, perhaps, they’ll need to summon some confidence. — Gonzalez
NLDS opponent: Phillies (61.2% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 13.2% | Caesars odds: +600
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 24
How they could stay around longer: If the bullpen falls into place like it did last October, look out. The Braves’ are entering the playoffs with a more stable rotation outlook than a year ago, so Brian Snitker shouldn’t need to lean quite as heavily on his fireman as he did en route to the 2021 title. But even if he does, the Atlanta bullpen as a group has been smoking hot of late — led by trade acquisition Raisel Iglesias, who has allowed one earned run in 27 outings since he joined the Braves. Kenley Jansen has been very good, as have Collin McHugh, A.J. Minter and Dylan Lee. If Tyler Matzek can find last season’s consistency, there might not be a bad lever for Snitker to pull. — Doolittle
What could send them home early: A couple of lifeless cutters in the wrong situation by Jansen. This isn’t to pick on Jansen. He’s had an excellent first season in Atlanta. He leads the NL in saves and is on a pretty good roll entering the playoffs. But he still isn’t the shutdown hammer he was during his prime, and the Braves are such a complete team that there isn’t much else that might be a glaring issue. — Doolittle
One thing they do that could take down the Dodgers: The Braves and Dodgers have met in back-to-back NLCS, splitting the two series, and they seem poised square off again. Outside of the Astros, the Braves might be the closest to matching the Dodgers’ depth and balance. Their separator could be in the bullpen. The three guys who entered this season as the Dodgers’ most important back-end relievers are either lost for the year (Daniel Hudson), pitching in low-leverage situations because of ineffectiveness (Craig Kimbrel) or recovering from injury (Blake Treinen). The Braves are as deep as ever in the back end of their bullpen, and this is a clear advantage for them. — Gonzalez
Why they are the team to beat in all of MLB: During the regular season, depth is what jumps to mind. L.A. has a roster and system of processes with so much quality redundancy built in that it’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t simply pencil the Dodgers in for a playoff spot before a season began. Depth isn’t irrelevant in the playoffs, but it’s clearly not as big a factor with the possible exception of the back of the bullpen. The thing is, the Dodgers aren’t just about depth. They are about all of the things, and a team with star power like this has a talent edge on everyone. And, oh yeah, they just won 111 games with the run differential that suggests they were actually a little unlucky. — Doolittle
What could send them home early: The term “Achilles’ heel” has become such a sports cliche. If the Dodgers falter, maybe we’ll have to update it to “L.A. closer.” Like in the NFL, you might say, “They have an airtight defense but their L.A. closer is the lack of a quality third corner.” The Dodgers have run roughshod over the majors all season and have such a depth of impact talent in the organization that it’s dizzying. And yet they enter the playoffs with an uncertain end-of-game situation because of the struggles of Craig Kimbrel. It’s hard to fathom. — Doolittle
Their biggest advantage if MLB’s two best teams meet in November: First, a tangible one: Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. The Dodgers’ dynamic top-of-the-lineup trio is what separates them from everyone, even the most elite. No team can boast the combination of bat-to-ball skills, power and baserunning that those three possess in abundance. –
Now, an intangible one: Revenge. Betts, Turner and Freeman were not with the Dodgers when they lost the 2017 World Series to an Astros team that was later found to have illegally stolen signs. But a few others — Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger and Austin Barnes — were. And beating the Astros on this stage would qualify as the ultimate payback, no matter how much these rosters have changed over the last five years. — Gonzalez
Seattle Mariners produced a sensational comeback on Saturday to beat Toronto Blue Jays in an MLB playoff game which also featured a violent clash that had Blue Jays’ George Springer carted off the field after he collided with teammate Bo Bichette.
J. P. Crawford had hit a blooper into shallow center field and as the pair went for the ball, Bichette’s elbow made contact with the back of Springer’s neck.
Bichette stayed on for the remainder of the game, while Springer departed in the eighth inning.
After the game, Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider told reporters the 33-year-old was “doing OK.”
“He’s going to be evaluated for a couple of different things, he said some nice things to his teammates just now,” Schneider said in the post-match press conference. “So, we’ll know more in the next couple of days.”
Springer’s injury compounded what was an awful night for the Toronto team in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series at Rogers Centre as the Marines came back from a seven-run deficit to advance to the second round.
According to MLB.com, the comeback was the second-largest in playoff history, the largest for a team on the road and the largest in a series-clinching game.
