On This Date

1906 — The Chicago Cubs won their 116th game of 152 played for a winning percentage (.763) since unmatched. The Cubs were 60-15 on the road for an .800 winning percentage. 1925 — Fans saw the unusual spectacle of two managers, both famous hitters, pitch against each other in the season finale. Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers threw one perfect inning and George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns worked two scoreless frames in Detroit’s 11-6 victory. 1941 — The New York Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the World Series with a 2-1 win over Brooklyn. Freddie Fitzsimmons held the Yankees to four hits through seven innings. With two outs in the seventh, opposing pitcher Marius Russo hit a line drive off Fitzsimmons’ knee that broke the kneecap. The ball caromed to shortstop Pee Wee Reese to end the inning. Hugh Casey came out to pitch in the eighth for Brooklyn and gave up two runs, and Russo hung on to win. 1948 — The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 in a one-game AL playoff. The pitching of Gene Bearden and the hitting of Lou Boudreau were chiefly responsible for the championship victory. 1955 — The Brooklyn Dodgers won their first World Series with Johnny Podres blanking the Yankees 2-0. 1964 — The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the NL pennant with an 11-5 triumph over the New York Mets to end the closest pennant race in NL history. 1969 — The major leagues staged their first divisional championships as the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 9-5 and the Baltimore Orioles nipped the Minnesota Twins 4-3 in 12 innings in the opening games. 1987 — The Detroit Tigers took advantage of one of the great collapses in baseball history to win the AL East title, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 behind the six-hit pitching of Frank Tanana. The Blue Jays lost their last seven games of the season, including three straight in the season-ending series in Detroit. 1999 — The New York Mets, behind the strong pitching of Al Leiter, clinched the last remaining postseason berth by beating the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 in a one-game playoff for the NL wild card. 2005 — Reggie Sanders hit a grand slam and set an NL division series record with six RBIs to help St. Louis beat San Diego 8-5 in the first game of their division series. 2009 — Minnesota beat Kansas City 13-4 to force a one-game playoff with Detroit. The slumping Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3. 2011 — Adrian Beltre hit three straight home runs and the Texas Rangers powered themselves back into the AL championship series, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 to win their playoff series. Beltre became just the seventh player to homer three times in a postseason game. 2011 — Rookie Paul Goldschmidt hit a grand slam and tied a franchise postseason record with five RBIs to lead Arizona to an 8-1 win and cut Milwaukee’s lead to 2-1 in the bestof-five NL division series. 2014 — Brandon Belt homered off Tanner Roark in the 18th inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to their 10th consecutive postseason victory, edging Washington 2-1 for a 2-0 lead in the NL Division Series. 2015 — Clayton Kershaw struck out seven in an abbreviated start to become the first pitcher in 13 years to reach 300 strikeouts, and the Los Angeles Dodgers closed the regular season with a 6-3 win over San Diego. 2016 — Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer in the 11th inning off Ubaldo Jimenez, and Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 in the AL wild card game to advance to a Division Series matchup against Texas. Today’s birthdays: Alec Asher, 26; Lonnie Chisenhall, 29; Drew Stubbs, 33; Kurt Suzuki, 34; Jered Weaver, 35.