Game 1: Cleveland lost last night, so the Rays did the Yankees a favor by beating Baltimore 6-1 tonight to eliminate the Orioles as well, meaning the Yankees will travel to Minnesota next week to play the wild card game for the right to face the Rays. And the guy one of those teams will be facing in Game 1 is Christian Little, who concluded his Cy Young-elect season with a 5 4 1 1 0 8 outing to finish 17-5, 2.38, and as the runaway leader in strikeouts (282) and pitcher WAR (7.7). Hayden Johns threw 3 shutout innings and Christian Chamberlain one to finish out the game, while Jasson Dominguez was the star on offense. He slugged a 3-run HR in a 4-run 2nd (#28/#36), and singled in two more in the 5th for a 5-RBI night. Gavin Lux singled in the other run in the 2nd, giving him 111 RBI for the season.
Game 2: They just keep slugging homers and they just keep winning as win #121 was a 9-2 romp over Baltimore. Spencer Torkelson had the big bat today clubbing 2 homers, a solo shot and a 3-run blast. Also going deep were Gavin Lux in the 3rd (#45), Joe Barker in the 5th (#14), and then after Torkelson hit his 3-run shot (#4) in the 8th, Jhon Diaz (#24) and Isaac DeLeon (#21) went back-to-back-to-back with him. Watching all these baseballs leave the yard while he rested between innings was Jack Leiter, with another excellent start of 7.1 6 1 0 1 3 to finish his season 14-4 and bring his ERA below 4 at 3.85. Jeremy Bowers got Leiter out of the 8th but ran into some trouble in the 9th with a run scoring, and Jack Filby got the final two outs to finish the game off.
MLB Playoff Race Update: There's only one thing at stake on the final day tomorrow: The winner of the NL West. San Diego and LA are tied after the Padres beat the Dodgers today, so they'll play a winner-take-all division game tomorrow. The loser will travel to Atlanta to play in the NL Wild Card Game and the winner of that will face St. Louis in the NLDS while tomorrow's Padres-Dodgers winner will start the NLDS in Philadelphia. In the AL, Minnesota is hosting the Yankees in the Wild Card Game for the right to play the Rays, while Texas will start their ALDS in Detroit. Speaking of Texas and their big signing Wander Franco when last we checked in at midseason Wander was hovering around 0 WAR. Well he had a big second half and finished with 3.3 WAR, so he's back to the Wander we all knew and loved and could potentially face in the ALCS.
From the league office:
Dominguez also won AL Rookie of the Month. I hate to say it, but as good as Julio Cedillo was before his season-ending injury, he's been Wally Pipped. Dominguez has now been upgraded by the scouts to 80 power, which translates to 50-HR power by the editor. Add that and his 70-75 defense, and he's going to be darn near impossible to dislodge from the lineup. The question becomes whether Cedillo stays with the team as a 4th/5th OF or he gets traded. As always we have an OF glut, especially with Jhon Diaz's emergence this year and Tork's return from injury. I have some thoughts but I'll save them for my season post-mortem.
October 1: Optioned P Hayden Johns to AAA Durham, recalled P Andy Aparicio to AAA Durham.
One thought for 2029 I'll mention now is about Aparicio, who'll get a start today in the regular season finale. He's pitched two years at Durham now, and I'm not going to send him there again next year even if we have 6 quality starters returning. So my plan is to use him in short relief next year while Shane McClanahan pitches out the final year of his contract and then start him in 2030. His 98-100 MPH fastball will play well in relief, and he's given 75/80 stuff ratings as a reliever. Daniel Espino is projected to command $10M in arbitration next year and as great as he's been this year, I'm already paying JDLC and Alvarado close to that next year and I'm not looking to spend $25M on the bullpen. So Aparicio could very well be in Espino's role next year.
Game 3: The Rays closed out a historic regular season by winning their final 10 games of the season and 122 overall with a 6-3 win over Baltimore. Their 122-40 record represents the most wins in an MLB regular season and their .753 winning percentage is second only to the 1906 Chicago Cubs' .768. (They'd had to have won 125 games to break that record). Today's win came with Andy Aparicio getting his first start since a disastrous string of early season outings that contributed in some part to the team's slow 11-13 start (which meant they went 111-27 over their last 138). For the first four innings it looked like more of the same as Aparicio was touched for 3 runs in 4 innings and the Rays trailed 3-2, but the rookie righty hung in there and ended up a solid 7 4 3 3 1 5 to get his 2nd win of the season. Evan Godwin and Jack Filby got through the 8th, and JDLC finished with 35 saves thanks to a scoreless 9th. The hitters continued to bash the longball, with Jasson Dominguez hitting #29/#37 in the 3rd, Jhon Diaz hitting #25 with a man on in the 5th to give the Rays the lead to stay (fitting for the league leader in WPA), and in the 9th Gavin Lux hit #46 to tie Nate Clark for the team lead and tie himself and Clark with Carlos Pena for the team record, and Mike Lammers hit #5. Unfortunately for Lux, Vlad Jr also homered in the Yankees game today and edged him for the WAR crown in the AL, 8.3 to 8.2. Together with Vlad's better triple crown numbers, it looks like the Yankee 3B will take home his 5th MVP in 7 seasons. Ricky Widmar had the only non-HR RBI for the Rays today. So now it's time for them to back up their regular season dominance with a World Series title; anything less will be a disappointment.
Final Regular Season Record: 122-40. Next up: Game 1 of the ALDS against either Minnesota or the Yankees.
MLB News: The Padres clubbed the Dodgers 13-3 today to clinch the NL West, sending LA to Philadelphia for the NL Wild Card Game.