The Blue Jays had an 8-1 lead after five innings, but the Mariners tallied four runs in the sixth and four more in the eighth to tie the game at 9-9. Second baseman Adam Frazier doubled in the ninth inning to drive in Cal Raleigh with the winning run.
The Mariners will next host the Houston Astros in the best-of-five series.
The regular season is officially in the books (OK, maybe there is still a game or two trickling slowly to its finish as you read this) and the 2022 MLB playoffs are set to start Friday — and this year’s postseason could be epic.
In addition to a new format that features 12 teams and a three-game wild-card round that is guaranteed to bring drama to October from the very start, there are so many storylines to follow throughout that it has a chance to be an all-time great month of baseball.
Below, we highlight the 12 themes that will dominate the entire sport as the new 12-team format begins.
I think baseball finally nailed it. Yes, there are those who will always favor the old setups of two pennants or four division winners, but the 12-team arrangement is an improvement over 10 teams (which had been the norm for the past decade). The do-or-die wild-card game, which had been around since 2012, never felt right and, frankly, never really turned into the must-see drama that the sports world stopped everything to watch anyway.
As we saw with the temporary 16-team bracket in 2020, these quick, three-game series are fun. They’re still plenty pressure-packed, but they feel more like baseball than a winner-take-all matchup.
Crucially, this format still rewards the best teams with a first-round bye and the opportunity to rest a pitching staff and line up a rotation. My only nit with where baseball landed this year is that a seven-game division series would be better than five — maybe next year, when the start of the season won’t be delayed by a lockout.
2. There’s a 111-win superteam and nobody is sure what to make of its World Series chances
The Los Angeles Dodgers won 111 games — the most ever for a National League team in a 162-game season and a total topped only by the 2001 Seattle Mariners and 1998 New York Yankees. If they win it all, they go down alongside that Yankees team as one of the greatest of all time; if they don’t win it all, they’re relegated to the back pages of history alongside those Mariners.
Since 2017, the Dodgers have had four 104-win seasons, a remarkably long period of domination … but just one World Series title. Their sole championship came in the shortened 2020 season, with playoff games played in front of empty stadiums or at neutral sites. It counts — or as a friend of mine who is a longtime die-hard Dodgers fan told me, it counts as one-third of a title. And don’t forget that teams were allowed to play with 28-man rosters that postseason, which allowed the Dodgers to use starters as relievers and relievers as starters and do things they might not have been able to do with a 26-man roster.
Alden Gonzalez had a good breakdown of the pressure the Dodgers face this October. In a sense, they’re playing for two championships: 2022 and a validation of 2020. While manager Dave Roberts told ESPN he “absolutely” considers the Dodgers a dynasty — and four 104-win seasons certainly back that claim up — two titles would definitely secure their place in history as one of the greatest teams of all time.
3. We’ve got a real chance of a repeat
After winning the World Series in 2021, the Atlanta Braves lost Freddie Freeman to the Dodgers — and got younger and better, winning 101 games and their fifth straight division title. No team has repeated as World Series champs since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000; the Braves have the power, the pitching and the momentum — after stealing the NL East in the final week with a three-game sweep of the New York Mets — to do it.
And it’s not just a repeat, the Braves might be on their way to a dynasty here. Their turnaround from a 10½-game deficit to the division title began when they called up Michael Harris II to play center field in late May and moved Spencer Strider to the rotation. From June 1 — the first win in a 14-game winning streak — to the end of the regular season, they went 78-34. Strider’s injured oblique might keep him out of the playoffs, but they still have Max Fried, 20-game winner Kyle Wright and October hero of the past Charlie Morton, plus a lineup that led the NL in home runs.
4. Speaking of dynasties … what do we make of the Houston Astros?
You might have noticed by now, but there are a lot of good teams at the top of this year’s playoff bracket. We have four 100-win clubs in the Dodgers, Astros, Braves and Mets, with the Yankees finishing at 99 wins. The you-can’t-predict-baseball nature of the postseason doesn’t guarantee we’ll see two of these teams in the World Series, but if we do, there’s a good chance we’ll see a classic series. The last matchup of 100-win teams in the World Series was 2017, when the Astros beat the Dodgers in seven thrilling games. Before that, you have to go all the way back to 1970 to have two 100-win teams in the World Series.
