Well it came down to the wire but the Boston Redsox clinched the AL East title yesterday. Drew Pomeranz started the game and lefty David Price came in to finish the job throwing 24 pitches. With the win Boston set up a playoff series against the Houston Astros, this goes down Thursday in Texas.
Credit: CSN Philly
Redsox securing the top spot means the New York Yankees are forced to play a one game Wildcard match against the pesky Minnesota Twins. The Twinkies went from not making the playoffs last year to getting in this year. Tuesday 8pm ET at Yankee Stadium for that one. As a note the Bronx bomber Aaron Judge set the rookie record for homeruns, hes got 52 with one more game today againt the Jays to try to pad his stats. His last shot a 484 foot blast, is a testament to this behemoths power, hes been absolutely tearing the cover off the ball all season!
Credit: Sports Illustrated
Speaking of giant men with massive power, Giancarlo Stanton is batting leadoff today for the Miami Marlins, manager Don Mattingly has him in the top spot of the order to try to get him an extra at bat.
Credit: New York Times
Stanton has 59 dingers and only needs 1 more longball to become the first player to hit 60 in a season since Barry Bonds did it in 2001. With a whopping 129 RBIs, whats more impressive to me is the fact he's batting .280 on the season. I've never seen anyone smash bombs so effortlessly, a lot of times it seems like hes barely connecting with the ball or hitting it off the end of the bat, but hes herculean power sends the ball screaming out into the bleachers!
What could be a huge blow to the Washington Nationals postseason dreams, SP Ace Max Sherzer left the game against the Pirates yesterday in the fourth inning. After falling off the mound the wrong way he was pulled from the game and all Washington fans held their breath. In whats been classified as a hamstring cramp it will be interesting to see if he can right himself before the Nats square off versus the Cubs.
Credit: The Sporting News
A cramp could be the term used to cover a worse injury..if hes pulled his hammy he wont be right to pitch in October. Anyone following baseball knows hamstring issues have plagued a number of players and rest is the only remedy for those sort of injuries, unfortunately for Washington time isn't something they can spare at this point in the season. If their ace isn't good to go they're finished, the Chicago Cubs will not take it easy on them and I'd expect them to roll over the Nats quickly.
Also in the National League, probably the series I'm most looking forward to watching the most, is the Rockies vs the DiamondBacks. This wildcard match will see who gets the challenge of playing the Dodgers. I think the Rockies will beat Arizona and then it'll be a 7 game set against the LA Dodgers. These two teams don't appear evenly matched, The Dodgers won almost 20 games more then the Rockies over the course of the season. Pitching would have to go to the Los Angeles Dodgers and they can also score more runs with a more potent lineup..that being said I've watched the Rockies all year and they're a scrappy team that never quits.
Credit: The Sporting News
I maybe the only one on the planet that thinks the Rockies stand a chance, but that's what makes postseason baseball so exciting..anything can happen and they have to play the games before anyone moves on. Once you're in, you've got a chance to make it to the World Series!
This is my favorite time of year by far. I cant wait to get the last games of the regular season over today so we can set all of our attention on the playoffs. Keep it locked here to @majorleaguenews for daily news and opinions on October baseball action leading up to the 2017 World Series Championship!
Here's the Playoff Bracket courtesy of US Today..
Thanks for reading sportsfans!
