AROUND THE HORN
Angels: Mike Trout is out again. Out of the postseason, that is. For the ninth time in 10 years, the Angels superstar will spend October on the couch. “I don’t like losing,” he said Saturday. “It’s frustrating and it sucks.” The Angels were rolling in the final weeks of the pandemicshortened, 60-game season, winning 14 of 20 to revive their slim playoff hopes. Trout hit his first career home run off Clayton Kershaw and the Angels led the Dodgers 5-3 Friday night. They ended up blowing three leads altogether and lost 9-5 to be eliminated, even with the playoffs expanded to 16. Blue Jays: Cavan Biggio broke up a no-hit bid with a solo home run in the sixth inning, Randal Grichuk added a three-run shot and the Blue Jays beat the Orioles 5-2 Saturday night. The Blue Jays need another victory in Sunday’s regularseason finale, and a Miami win over the Yankees in New York, to move up to second place in the AL East and the fifth seed in the league. If not, Toronto will drop to eighth, and a firstround playoff meeting with the top-seeded Rays. Jays have won four straight and six of seven after a six-game losing streak. Giants: The Giants released veteran r i g h thander Jeff Samardzija on Saturday, a day after he returned from a lengthy shoulder injury and rehab. Samardzija, an 11-game winner in 2019, was designated for assignment and placed on unconditional release waivers days before his contract was to expire. The 35-year-old pitcher signed a $90 million, fiveyear contract with San Francisco in December 2015, but spent much of his Giants tenure injured. Mets: The Mets were eliminated from playoff contention in a mistakefilled loss to the Nationals in the opener of a doubleheader on Saturday, and not much changed in the nightcap as an error extended a big inning for the Nats, which won 5-3 to sweep the twinbill. Entering Saturday, the Mets (2633) needed to win their three remaining games and receive help from multiple teams to sneak into the final wild-card spot in the expanded playoffs. Instead, Mets arein danger of finishing tied with the Nats in the NL East cellar. Wh i te S ox : Major League Baseball suspended Sox reliever Jimmy Cordero for three games Saturday and fined him an undisclosed amount for hitting the Cubs’ Willson Contreras with a pitch. Manager Rick Renteria was suspended for one game, and he and pitching coach Don Cooper were fined. Yankees: DJ LeMahieu is on the verge of a first in more than a century of Major League Baseball: the first player to win undisputed batting titles in both the American and National Leagues. Luke Voit is about to become a more common name atop the leaderboards but part of an illustrious list, joining Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez as Yankees to top the majors in home runs. “I’ve always admired the Babe,” Voit said after the Yankees woke up from their latest slump to beat the Marlins 11-4 Saturday.