The Astros also have four 100-win seasons since 2017, including 107 in 2019 and 106 this season. Sign-stealing scandal or not, if they win the World Series, perhaps they go down as the dominant franchise of this era. And an added bonus? After 25 years of managing in the big leagues and making his 12th trip to the postseason, manager Dusty Baker is hoping to finally win that final game of the season.
To make matters more interesting, the Astros appear on a collision course to meet the Yankees in the American League Championship Series for the third time since 2017. Remember the war of words in the spring between Astros owner Jim Crane and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman after Cashman cried that the only thing that had stopped the Yankees in previous seasons from reaching the World Series was “something that was so illegal and horrific.” A Yankees-Astros ALCS would be an epic battle — even if it is one Evil Empire versus another.
5. New York baseball is B-A-C-K
This is now the Yankees’ 13th season since last appearing in a World Series in 2009 — an unacceptable length of time for baseball’s richest and most historically successful franchise with 27 titles in a sport where the wealthiest teams have a decided advantage. Longtime fans will note the Yankees are closing in on the infamous World Series drought from 1982 to 1995, the reign of terror era under George Steinbrenner when he cycled through 13 managers and seven general managers.
On the other side of town: The Mets won 100 games for just the fourth time in franchise history and first time since 1988, but they enter the postseason with the bitter taste of defeat after losing that final series to the Braves. Everyone knows that Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer can carry a team through a postseason — but deGrom allowed 14 runs and six home runs in 21 innings over his final four starts, so the Mets will need him to find that groove where he posted a 1.66 ERA over his first seven starts after returning in August. Still, this is hardly a two-man team: Pete Alonso led the NL in RBIs, Francisco Lindor might finish in the top 10 of the MVP voting, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker are solid 3-4 starters and Edwin Diaz has been a lockdown closer. The Mets have had their moments since that run of success in the 1980s, including two World Series appearances, but it’s been 36 years since their iconic 1986 team won it all.
6. Did you really think we forgot about Aaron Judge?
Yes, both teams have made New York baseball interesting all season, but nobody has been more at the center of that than the man who just finished up a 62-home run campaign — and has fans of both New York teams envisioning his free agency will end with him signing with their club.
Now, we have Judge trying to cap off what might be arguably the greatest season of any player in history — by that, I mean a historic regular season, a great postseason and a World Series title. Ted Williams in 1941? Didn’t even win the pennant. Carl Yastrzemski in 1967? The highest single-season WAR for a position player other than Babe Ruth, but the Red Sox lost the World Series. Bob Gibson in 1968? A 1.12 ERA and a record 17 strikeouts in one World Series game, but he lost Game 7. Dwight Gooden in 1985? The Mets missed the playoffs. Pedro Martinez in 1999? The Red Sox lost in the ALCS. Barry Bonds in 2001? The Giants didn’t make the playoffs. Bonds in 2002? He had a great postseason, but the Giants lost Game 7 of the Fall Classic. Mookie Betts in 2018? A 10.7-WAR season that matches Judge and the Red Sox won the World Series, but Betts had a lackluster postseason (.210/.300/.323).
7. Can the GOAT go out on top?
Let’s not forget the other slugger who made home run history this season — Albert Pujols. Every player would love to go out on top, either still playing well or with a dogpile on the field. Almost none of them do. Pujols and Yadier Molina have a chance to do that — and maybe Adam Wainwright joins them in retirement as well (he’s yet to officially announce his status for 2023).
The three St. Louis Cardinals legends reunited this season when Pujols returned after a 10-year exile, and all three will play a key role in what happens to the club in October. As will Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, two of the greatest players of their generation who will likely finish 1-2 in the MVP voting in the NL — and who both seek their first trip to the World Series.
8. The playoff drought-busters
While the Cardinals come into this postseason with loads of October experience, there are two franchises about to get their first taste of the playoffs in a long, long time. The Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies ended the sport’s two longest playoff droughts in securing wild-card spots, although both teams will be on the road for the first round — Seattle at Toronto, Philadelphia at St. Louis.
When Cal Raleigh hit his pinch-hit walk-off home run to clinch a wild-card spot, the Mariners celebrated like they had won the World Series. Can you blame them? Twenty-one years is a long time between playoff appearances. Sure, they had plenty of terrible teams along the way, but also several near misses: 93 wins in 2002 and 2003, 88 wins in 2007, one win short in 2014, three short in 2016, alive until the final day last season. They aren’t even guaranteed a home playoff game if they don’t beat the Blue Jays, although you can bet the watch party at T-Mobile Park will have a playoff-like atmosphere.
