It's the second to last Saturday of the regular season, and we've got a full slate of baseball with all 15 teams playing today. Here's everything you need to know from Saturday's MLB action.
Saturday's scores
- Braves 5, Phillies 3 (box score)
- Cardinals 5, Giants 4 (box score)
- Nationals 6, Mets 0 (box score)
- Yankees 3, Orioles 2 (box score)
- Blue Jays 5, Rays 2 (box score)
- Tigers 5, Royals 4 (box score)
- Pirates 3, Brewers 0 (box score)
- Indians 5, Red Sox 4 in 11 innings (box score)
- Cubs 8, White Sox 3 (box score)
- Marlins 5, Reds 1 (box score)
- Astros 10, Angels 5 (box score)
- Mariners 13, Rangers 0 (box score)
- Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 1 (box score)
- Athletics 3, Twins 2 (box score)
- Dodgers 7, Padres 2 (box score)
Cubs get some breathing room
Even though the SportsLine Projection Model coming into Saturday's slate gave the Cubs a 92.6 percent chance of winning the NL Central, their lead over the Brewers was a mere 1 1/2 games. Now, though, it's been stretched to 2 1/2.
The Cubs held off the crosstown White Sox thanks in part to Javier Baez's 34th home run of the season and some excellent bullpen work -- four relievers combined for four hitless innings. As a result, the Cubs won their 90th game of 2018. That means for the first time in more than a century, the Cubs have won 90 or more games in four consecutive seasons.
Over in Pittsburgh, Trevor Williams twirled six shutout innings and struck a serious blow against the Brewers' hopes in the NL Central. Milwaukee now trails the Cubs by three games in the loss column, and they have no more head-to-head regular-season games against the division leaders. At this point, it'll be major upset if the Cubs don't win the NL Central for the third straight year.
Braves win NL East for first time since 2013
The Braves beat second-place Philly for the third day in a row, clinching their first National League East crown since 2013. The 2018 Braves were fueled by young stars like Ozzie Albies, Johan Camargo and Ronald Acuna Jr. and the team moved into first place on May 2 and never trailed in the division race after a 9-1 win over the Miami Marlins on Aug. 13.
CLINCHED. The 2018 National League East pennant is back home in Atlanta. #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/rmBVooRrAf
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 22, 2018
Weird, it’s almost like preseason predictions don’t matter.#ChopOn pic.twitter.com/XGG3FDxXsL
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 22, 2018
A's close to clinching playoff spot
The Athletics reduced their magic number to one for clinching a spot in the AL Wild Card Game with their Saturday win. Mike Fiers pitched well once again, Marcus Semien homered, and Blake Treinen lowered his ERA to 0.81. Oh, and the A's won on a walk-off wild pitch ...
We’re 13-0-2 in our last 15 home series, which is our longest streak without a home-series loss since 1931! (17-0-2)#HeroTown pic.twitter.com/0xjpcu9RAv
— Oakland Athletics 🌳🐘⚾️ (@Athletics) September 23, 2018
Astros put up nine-run inning against Angels
The Astros led the Angels 1-0 going into the eighth inning, but then L.A. busted out for five runs, including Mike Trout's 38th home run of the season. Houston, though, bounced back to score nine runs in the home half of the eighth, punctuated by Jose Altuve's third hit of the night and 13th home run of 2018 ...
NINE-run inning.
— MLB (@MLB) September 23, 2018
No way, José. pic.twitter.com/if4Gzdyatv
You wouldn't know it from the final score, but Astros starter Justin Verlander twirled a gem in this one ...
And those 11 strikeouts put him in elite company ...
With 11 strikeouts today, @astros ace Justin Verlander has 280 on the season. That passes Roger Clemens' 1998 season for the second most by any AL pitcher in his age-35 season or older.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) September 23, 2018
He trails only Nolan Ryan's 1989 season, in which he struck out 301 at age 42. #NeverSettle
Verlander remains a contender in the AL Cy Young race.
Rockies keep pace
With their Saturday win, Colorado remained 1 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and 1 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the race for the second NL wild-card berth. Antonio Senzatela wound up pitching seven strong innings after retiring the first 14 batters he faced. Across the way, Patrick Corbin lasted just three innings for his shortest outing of the season. The Diamondbacks have now lost 11 of 14 are close to being eliminated from contention.
Indians win in walk-off fashion in possible ALCS preview
The Red Sox and Indians are pretty much focused on getting and staying healthy for the postseason, but, hey, walk-offs are cool in any context ...
Smooth in the clutch.#RallyTogether pic.twitter.com/ULH3glnehJ
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) September 23, 2018
Also in this one, Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger wasn't at his best, but he did strike out six, which gives him 202 strikeouts for the season. That brings us to this bit of notable history ...
Strikeout kings.
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) September 22, 2018
The @Indians are the first team EVER to have 4 pitchers each rack up 200+ Ks. pic.twitter.com/r6tqreHzvb
We're in an era in which starting pitching has been de-emphasized to an extent, but that hasn't been the case with Terry Francona's squad this season. Now that Trevor Bauer's back from injury, that rotation can help the Indians make some noise in the postseason.
Cardinals walk off against Giants
With the score tied at four apiece in the bottom of the 10th, St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Tyler O'Neill blasted a home run, on his final strike and the final out of the inning.
The 23-year-old was pretty pumped for his first career walk-off, and so were his teammates. So pumped that they literally tore his shirt off.
Walk-off
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 23, 2018
Shirt-off@toneill21's 1st career walk-off was something else! pic.twitter.com/QlkUDxii2B
St. Louis (86-69) has won the first two games of the series against San Francisco as it tries to hold on to its second-place spot in the National League wild-card standings.
Yankees clinch spot in AL wild-card game
New York is officially postseason bound, thanks to Aaron Hicks' walk-off double to bring Didi Gregorius home in the 11th inning. Hicks also hit a home run in the second inning, making the Yankees the sixth team in MLB history with 250-plus home runs in a season.
#YANKEES TO THE PLAYOFFS ON A WALK-OFF HIT BY AARON HICKS! pic.twitter.com/eBmS24hBxa
— Max Wildstein (@MaxWildstein) September 23, 2018
The Yankees are still fighting for home-field advantage in the AL Wild Card Game, and are currently hanging onto a two-game lead over the Oakland Athletics. New York has eight games remaining in the 2018 regular season whereas the A's have 10 more games.
Quick hits
- The Minnesota Twins transferred right-hander Ervin Santana from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list to make room for catcher Juan Graterol, who was recalled from Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. Santana suffered reoccurring symptoms related to his original injury to his third finger MCP joint on his right hand.
- The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that Joe Musgrove is done for the season. He was recently diagnosed with a stress reaction on the front of his pelvic bone and an abdominal wall muscle strain. Right-hander Nick Kingham will start in place of Musgrove on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
- In his final major league game, Detroit Tigers Victor Martinez logged a base hit at Comerica Park and got emotional after a send-off from Tigers fans.
- Tennis legend Billie Jean King and her partner Ilana Kloss were announced as the newest members of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. Here's why it's important for Major League Baseball.
- CBS Sports' RJ Anderson breaks down the 10 candidates the Texas Rangers could consider for manager. The Rangers fired Jeff Banister on Friday after four seasons.
