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When you win your 99th game and have a lot of things going on, you need to anticipate they'll go your way. Take the Boston Red Sox in their 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. It was 2-1, Blue Jays on top, in the bottom of the seventh when Alex Cora feels Mitch Moreland to the deck-to-hit light-hitting catcher Sandy Leon.
Then Cora pulled Moreland back and sent up Brock Holt, who did this:
Brocking this game! pic.twitter.com/2NO0NlvdTk
– Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) September 12, 2018
The Red Sox is one of the best places in the world to play with the win, celebrating in the clubhouse with a champagne toast. I suspect their division-clinching celebration will include more than sipping from plastic cups.
Anyway, Cora explained his reversal this way: He thought the Blue Jays might bring in a left, in which case he would have brought in Brandon Phillips. Not wanting to waste Moreland, he instead feels in Holt. The Blue Jays left Ryan Tepera, and Holt delivered the big hit.
Via research from Elias and ESPN Stats & Info, we looked at the 25 teams earliest to clinch a playoff spot in the wild-card era (since 1995):
Shohei Ohtani's status set off more "Is it time to trade Trout?" Questions. The Halos are not dealing with the best player in baseball, but can they keep him beyond 2020?
You know all about Ronald Acuna, but what about Johan Camargo? These lesser-known names can be found on your team's October hopes.
The lefty protected the Cubs' NL Central lead Tuesday, but the veteran's wins come at a price some still question.
2 Related
• 12 of the 25 lost in the first round
• Seven made to the World Series
• Five won it all: the 2016 Cubs, 2013 Red Sox, 2009 Yankees, 2007 Red Sox and 1998 Yankees
In other words, an early clinching is not a guarantee of a deep playoff run. As always, the postseason is a crapshoot.
The other big news from this game is the return of Chris Sale for his first start since Aug. 12. He pitched just one inning, however, and threw 26 pitches, then trotted out to the bullpen for a little more work. He threw 97 mph, gave up a double, hit a batter and chucked in a few nasty sliders.
"A little erratic, obviously," Sale said of his performance. "Threw up my pitch count a little bit, which is why I did not get to go for my second or third inning, but got some good work in, and I'll move on from there. be an abbreviated start. [innings] was the best-case scenario. Going for just the one inning kind of stunk. I kind of had higher hopes than that. "
Is it time to sweat? I do not think so. Sale has just gone up to full pitch, as he has pitched just six innings since July 27, but the Red Sox have been overly cautious. Still, you'd like to see him get up to 95 or 100 pitches before the end of the regular season.
Diamondbacks avoid the bullpen blues: There were a couple of hairy moments for the Arizona Diamondbacks in their much-needed 6-3 win over the Rockies. Arizona had lost eight of 10, with several bullpen meltdowns along the way. Brad Boxberger has been kicked out to Yuma, Archie Bradley is suddenly unreliable, Matt Andriese's name.
Whom would Torey Lovullo call on? Leading 4-3 in the seventh, he pulled out Zack Greinke after Matt Holliday hit a two-out double off the wall in the right-center. Greinke had thrown just 93 pitches, and given the poor results of the late bullpen, it was a little surprising that he was pulled. I get it: It 's at Coors Field, the Rockies were sending up a lefty pinch hitter, Greinke was maybe starting to lose it a little bit … this is where managers keep their keep. But I would have left Greinke in.
Anyway, Andrew Chafin did not do the job. He walked the two batters he faced. It looks like another meltdown in the making. But Brad Ziegler came on and got LeMahieu DJ to ground out. Crisis averted.
In the ninth, Lovullo called on Jake Diekman initially, but after a double leadoff and a single bunt, Diekman was out. Confronted with another potential meltdown, Lovullo turned to Yoshihisa Hirano for the save. The Japanese veteran promptly struck out Ian Desmond and Chris Iannetta (fooling Iannetta looking with a fastball) and then got Charlie Blackmon on a liner to center field.
Meanwhile, the Reds beat the Dodgers 3-1 and are now 6-0 against the Dodgers. The NL West remains a three-team race … and if the Dodgers do not win it or miss the playoffs entirely, the Reds will have been a big reason for that.
All these numbers are true: The Marlins beat the Mets 5-3, but the story of the game was Jacob deGrom, who once again pitched well, allowing two runs in seven innings. He left with a 2-1 deficit, however, and picked up the "loss" to drop to 8-9 on the season.