The good news is Julio Rodriguez returned from his back problem to play a couple of games at the end of the regular season (and homered in the season finale). The bad news is second-half spark plug Sam Haggerty and outfielder/DH Jesse Winker both just landed on the injured list. The rotation and bullpen are healthy, however — Luis Castillo looks like a legitimate ace when he’s on, while Logan Gilbert had a 2.00 ERA in September, allowing one run or less in five of his six starts. If you like a good underdog story, believe in the Mariners.
Meanwhile, the Phillies had the majors’ second-longest playoff drought, making it for the first time since 2011. They have Bryce Harper, back in the postseason for the first time since 2017, and power-hitting Kyle Schwarber, who led the NL in home runs. Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suarez (2.95 ERA since July 16) are a strong rotation trio. I wouldn’t bet on them in the tough NL, but there are similarities here in roster construction to the 2019 Nationals, who went from the wild card to World Series champs.
9. The World Series curses we don’t talk about enough
The Cleveland Guardians are trying to win their first World Series since 1948. The San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays are trying to win their first one, while the aforementioned Mariners remain the only franchise never to play in a World Series.
The Guardians’ World Series drought has never received as much attention as the ones for the Red Sox and Cubs did, but it’s now been 74 years since the Cleveland franchise won it all — longer than the 1986 Red Sox had gone (68 years) when they lost to the Mets. How about winning it all in the first season with the new nickname? They might make a movie out of that given this list of Cleveland’s postseason heartbreaks:
1995: The best team in baseball that year, but they lost the World Series to the Braves.
1997: Blew a ninth-inning lead in Game 7 of the World Series to the Marlins and lost in extra innings.
2007: Lost the ALCS to the Red Sox after being up 3-1.
2016: Were up 3-1 on the Cubs in the World Series and lost Game 7, again, in extra innings.
2017: Lost the division series to the Yankees after being up 2-0.
And then there’s the team that’s been around since 1969 — and never won it all. The Padres made World Series appearances in 1984 and 1998, but this is just the seventh postseason trip in franchise history.
But these aren’t your older brother’s Padres. This is a team that has spent the past three seasons acquiring an All-Star squad of talent while playing with a brash style that could make it very popular this postseason — if the Padres can stick around long enough for national fans to get familiar with their stars. They’ve gone all-in to dethrone the Dodgers in recent seasons — only to fall well short. But they squeaked in, and anything can happen in the playoffs, right? Especially with Manny Machado and Juan Soto and Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish and a suddenly rejuvenated Blake Snell (1.76 ERA over his final seven starts). The Mets-Padres wild-card series is the one to watch — with the winner facing the Dodgers in a colossal division series showdown.
10. The redemption stories
Let’s see here. We’ve got Justin Verlander, who after missing 2021 with Tommy John surgery, came back and went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA while leading the American League in wins, ERA, WHIP and lowest batting average allowed. His status as future Hall of Famer is secure, but with a big October and another World Series championship for the Astros, his legacy becomes that of an inner-circle Hall of Famer. DeGrom and Scherzer missed some time, and deGrom sputtered at the end of the season, but that dynamic pair could carry the Mets to their first title since 1986. And then of course, there is Clayton Kershaw. Yes, he got his ring a couple of years ago, but he was injured last October, and he hasn’t won a ring in a full season with a normal postseason. How will he perform?
11. The October introduction of some legit young stars
As my colleague Kiley McDaniel pointed out recently, this is the best rookie class since Pujols and Ichiro Suzuki debuted in 2001 — and most of the biggest names will be playing in the postseason (sorry, Adley Rutschman). We’ve got Rodriguez leading the Mariners and Harris and Strider on the Braves.
But it’s not just the rookies who will remind us how bright the future of baseball is this postseason …
While we often think of the Rays as a parade of bullpen arms, they also have two budding young superstars in Wander Franco and Shane McClanahan who could power another small-market success story this postseason. And across the AL East, Alek Manoah, Alejandro Kirk, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. form a young core that makes the Blue Jays a team nobody wants to face this postseason. Of course, the question we’ll all be waiting to see answered is how these young stars will handle the bright lights of October … or should we say November.
12. It’s an October so great — it could take part of November to finish it
That’s right, thanks to the combination of the new format and the MLB lockout pushing back the start of the season, Game 7 of the 2022 World Series would take place on Nov. 5, the latest date of a playoff game in MLB history.
If every series goes the distance, we’ll get 53 postseason games with all of these incredible storylines fueling the possibility that any given night can become a must-see moment for baseball fans. Of course, in the end we need great games to have a great postseason.
That’s what still makes 1986 the gold standard for all postseasons. There were just 20 playoff games that October — the seven-game ALCS between the Red Sox and Angels, the six-game NLCS between the Mets and Astros, then the seven-game World Series when the Mets beat the Red Sox. Five of the 20 games went extra innings. Eight were decided by one run. Several are all-time classics, including Game 5 of the ALCS; Games 3, 5 and 6 of the NLCS; and Games 6 and 7 of the World Series.
The stage is set. I’m going with the Dodgers over the Astros. I’ll take Kershaw versus Verlander in Game 7 of the World Series, thank you very much.
SEATTLE — More than an hour after Cal Raleigh ended the longest playoff drought in baseball, he was back on the field with his teammates, circling the perimeter of the field to acknowledge the tens of thousands of fans who still stuck around.
The celebration was more akin to winning something big in October, rather than a victory on the last day of September. But after 21 years, the Seattle Mariners could be excused for going a little over the top upon their return to the playoffs.
“It’s better than maybe what you could dream it to be,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Raleigh hit a game-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mariners clinched a wild-card berth in the American League with a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.
Raleigh, pinch-hitting for Luis Torrens, hit a 3-2 pitch from Domingo Acevedo (3-4) just inside the right-field foul pole for a solo homer that sent the Mariners to the postseason for the first time since 2001.
“I remember the moment when I knew it was fair and looking at the team and everybody’s jumping. It was just crazy,” Raleigh said.
Seattle’s celebration on the field lasted more than 10 minutes as fans and players lifted themselves from the burden of two decades without seeing playoffs from their baseball team.
That was just the start.
Nearly an hour later, and with the stands still mostly full, Servais and his team were back on the field after a wild clubhouse celebration. He grabbed the microphone and reminded the crowd, colorfully, that when he arrived along with president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto seven years ago, the mission was to end the “drought.”
“We did it. These players behind me are special. They care. They care about winning the right way. They care about representing the city of Seattle,” Servais told the crowd.
It indeed had been a long wait — the last time the Mariners advanced to the postseason, the team was led by rookie Ichiro Suzuki and Edgar Martinez and managed by Lou Piniella.
As has been the case for most of this season with the Mariners, their 86th win and the one that sent them back to the playoffs happened in the most stressful way possible. Seattle was unable to solve Oakland starter Ken Waldichuk and an assembly line of relievers for eight innings, held only to Ty France‘s RBI double that scored Dylan Moore two batters into the game.
Acevedo struck out Mitch Haniger and Carlos Santana to open the ninth, but Raleigh came through with his 26th home run of the season, the most ever by a Seattle catcher.
“It’s not really a pressure moment,” Raleigh said. “We’re having fun. We’re playing baseball. That’s the way I look at it. And I think that’s the mentality you got to have.”
Aside from the clinching a spot in the postseason, Seattle stayed 1½ games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the top wild-card spot and one half-game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays as the three continue to jockey for seeding.
But the place in the standings didn’t matter on this night. It was all about punching the final AL ticket and ending two decades without the guarantee of playoff baseball.
Seattle’s berth ended the longest active playoff drought in any of the four major professional sports, a dubious honor that now falls to the Sacramento Kings, who have not made the NBA playoffs since the 2005-06 season. The Mariners are still the only current team never to have played in the World Series.
The last time the Mariners reached the postseason they tied a major league record by winning 116 games in the regular season, but lost to the New York Yankees 3-1 in the AL Championship Series.
Seattle’s Logan Gilbert threw a career-high eight innings, allowing three hits. His only mistake was a home run by Shea Langeliers in the second inning.
Gilbert retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced and set down the A’s in order in each of his final four innings. Seth Brown walked leading of the seventh but was retired on a double play.
Gilbert struck out four and walked off the mound after the eighth to a standing ovation and the plea from fans for a run.
Matt Brash (4-4) struck out a pair in the ninth and set the stage for Raleigh.
“It was crazy. I mean, I haven’t been in Seattle but a few years but I feel like I’m one of the fans that have waited for 21 years,” Gilbert said. “It was just a culmination of a lot of waiting.”