1. As a result, deGrom has now started a record MLB record. Note: Reliever Ryne Stanek of the Rays has an active streak of 25 in a row, but that is obviously not the same thing because he usually pitches just one inning.
2. deGrom leads the majors with a 1.71 ERA. There are actually seven pitchers in their league in ERA but with a losing record, courtesy of Elias: Kevin Millwood (9-11 in 2005), Joe Magrane (5-9 in 1988), Nolan Ryan (8-16 in 1987), Stu Miller (6-9 in 1958), Dave Koslo (11-14 in 1949), Dolf Luque (16-18 in 1925) and Stan Coveleski (13-14 in 1923). Magrane had the lowest ERA at 2.18, but he also allowed 17 unearned runs; deGrom has allowed seven.
3. The Mets are 12-17 when deGrom starts. They are going to finish under .500 when he starts. The worst team win percentage in a Young winner's 2010 Mariners, who finished 17-17 with Felix Hernandez starting (Hernandez finished 13-12).
4. deGrom has a 2.02 ERA in games he started and the Mets lost.
5. Baseball is a game played by nine men at a time.
(Thanks to Sarah Langs for research help.)
That said … DeGrom feels like the favorite Young Cy in the NL, despite that 8-9 record. He is not a clear favorite, as Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer still have a slight lead in Baseball-Reference WAR and are 16-4 and 17-6, respectively. Plus, Scherzer has a sizable edge in strikeouts. We also know ofGroma's win-loss record is not a fault, and its remarkable run of quality is a huge plus on its ledger, but it's possible that if some voters consider things to be relatively despite ofGrom's ERA edge, that win- loss record could be a tiebreaker. It should be a fascinating vote.
Yes, we'll give you some Juan Soto highlights: The Nationals swept the Phillies in a doubleheader, and they are rumored to be Phillies' coffin. In the second game, Soto's 10th-inning home run – his second game – put the Nats ahead (that came after the Phillies blew to 6-3 lead in the ninth):
Juan Soto's 3 multi-HR games are the most @MLB history. pic.twitter.com/sW2vbOeipM
– Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 12, 2018
Most home runs by a teenager:
Tony Coniglario, 1964: 24
Bryce Harper, 2012: 22
Juan Soto, 2018: 18
Mel Ott, 1928: 18
Ken Griffey Jr., 1989: 16
Donaldson plays for Indians: Josh Donaldson played third base with Jose Ramirez moving to second base for the first time of the season (he started 65 games there last season). Donaldson went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the 2-0 win over the Rays (Shane Bieber fanned 11 in 6 ⅔ innings), though he hit a couple hard balls.
"He looked to me like Donaldson," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He took some ferocious swings, and he was so many pitches." "He's got a lot of things and he's got nothing to show for it."
Yes, kids, that's called a complete game: Mike Foltynewicz dominated the Giants, taking a break from the ninth and settling for a 4-1, complete-game win for the Atlanta Braves while throwing 108 pitches. That's the third complete game of September – Max Scherzer and Noah Syndergaard threw the other two – and the first by a pitcher on a playoff contender since Cole Hamels on Aug. 23 for the Cubs.
Not only are complete games rare, but so are eight-inning outings. There have been just seven others this month, with just two (from Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Carrasco) coming on contending teams. Managers are simply apprehensive about their pitchers going deep into games, mindful of trying to keep them going as well as possible. Even going back to August, there are few eight-inning outs. Clayton Kershaw had two, Aaron Nola had one, David Price had one, and Clay Buchholz threw a complete game.
You wonder, with all these bullpens on contending teams struggling the past few weeks, how much is that going to be, six innings max? Are the relievers tiring down the stretch? That's something to watch these final weeks. Congratulations to Folytnewicz on going the distance. You're my player of the day.
Never forget: There have been more important home runs to win playoff games or World Series games, but I do not know if there's a place where I'm going to play Mike Square hit in the first baseball game played in New York after 9 / 11 terrorist attacks:
Here's a look at that night at Shea Stadium, when the Piazza and the Mets brought some joy back to New York:
9:20
On Sept. 21, 2001, baseball returned to New York for the first time since Sept. 11 as the Mets hosted the Braves in a game unlike any other.
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